Teodor Leszetycki

(Fedor Osipovich Leshetitskii). Born June 22, 1830, in Łańcut, in present-day Rzeszów Województwo; died Nov. 14, 1915, in Dresden. Polish pianist and teacher; pupil of K. Czerny.

Leszetycki made his debut as a concert pianist in 1842. He lived in St. Petersburg from 1852 to 1878, teaching at the St. Petersburg Conservatory between 1862 and 1878. After 1878 he continued his career in Vienna. Developing A. G. Rubinstein’s principles of piano technique, he evolved his own teaching methods and established one of the most important schools of piano playing. The playing of Leszetycki and his pupils (among them A. N. Esipova, V. V. Pukhal’skii, I. Paderewski, and A. Schnabel) was distinguished by a soft, cantabile tone, careful and elegant execution of detail, and perfect phrasing; it was also somewhat mannered. Leszetycki composed many piano pieces, chiefly of the salon type.