19 Oct 09 French Piano Composer Maurice Ravel

Do you think a one-armed man could have a career as a piano soloist? For one determined young man, the answer was, “Yes.”

The Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, by French composer Maurice Ravel, is a testament not only to Ravel’s brilliance, but also to the indomitable will of the man who commissioned it.

Before the turn of World War I, a concert pianist named Paul Wittgenstein had showed promise. Unfortunately, by the time the war was over, he had lost his right arm during the fighting. While most people would give up their dreams, he still believed he could be an exceptional pianist.

Due to his inabilities, he began practicing his left-handed technique. The goal was to arrange two-handed works in such a way, that they would accommodate his one-handed state. By the late 1920s, Wittgenstein decided it was time to approach others about his innovation.

Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Wagner, and Benjamin Britten were among the illustrious composers who answered Wittgenstein’s call. And so did Maurice Ravel.

One of the biggest issues Ravel had in the beginning was that he never wrote a concerto, even though he had written several piano solos. When Wittgenstein approached him, he had already started working on Concerto in G, but it was intended for a two-handed player. During this time he was at a stalemate, and so he decided to take Wittgenstein up on his challenge. During Ravel’s research of left-handed Etudes of Camille Saint-Saens, he began to believe his left-handed Concerto would be a noteworthy addition to piano repertoire.

Once complete, his masterpiece portrayed a dark piece of work about the struggles of a one-armed pianist. It was also about the long road to reinventing himself after a tragic injury. Turns out the craftsmanship was brilliant, and listeners couldn’t even tell it was being played by someone with one hand.

The biggest factor that allowed this to work, was the break-up into 3 sections. Normally, other concerti would have a Fast-Slow-Fast movement, but the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was set up as Slow-Fast-Slow.

Wittgenstein was a client who was famously difficult to please. He found something to complain about in almost every concerto offered to him by his all-star line-up of composers. With Wagner’s work, Wittgenstein complained that the orchestration was too powerful to accompany a single-handed pianist, and would overpower the soloist. With Prokofiev’s work, Wittgenstein declared that he simply would not play it.

Even the initial thought behind the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was negative. Wittgenstein believed the solo cadenza after the opening was too long. In fact, he told Ravel; “If I had wanted a solo piece, I wouldn’t have commissioned a concerto.” However, Ravel refused to change, and over time Wittgenstein began to like it.

In the end, the Concerto for the Left Hand was a true testament to the human spirit of, and more than just the overcoming nature of one man.