Horowitz, Vladimir

Horowitz, Vladimir (hôr`ōwĭts), 1904–89, Russian-American virtuoso pianist, b. Kiev. Horowitz studied at the Kiev Conservatory. After a Russian debut at the age of 17, he appeared with overwhelming success in Berlin and Paris in 1924 and made his American debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1928. Possessing remarkable technical virtuosity, he soon became one of the most popular pianists in the United States. Unlike contemporary pianists, he was willing to interpret the music independently of the composer. In 1933 he married the daughter of Arturo Toscanini and settled (1940) in New York City. Horowitz gave few recitals after 1953.

Bibliography

See biography by H. C. Schonberg (1992).

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Horowitz, Vladimir

(born Oct. 1, 1903, Berdichev, Russia—died Nov. 5, 1989, New York, N.Y., U.S.) Russian pianist. He attended the Kiev Conservatory and made his debut in 1921. His stunning technique gained him a large international reputation, and he became an inveterate touring performer, giving 100 concerts a year in the U.S. alone. In 1933 he married Arturo Toscanini's daughter, Wanda. Always susceptible to nervous strain, in 1953 he decided to quit public performance; his return to the concert stage in 1965 was attended by great publicity. He favoured the works of Romantics such as Robert Schumann, Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and his friend Sergey Rachmaninoff. He continued to perform into his 80s.

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Horowitz, Vladimir Samoilovich 

Born on Sept. 18 (Oct. 1), 1904, in Kiev. American pianist.

Horowitz studied with V. V. Pukhal’skii, S. Tarnovskii, and F. M. Blumenfel’d in the Kiev Conservatory. After his graduation in 1921 he gave concerts in various cities in the USSR. In 1925 he moved abroad, and in 1928 he moved to New York. During 1936–38 and 1953–64 he gave no concerts because of illness and lived mainly in Switzerland; be made many recordings without appearing in public. In 1965 he returned, with great success, to the concert stage. Horowitz is one of the world’s outstanding pianists. His playing is distinguished by spontaneous dynamism and exceptional virtuosity. He is famous for his renditions of the concerti of P. I. Tchaikovsky, S. V. Rachmaninoff, and S. S. Prokofiev and the works of F. Liszt and for his virtuoso transcriptions, some of which (including Dance of Death by C. Saint-Saëns) Horowitz transcribed in his own exceptional virtuoso manner. He has written a piano fantasy based on themes from Bizet’s opera Carmen, as well as a number of paraphrases and transcriptions.

REFERENCE

Kogan, G. “Vladimir Gorovits.” Sovetskaia muzyka, 1965, no. 1.