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Malwine Brée, The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method (New York: Haskell House, 1969)

Issued originally in German in 1902, this book was approved by Leschetizky and written by his longtime assistant Malwine Brée. She had learned the method from Leschetizky in St. Petersburg, Russia, and later in Vienna prepared hundreds of students to study with the master. Leschetizky was "no friend of theoretical Piano-Methods" but did accept that everything printed reflected his personal views on training to play the piano. He was especially delighted that Brée used pictures of his own hands.

We can see that circularity is one dimension of his method in chapter 26 on "Practice and Study:" "Thought is most essential in the study of pieces. I lay stress on memorizing, because it is the best way to possess one's self permanently of a new piece. Go about it as follows: Read (play) it through only once, so as not to grow accustomed to faulty fingering; then take up one measure at a time, analyze it harmonically, and determine the fingering and pedaling. Abstain for the present from fine shading and emotion, until Matter is conquered. Now read your practice measure through carefully and repeatedly with the eye, until the notes stand out clearly before your mental vision, and name the notes a few times either aloud or mentally; and then--not before--play the measure from memory, but no faster than memory can dictate the notes. When you can play the piece faultlessly by heart, add a new portion playing the piece from the beginning. The next day you will re-memorize it rapidly. This is "memorizing in the form of addition.

One Large Case in 4 Parts

A. Sergei Vinogradskii (1856-1953)
B. Theodor Leshitizky (1930-1915
  Malwine Brée, The Groundwork of the Leschetizky Method (1969)
  Burkhard Muth, Theodor Leschetizky (2003)
  Comtesse Angèle Potocka, Theodore Leschetizky (1903)
  The Thomas de Hartmann Papers
C. Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
  Lorraine Byrne, Schubert's Goethe Setting (2003)
D. Guillaume de Machaut (ca. 1300-1377)
  David Hahn, "Numerical Composition" (1993)
  Elizabeth Leach, Machaut's Music (2003)
Lloyd Ackert
Whitney Humanities Center
Yale University
53 Wall Street
P.O. Box 208298
New Haven, CT 06520
Office: (203).432.3112

lloydackert@sbcglobal.net

The Music library is located in the Sterling Memorial Library to the right of the circulation desk:

Music Library
Yale University Library
120 High Street
PO Box 208240
New Haven, CT 06520-8240 USA
Phone: (203) 432-0492 FAX: (203) 432-7339