Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Neither Mozart or Beethoven had a Steinway

I've been reading a lot of posts claiming that you got to have the best Tier 1 piano to your music going. Some professor even claimed that all his previous pianos were wasted until he was able to buy a Steinway.

But I just wonder what Mozart, Beethoven, etc. would have thought about this ide while composing their masterpieces.

It seems to me that a Tier 2 or Tier 3 piano, like a Suzuki, would do wonders that Mozart would never have dreamed of.

Sure, a Steinway will likely be better. But a big part of wanting a Steinway seems coming not from the desire for musicality, but other more worldly motives.

No, no, you missed the point. Mozart and Beethoven would have had blondes crawling all over them... in which case they would not have wasted their time writing music.

You are so right. Both would have died for a Suzuki over their horses.

I often wondered the same.

Good point and great first post!

Norbert

I think that great pianos help people (like me) to enjoy their own playing because the pianos sound terrific even playing easy pieces. A great piano inspires me to play and to learn, ad to aspire to be better, when a terrible one would not because I would sound bad playing it. If you are Beethoven, you don't even need to hear, let alone have a great piano! In a way, it is the student (beginner or intermediate) who needs a great piano to keep them going, not the great pianist or composer, who can hear the music in his or her head without even playing. Isn't there a story about a great pianist who learned an entire score on a train on his way to play the piece in concert?

Given Beethoven was deaf (good catch RPA), what influence did that have on his move to romantic music as he wasn't encumbered by the limitations of harpischord or pianoforte?

Also isn't the real question about Mozart what he might have written having access to pianos of today?

It might have been different. It wouldn't have been "better".

There are other "real questions" about Mozart, such as what he might have written had he lived longer...

Agree 100% David. I'm sure music evolves for a variety of reasons and Mozart was key to the second half of the 18th century.

And if he had lived longer would he had worn out a tier 3 piano much faster than a tier 1.

And would that tier 3 be worth repairing or would it be better just to buy another tier 3 and keep manufactures producing disposable instruments.
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Quote pianoca
It seems to me that a Tier 2 or Tier 3 piano, like a Suzuki, would do wonders that Mozart would never have dreamed of.
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BTW Suzuki is not a tier 2 or 3 piano and is what I am referring to as disposable.

I don't know about that one, but I know that Frederic Chiu requires the attendees at his music camps (all aspiring concert pianists) to learn pieces solely from reading with no practice time at the piano.

Also, Gustav Mahler did work out very large scale symphonic orchestration in a tiny cottage on the Bodensee with no instrument of any kind. So obviously, as Rank says certain performers and composers can hear it even when they can't hear it.

But even if Beethoven could carry on hearing everything inside his head, I still can't imagine that he would have turned down a decent digital with a good pair of headphones, just as I can't imagine he would have turned down surgery to correct or at least improve his hearing problem. I mean....the fact that you can do something doesn't mean that you necessarily want to.

It's the Indian, not the arrow! Although a good arrow surely would help.

Beethoven was quite frustrated with the limitations of the pianos of his day even before he lost his hearing. He wanted more range, dynamics, volume and sheer power from his pianos and begged for more from the piano makers of the day. I think he would have loved a Steinway ! (or other great modern piano)

Sophia

I agree with sophial on this... just look at the evolution in his sonatas... from op. 31/2 on he had access to pianos with greater range and it wasn't only his growing maturity that eventually led to the evolution in his music.

From op. 57 (?) onward he owned the Broadwood grand which I believe had almost the same range as modern pianos do. I'm writing from memory here, so please don't cite me on this.

However, it is also a fact that while he was happy to have a more evoluted piano at his disposal, he considered the tone of his viennese grand (don't remember the name of the manufacturer) to be the most beautiful.

As already stated, please don't cite me on this, I'll have to check some of those things when I'm back home (don't have internet access there yet).

Sonatas 31 and 32 always make for an interesting discussion. I've always wondered where Beethoven's mind was during the time he was composing #31. To me #31 takes him far away from where he had been while #32 brings him back to familiar territory.

If I were to go back and relearn #31, I'd be really happy on a Steinway, but even happier on a Petrof. The music is so crystalline. On #32 I think any Golden Era American banger would do just fine.

vippo,

I would't be surprised it was an 'original' Joseph Brodmann? I read Beethoven certainly owned one as did Carl Maria von Weber.

Btw only in 1828 (the year after Beethoven died) did Ignaz Bösendorfer - pupil of Ignaz Brodmann - take over the factory form Joseph Brodmann.

schwammerl.

Beethoven had a Graf, which I think came after the Broadwood. He went through pianos pretty quickly.

"Meet Bob: Bob wasn't happy with his ED remedy...that is until his recent Steinway purchase!! Now he's got more than 9 feet of thundering new 'confidence'...and the missus is D-lited..."

Not to rile anyone up, but these threads with their 'tier this' and 'tier that' and 'mine's better/bigger than yours' (overt or not) are soooooo tiresome...I had to inject a bit of twisted humor...

"You've got to have the best tier 1 piano to your music going?"

What is that supposed to mean?
Neither Mozart or Beethoven had a Steinway?
They didn't have electricity, cell phones, or the internet either, for god's sake.

What is the purpose of this thread?

John D -- hilarious!

Rank Piano Amateur - "Isn't there a story about a great pianist who learned an entire score on a train on his way to play the piece in concert?"

That may have been Artur Rubinstein.