Brahms Performance Practice in a New Context: The Bruce Hungerford Recorded Lessons with Carl Friedberg

Abstract

A product of the student-teacher relationship between Australian pianist Bruce "Leonard" Hungerford (1922-1977) and German pedagogue Carl Friedberg (1872-1955) are fifteen recorded lessons of more than twenty hours from February 1951 through May 1952, now part of the Bruce Hungerford Collection at the International Piano Archives at Maryland (IPAM). These lessons yield a remarkable repository of insight into Brahms performance practice, as Friedberg was a student of Clara Schumann and protégé of Brahms.

Part I, Chapter One: Bruce Hungerford and Carl Friedberg: Introduction and Context presents biographical surveys of the lives and careers of Hungerford and Friedberg. Chapter Two: The Recorded Lessons consists of the lessons' genesis and nature, repertoire, and aspects of interpretation, technique, and performance practice, as well as Friedberg's first-hand accounts of a number of musicians, conductors, and composers from Bach to Busoni. Chapter Three: Brahms Performance Practice presents Friedberg's personal history with Brahms as musician, composer, and conductor, and focuses on the Brahms repertoire covered in the lessons. Analysis and commentary regarding the significance of the lessons follow.

Part II: The Transcription of the Hungerford-Friedberg Lessons consists of the transcription and accompanying indices of the recorded lessons. Appendix A: Hungerford Memorabilia contains a biography by Thomas Stanback, published interview, and discography. Appendix B: Friedberg Memorabilia contains performance reviews, recital dates and programs, and compositional oeuvre with discography. Appendix C: Hungerford-Friedberg Memorabilia presents reproductions of selected photographs, letters, and documents from the correspondence and scrapbooks of the Bruce Hungerford and Carl Friedberg Collections at IPAM.