Ignaz Friedman: Romantic Master Pianist

11 The Piano According to Tiegerman

239 11 The Piano According to Tiegerman Many of Tiegerman’s students eagerly shared their memories. Here are some excerpts from those conversations, giving a fuller picture of his character and approach to music. Dr. Stephen Papastephanou Letter and telephone interview, Lutherville, Maryland, 1997. When I was eight years old, my father took me to the Tiegerman Conservatory , in Cairo, Egypt, for piano lessons. The conservatory was run by its director, Mr. Ignace Tiegerman. Mr. Tiegerman was a small man, about 5'2'' [in fact, he was 4'10'']. His profile was a cross between Chopin and Horowitz. He had a full head of hair, and rather small hands. He wore a long gray coat, and his arrival at the conservatory inspired respect and fear. Every three months, we would have a student recital-exam. Walking in the conservatory during the recital-exam gave me some anxiety. The main hall had been changed into a concert hall by the addition of rows of chairs, in front of which a platform had been erected, on which Mr. Tiegerman’s private Steinway had been placed. Mr. Tiegerman and the other music teachers (violin, cello, etc.) were sitting behind a table placed in front of the platform with the report cards in front of them. My teacher was Mrs. Irene Boorkser, a Russian lady probably married to an Englishman . Each one would play his piece, and Mr. Tiegerman would grade the performance, and would write comments on the rhythm, technique, etc. 239 240 · Ignaz Friedman The report would then be handed to the parents. Needless to say, any negative comment inspired fear in me, and being very young at the time, I took the comments personally. I somehow thought that Mr. Tiegerman did not somehow like me. After four years or so at the conservatory, Mr. Tiegerman told my parents that he would be happy to take me as one of his private students. It was an honor to be a Tiegerman student, and one felt that he belonged to a privileged class. In view of the fact that I felt that he did not like me, I refused, and decided to leave the conservatory and take lessons with a different lady teacher, who had taken master classes with Cortot in Paris. A few years later I left Cairo for Alexandria as a student in the medical school, and had several other piano teachers. About 1957, I returned to Cairo, and continued my studies at Cairo University, where I graduated from medical school in 1960. At that time (1957) I met Edward Said, a young American, who spent six months in Cairo, where his father had a big store of business supplies, and six months in New York. Edward, who was an accomplished pianist, told me that he was advised in New York to take lessons with a Mr. Tiegerman, who was a great pianist and one of the few Leschetizky students still alive. At this time I had matured, and started to realize that Mr. Tiegerman was not a man who disliked me, but in fact a somewhat famous pianist. I then decided I would go back to the conservatory, and see if I could take lessons with him. I was immediately accepted as his student. Mr. Tiegerman taught in a large room, with two pianos. One was a Steinweg grand with a mechanism allowing the playing of piano rolls (although I never saw it in action) and the other was a six-foot Steinway, which was locked and used only by Mr. Tiegerman and in the students’ recitals. It was in excellent shape. The Steinweg was somewhat tired, but also in good shape. As I started taking lessons, I gradually realized that I was taking lessons from a pianistic giant. This small man with the small hands could produce such a singing, beautiful tone that was hard to comprehend. At first it seemed that it was pure talent. Obviously he produced a tone that could not be duplicated. The lesson was taught in French, but since Edward was taking lessons with him, Mr. Tiegerman had decided that he would throw some English words in the lesson. The Piano According to Tiegerman · 241 He insisted on a variety of pianistic styles. For example, the lesson would start with a prelude and fugue by Bach, followed by Mozart, and finally by Chopin or Debussy. He refused to limit the lesson to...