Claudio Arrau
Piano
1903 - 1991

https://www.arrauhouse.org

Claudio (aka Chinito) ARRAU León, born at midnight between the 6th and the 7th of February in Chillán (Ñuble, Chile), the third child of Dr. Don Carlos ARRAU Ojeda (1856-1904), an ophthalmoligist, philanthropist and guitar player, and Doña Lucrecia LEÓN Bravo-de-Villalba (1859-1959), a piano teacher.

Claudio's date of birth is usually celebrated on 6th of February, at mother's insistence.

Brother Carlos (1893) and sister Lucrecia (Quecha, 1897) were already members of the household.

[Birth registration No. 254, page 129, entered in Chillán on 03 March 1903 and kept by the Chillán Civil Registry (of Births, Deaths & Marriages)].

1908

Chile

Charity function -

Claudio Arrau's very first public performance at the still under construction Municipal Theatre of Chillán is reported as having taken place on Thursday 17th September (or Saturday 19th*) at around 9:30 pm (sic), as a 5-year-old child prodigy using pedal extensions especially made for him.  

The performance is understood as having included more than one composition.  The following options have been put forward:

Option 1 -
> L. Streabbog's Louis XIII Air Op.115
> A piece for four hands, with mother
[Source: El Comercio daily, Chillán, 17th and 22nd September 1908]

Option 2 -
> Beethoven
> Liszt
> Mozart
[Source: 'Recuerdos y Pájaros', book by Enrique Bunster, Editorial del Pacífico, Santiago, Chile. Page 358]

Option 3 -
> Chopin's easier Études
> Schumann's Kinderscenen
> Beethoven's Variations on "Nel cor più non mi sento"
> Beethoven's Rondo
> Liszt's Consolation
[Source: Arrau's own imprecise reminiscence in 'Clavier' magazine of November 1972, possibly intermingled with subsequent recitals as a child or referring to the whole of the initial period].

Option 4 -
> Mozart:   Sonata K545
> Beethoven:   Variazioni su "Nel cor più non mi sento"
> Chopin:   The first of "Troi nouvelles études"
> L. Streabbog:  L'Aire Louis XIII
> A piece for four hands, with mother
[Source: 'Claudio Arrau, Il filosofo', book by Piero Rattalino, Zecchini Editore, Varese, 2006]

[N.B.: *Actual date remains somewhat doubtful, most likely as a result of a newspaper's reprint mistake]

1909

Chile

Claudio Arrau's mother decided to move temporarily to Santiago and settled at Calle Dieciocho (street name).  Mother soon made various contacts and enlisted the help of admiring critic and writer Antonio ORREGO Barros, so that the child was able to give piano playing demonstrations before numerous Members of Parliament in Santiago.

1909

Chile

After listening to the child playing at his presidential residence, the then President of Chile, Mr. Pedro MONTT, entertained the idea of Claudio Arrau's studying overseas. 

The President expressed his admiration for the child in a written dedication, dated 30 September 1909, inserted in a book on famous musicians [Las nacionalidades de la música (?)], given as a present.  The dedication read:

"To Claudio Arrau as a token of the loving admiration whith which I have heard him playing the piano at the age of six years.  In Santiago, on the 30th day of September of 1909.  Pedro Montt ".

Influential Chilean musician Enrique SORO Barriga was reported to have stated after the recital that he had just heard a genious playing.

[Source: El Comercio newspaper, Chillán, 16 October 1909]

1909

Chile

Claudio Arrau's second charity piano recital in Chillán, at the O'Higgins Theatre, on Sunday 24th October, as a 6-year-old child prodigy playing:

> Haydn's Gypsy Rondo,
> Beethoven's Bagatelle in A minor Für Elise,
> Friedrich Seitz's Student Concert (with Heriberto Urrutia on the violin), and
> Grieg's Le matin suite (with mother at the piano).

[Source: El Comercio newspaper, Chillán, Thursday 28th October 1909]
[Source: La Discusión newspaper, Chillán, Thursday 28th October 1909]

1909

Chile

Claudio Arrau's first piano recital in Santiago, at the age of 6, including works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Chopin, received with amazement.

[This entry needs completion]

1909

Chile

Premonitory assessment of Claudio Arrau's first Santiago recital by critic and writer Antonio ORREGO Barros, in an article entitled The Chilean Mozart, published by the Selecta magazine of Santiago in November 1909.

[Source: Selecta, Year 1, No.8, pages 275 & 276]

1909

Chile

Claudio Arrau undertakes private tutoring under distinguished Italian Music Teacher Bindo PAOLI  from the Santiago Conservatory, after demonstrating his skills in a transposition examination taken before Teachers Paoli and Luigi Stefano GIARDA in November 1909.

1910

Chile

Claudio Arrau receives in February 1910 a Scholarship from the Chilean Parliament to undertake studies in Santiago.  Paoli tutored Claudio on Mozart's sonatas and Bach's préludes.

1910

Chile

Claudio Arrau's piano recital at the La Moneda Presidential Palace in Santiago on Saturday 4th June, at the age of 7, before an audience including President Pedro MONTT and a number of ministers, diplomats, and artists.
 
The recital included works by Bach, Grieg, Mozart, and Carl Reinecke.  Violinist Lucía Vázquez accompanied the child in two of the works.

1910

Chile

In November, the scholarship privilege was extended to pursuing studies in Berlin, at the time held as the artistic capital of the world.
 
[The scholarship was subsequently debated and renewed several times in Parliament, until discontinued in 1921].

Newspaper La Discusión of Chillán, dated 5th January, publishes an article entitled Claudio Arrau, written by Efraín VÁSQUEZ Jara, describing the unbelievable technical resources displayed by Claudio in order to compensate for his small size whilst making delightful music.

Valparaíso's Sucesos magazine of 11th February publishes an article detailing Claudio Arrau's recent visit to the magazine premises, where he was asked to pose for a photo and provide his first ever autograph. 

The article contains a record of the optimistic predictions about Claudio's future made by the Musical Section Head of the Fine Letters Council, Mr Agustín CANNOBIO.  

A recital for the press given by Claudio following his visit to Sucesos is also mentioned.

Farewell recital in Chillán on Sunday 7th May, by an eight-year-old Claudio Arrau, with a program comprising:

> Chopin:  Étude No.3
> Schumann:  Andante and Variations (for two pianos)
> Mozart:  Fantasie in D minor
> Moszkowski:  Danse Espagnole (for four hands)

> Chopin:  Rondo (for two pianos)
> Beethoven:  Variations on a Theme
> Raff, Joachim:  Tarantelle (for four hands)
> Duvernoy, J.B.:  Feu roulant Op.256 (for two pianos)

Piano demonstrations by Claudio Arrau in Berlin at the age of 8.

Whilst a child prodigy, Claudio Arrau perforates in Berlin the following pieces on four Römhildt Virtuola piano rolls:  

Moscheles, Ignaz:  Gesellschaftskonzert, 1. Satz, Allegro maestoso [Roll 5167]
Moszkowski, Moritz:  Tarantelle, from Op.77
[Roll 5168]
Haydn, Josef:  Allegro in F major
[Roll 5169], and
Bach, J.S.:  Klein Präludium No. 3 in C minor
[Roll 5170]

Original copies of these rolls (including the instrument to play them) are preserved at the Pianola Museum of Amsterdam.

[N.B.: These rolls have never been reissued on any medium]