Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) was a Polish pianist, teacher and composer. This was
the germanised name he used, the Polish spelling being Teodor Leszetycki.
From an early age he was recognised as a prodigy, and after studying in Vienna with Carl
Czerny and Simon Sechter he became a teacher at fourteen and by the age of eighteen he
was a well-known virtuoso in Viennese music circles. Besides performing he became a
very influential piano teacher, first at the St Petersburg Conservatory, which he co-
founded with Anton Rubinstein, and subsequently in Vienna.
His pupils included many of the most renowned pianists of their time, such as, Fanny
Bloomfield-Zeissler, Katharine Goodson, Ignaz Friedman, Ignacy Paderewski, Artur
Schnabel, Alexander Brailowsky, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Benno Moiseiwitsch, Mark
Hambourg, Elly Ney, Severin Eisenberger and Mieczyslaw Horszowski. Several pupils
also became noted teachers, including Isabelle Vengerova, Anna Langenhan-Hirzel,
Richard Buhlig and Czeslaw Marek.
Leschetizky was also a composer, having under his name over seventy piano pieces, two
operas, several songs and a one-movement piano concerto.
He was married four times. His first wife Anne de Friedbourg was a fine singer and his
subsequent wives, Annette Essipov, Eugenia Donnemourska and Gabrielle Rosborska,
had been his pupils.
On 18 February 1906 he recorded twelve reproducing piano rolls for Welte-Mignon
including seven of his own compositions. He died in Dresden, Germany on 14
November 1915.
Besides his teacher Carl Czerny, the Bohemian pianist Julius Schulhoff probably had the
greatest impact on Leschetizky. Leschetizky heard him when he was about twenty years
old and was amazed by ‘that cantabile, a legato such as [he] had not dreamed possible on
the piano, a human voice rising above the sustaining harmonies!’ Leschetizky then tried
very hard to find that touch which produced such beautiful tones. He stopped playing
pieces and just worked on exercises in order to train his fingers. Schulhoff, who was a
friend of Chopin, and probably absorbed some of his style of playing, probably had the
biggest influence on Leschetizky’s piano playing besides Czerny.
Another influence on Leschetizky was Anton Rubinstein. He talked often with his pupils
about Rubinstein’s way of breathing between phrases and in pauses. Leschetizky learned
that ‘there is more rhythm between the notes than in the notes themselves.’
Leschetizky himself wrote nearly nothing about his teaching but several of his pupils and
assistants described his way of teaching. Ethel Newcomb and Annette Hullah wrote
books about their studies with Leschetizky, Countess Angele Poptocka wrote an
‘intimate’ biography of him. Two of Leschetizky’s studio assistants, Malwine Bree and
Marie Pretner, wrote technical manuals