![]() ![]() But she took time to chronicle his horrific abuse in her autobiography Forbidden Childhood. "And that was what I did eventually, but I was 19 when I did it."Īfter Slenczynska's father died in 1951, her career flourished without him, as she made well-received recordings for the Decca label beginning in 1956. "I dreamed of running away from home," she recalls. "My only thought was to please my father and escape the magic stick." That "magic stick" was an 18-inch wooden shovel handle that Slenczynska's father used to beat her. ![]() ![]() "I wasn't allowed to think of myself," Slenczynska says. Slenczynska absorbed much from the great European pianists but her most consequential teacher was her father, a failed musician hell-bent on making a star out of his daughter even at the cost of her childhood. At 97, she can still make Chopin's chords shake with thunder. "The most important thing I learned was how to make the music carry a long, musical line," she says, moving over to the piano to demonstrate how to measure out those lines in terms of the climax points in Chopin's dramatic Ballade No. She was nine.īut that's not the only advice Slenczynska picked up from the famed Russian. Once calm, she played a showpiece for him, then transposed the key instantly when he requested. "I was a frightened little girl at the door of his apartment at the Villa Majestic in Paris," Slenczynska remembers, "and he pointed this long index finger down at me and he said, 'You mean that plays the piano?' " Slenczynska was shaking in fear until Rachmaninov sat her down and showed her a picture of his speed boat, making buzzing noises to imitate the motor. At 5 years old, Slenczynska gave a farewell recital and left for Europe to study with a who's who of 20th century piano legends, including Artur Schnabel, Alfred Cortot and Sergei Rachmaninov, whom she met for the first time in 1934 after substituting for him in concert. A Sacramento native, she was a child prodigy, hailed by critic Olin Downes as the greatest piano genius since Mozart. But Slenczynska's life story hasn't always been so cheerful. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Lovejoy LibraryĪs we settle into our video chat, I discover a sharp, smart woman with a hearty chuckle. ![]()
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