Claudio Arrau

Claudio Arrau (February 6, 1903–June 9, 1991) was a Chilean-American pianist, of world fame for his interpretations of a huge repertory spanning from the baroque to 20th-century composers. He is considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.

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Arrau was born in Chill?n, the son of eye doctor Carlos Arrau and Lucrecia Le?n. He belonged to one of the oldest and most important families of Southern Chile, his ancestor Lorenzo de Arrau was sent to Chile by King Carlos III of Spain.

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He was a child prodigy, giving his first concert at age 5. At age 7 he was sent on a Chilean government grant to study in Germany, where he was a pupil of Martin Krause, who had studied under Franz Liszt.

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Arrau was the teacher of Karlrobert Kreiten, among others.

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He recorded the complete piano music of Robert Schumann, and edited his works for publication. He is also famous for his recordings of Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms, Liszt, and Debussy, among others. He played with style and passion, although often with a seemingly "untidy" technique; he was more musician than technician. He is said to have had a warm persona, and his music is consistent with this description. In particular his rich, weighty tone, which has been likened to vintage Burgundy wine, lends his interpretations a distinctive voice. Although he often plays with slower and more deliberate tempi since his middle age, Arrau has a reputation for being a virtuoso early in his career.

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In February 1979, Arrau became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

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At the time of his death in M?rzzuschlag, Austria, he was working on a CD recording of the complete works of Bach for keyboard.

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In 1937 he married German Jewish mezzosoprano Ruth Schneider, and they had three children: Carmen (1938), Mario (1940-1988) and Christopher (1959).

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An interesting information is that through his great-grandmother, Mercedes Daroch, he was a descendant of the Campbells of Glenorchy (Scottish aristocracy), and thus of the Royal House of Bruce and of Charlemagne, so he was related distantly to all the sovereign dynasties that have once reigned over Europe.

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February 6: February 6 is the 37th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 328 days remaining, 329 in leap years....

1903: 1903 has the latest occurring solstices and equinoxes for 400 years, because the Gregorian calendar hasn't had a leap year for seven years or a century leap year since 1600. See 1696....

June 9: June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining....

Claudio Arrau related Images and Photos (experimental)

Claudio Reyna

Claudio Lopez