The ‘ritardandos’ sometimes marked by Schumann at the ends of his phrases in his piano
music may be described as examples of the ‘Schumann rubato’. It has been suggested
that these follow from an implied earlier hastening in the phrase and, hence, when
combined with the later slowing-down may be regarded as akin to the first type of
‘Chopin rubato’.
Rachmaninoff explained rubato as the left hand following the dictates of the right hand
which presumably is one aspect of the first type of ‘Chopin rubato’.
RUBINSTEIN
Anton Rubinstein
Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor. As a
pianist he was regarded as a rival to Franz Liszt and he ranks among the great keyboard
virtuosos. He also founded the St Petersburg Conservatory which, together with the
Moscow Conservatory founded by his brother Nikolai Rubinstein, helped pave the way
for Russia’s emergence as a major musical power.
Many of Rubinstein’s contemporaries said he bore a striking physical resemblance to
Beethoven. Moscheles, who had known Beethoven intimately, wrote, ‘Rubinstein’s
features and short, irrepressible hair remind me of Beethoven.’ Liszt referred to
Rubinstein as ‘Van II’. Rubinstein was even rumoured to be the illegitimate son of
Beethoven. The resemblance to Beethoven was also in Rubinstein’s piano playing.
Under his hands the piano erupted volcanically. Audience members wrote of going home
limp after one of his recitals knowing that they had witnessed a force of nature.
Sometimes Rubinstein’s playing was too much for listeners to handle. American pianist
Amy Fay, who wrote about the European classical music scene, admitted that while
Rubinstein ‘has a gigantic spirit in him, and is extremely poetic and original ... for an
entire evening he is too much. Give me Rubinstein for a few pieces, but Tausig for a
whole evening.’ She heard Rubinstein play ‘a terrific piece by Schubert’, reportedly the
‘Wanderer Fantasy’. The performance gave her such a violent headache that the rest of
the recital was ruined for her.
Clara Schumann proved especially vehement. After she heard him play the Mendelssohn
C minor Trio in 1857, she wrote that ‘he so rattled it off that I did not know how to
control myself and often he so annihilated fiddle and cello that I could hear nothing of
them.’ Nor had things improved in Clara’s view a few years later, when Rubinstein gave
a concert in Breslau. She noted her disapproval in her diary: ‘I was furious, for he no
longer plays. Either there is a perfectly wild noise or else a whisper with the soft pedal
down. And a would-be cultured audience puts up with a performance like that!’
On the other hand, when Rubinstein played Beethoven’s ‘Archduke’ Trio with violinist
Leopold Auer and cellist Alfredo Piatti in 1868, Auer recalls: