More About Carl Friedberg.

The thing I most remember about this remarkable man is something I have noticed with other great artists. There was an element of not quite being on earth, rather the air of a person who had so conquered his demons that he could live with his art as naturally as one breathes. Not that he wasn't definite about his likes and dislikes. My teacher, Mary Newett Dawson, often went to meet him when he arrived in Kansas City. I remember her laughing that it took three restaurants before they found one he would go into. The first two had recorded music, and that was a no go for him. He was definite with the Bellerive Hotel about his accomodation as well. As a Steinway Artist, the Steinway people always placed a grand in his suite, as well as a small upright in his bedroom. He claimed that he actually listened better when he played a smaller piano. That helped me in latter years when I often had to practice on upright pianos of uncertain origins. If Friedberg could do that, so could I.

To have a lesson with Mr. Friedberg cost 50.00....which was a huge amount of money in the early 1950's. The payment on my Baldwin Acousonic was only 10.00. But my parents paid it and never complained about it. My father was so amused he kept the returned check for one of the lessons, and gave it to me years later. I had a really good repertoire to take to him, thanks to my teacher, and I felt comfortable with all of it. Looking back I am amazed I played all of it. I never was much for tracking my practice hours, and I am sure some days I did very little. But I was organized, so I could always tell more or less what sort of progress I was making. I took Debussy's "La terrasse des audiences du clair de lune" for my first lesson. I look back on that and smile, as I am sure as a 17 year old there would have been a few errors, in rhythm particularly. I did not play wrong notes, as my teacher would never have allowed me to get away with that. "The terrace for moonlight audiences..." was a phrase Debussy read in Le Figaro, depicting a large audience seated on a hillside, listening to a religious prophet. Freidberg likened the opening phrase to the spider slowly decending from his web by a long, silver thread. I was hooked from that moment!. I also remember playing "La puerta del Vino", and about those loud crashing chords at the beginning he said they were like the swinging doors leading into a salon of very doubtful social standing. I was even more hooked over that! Needless to say, this man had imagination.

Friedberg had a way of getting you to do what he wanted by playing on your imagination. There was alot of experimenting to get just the right mood and sound. He gave a certain direction for the technical part, but he helped you discover this in such a way as to make you think you actually discovered it yourself. There was a certain mystery in his teaching. He was uniquely philosophical....very German in this way....and was apt to quote Goethe and Aristotle in the same breath. "Know Thyself" was a special favorite.

I always had the feeling with Mr. Friedberg that we were partners in a search for the great mysteries of music. When I left he told me I had a wonderful gift for sound, and to trust myself. I was walking on air when I left, and I can say that was the first time I ever believed I really had talent. It was the turning point in my musical experience.