Friederich Kalkbrenner

Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1785–1849) – French pianist, composer and teacher of German extraction. He rose to international celebrity with performances in the UK in 1814. He returned to Paris in 1824 as an admired virtuoso. Kalkbrenner bore a crucial influence on the performance style and piano music of his day. We find mentions of him in the correspondence of Fryderyk Chopin, whose compositions in the style brillant bear a Kalkbrennerian stamp: the young Chopin’s opinion of the elder virtuoso swung between admiration and aversion. On meeting Kalkbrenner in Paris, the young Pole was highly rated by the famous pianist, who offered to teach him for a period of three years: ‘[…] I won’t be a copy of Kalkbrenner – explained Chopin at the time to his concerned Warsaw teacher Józef Elsner – he won’t expunge my lofty desire and idea – overly bold perhaps – to forge a new world for myself’.