Ruth Slenczynska, last surviving pupil of Rachmaninoff, dies aged 101
She was not on the list.
Virtuoso pianist Ruth Slenczynska, who was the last
surviving pupil of Sergei Rachmaninoff, has died at the age of 101, following
an astonishing nine-decade career.
Born in California to Polish parents, the musician gave her
first recital at the age of four, and debuted with a full orchestra in Paris
aged seven.
Noted for her impeccable technique and musical insight, she
played for five US Presidents - even performing a four-hand Mozart duet with
Harry Truman at the White House.
Slenczynska performed into her 90s, releasing her final
album in 2022. She died peacefully at an assisted living facility in
California, said her former pupil Shelly Moorman-Stahlman in a statement to the
BBC.
"Tonight, heaven gained a very special angel,"
said the musician and teacher, adding that Slenczynska's health had faltered
after a series of falls.
During recent visits, "she was particularly energetic
and mentally clear" and even "played the piano one day",
Moorman-Stahlman recalled.
"Always a teacher, during a conversation about a recent
performance with orchestra, she 'assigned' me the Mozart Concerto in A M[inor]
to learn and bring to her the next time we visited."
After another fall, however, she "passed away
peacefully" surrounded by friends, including Moorman-Stahlman's husband,
Randy.
Born in 1925, Slenczynska was heralded one of the greatest
child prodigies since Mozart.
A Pathé newsreel, filmed when she was five years old, noted
that the toddler had "surprised musical critics by her playing of
Beethoven".
Her concerts were "an electrifying experience,"
wrote the New York Times in 1933, "something nature has produced in one of
her most bounteous moods".
The musician's father, Josef Slenczynski, was a well-known
violinist and head of the Warsaw Conservatory before being wounded during World
War One.
After moving to America, he resolved to raise a successful
musician, and deemed his daughter a potential pianist or violinist within hours
of her birth.
By the age of three, she was versed in basic musical theory
and harmony - and the family moved to Europe so she could access the best
teachers and rub shoulders with the most influential musicians of the day.
Tyrannical rule
She met Rachmaninoff in 1934, after substituting for him in
a concert.
"Mr Rachmaninov had to cancel due to a problem with his
elbow," she later recalled. "The manager did not want to lose money
from the ticket sales so he contacted my father to see if I could play the
concert."
She was summoned to meet the maestro soon afterwards.
"I was a frightened little girl at the door of his
apartment at the Villa Majestic in Paris," Slenczynska told NPR in 2022,
"and he pointed this long index finger down at me and he said, 'You mean
that plays the piano?'"
The nine-year-old shook in fear, until Rachmaninov sat her
down and showed her a picture of his speed boat, making buzzing noises to
imitate the motor.
Once calm, she played a showpiece for him, then transposed
the key instantly when he requested. They became lifelong friends - and she
often wore a Fabergé egg necklace that he had given her.
In those early years, she was mentored by Josef Hoffman,
Alfred Cortot, Egon Petri and Artur Schnabel.
She also studied alongside Samuel Barber, hearing his
world-famous Adagio for Strings in the classroom, before it even had its title.
However, the tyrannical rule of her father proved to be too
much.
"The reason that people were startled at what I could
do at the piano was quite simple: Father was making me practice nine hours a
day, every single day of the week," she wrote in her 1957 autobiography,
Forbidden Childhood.
"If I showed signs of wanting to be just an ordinary
little girl, like wanting to cuddle my sisters' dolls or make a little noise or
jump up and down and run with the neighbourhood kids, father would come down on
me with his pail of ice-cold water: 'That's all baby stuff! You're not a baby.
You're a musician. Stay away from those kids and their stupid games. It's all a
waste of time! You've got to act like a grown-up young lady.'"
At the age of 15, she rejected her concert career, cut off
her father completely, enrolled for a psychology degree at the University of
California and eloped with a fellow student, named George Born.
The couple divorced in 1953 and, needing to make ends meet,
Slenczynska began teaching piano. Before long, she returned to the stage,
ending an absence of more than a decade.
Thereafter, she toured with the Boston Pops orchestra for
four years, enjoying an on-stage rivalry with conductor Arthur Fiedler.
"At first, Mr Fiedler got standing ovations, and I
didn't," she told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1999. "By the third
year, I started getting them, too. I learned how to manage an audience, how to
let them know you're glad to be there."
Finally, there was a concert in Chicago where a critic
praised Slenczynska at Fiedler's expense, writing: "You don't serve
champagne and beer together."
"After that, I was not renewed," she later
remarked. "There was room for only one star on that tour."
Undeterred, she went on to record 10 sparkling LPs for
Decca, showcasing her sense of drama and rhythmic control, especially when
playing her speciality - the works of Chopin.
In 1961, she wrote a textbook - Music at Your Fingertips:
Aspects of Pianoforte Technique - which remains in print, and later joined the
Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, first as an artist-in-residence,
then as a faculty member.
A couple of years later, she married for the second time, to
Dr James Kerr, a political science professor. They remained together until his
death in 2000, and she described him as the "love of my life".
"I'd marry him again if I could, he's still my
sweetheart," she told The Guardian in 2022.
She remained active throughout her life - and, during the
first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, uploaded home recordings of Beethoven's
Sonatas to YouTube, to celebrate his 250th anniversary.
She celebrated her 97th birthday with a recital at Lebanon
Valley College, Pennsylvania; and returned to Decca in 2022 to record what
would become her final album.
Titled My Life In Music, it included touching performances
of pieces by Rachmaninoff, Bach and Debussy - approached with a sense of tender
nostalgia, as she reflected on her career.
Among the recordings was a version of Chopin's Prelude in F
Major, a tribute to her Polish roots, which became one of her personal
favourites.
"I had the honour of being with her during her
recording session," said Moorman-Stahlman.
"After recording several takes of this work... she
quietly turned to me and said, 'This one is good. I would like to have this one
played when I ascend into heaven'."
Formal plans for a memorial service and concert will be
announced in the coming days.
