One-Hander

Bostonians closed their eyes and doubted their ears last week. Reporters rushed backstage where the hero of the afternoon, excited by his ovation, said: "Look! I can tie my own four-in-hand, too!"

Paul Wittgenstein, famed one-armed Austrian pianist, had made his U. S. debut with the Boston Symphony, playing a Concerto especially composed for him by Maurice Ravel. Bostonians closed their eyes because it seemed incredible that a single left hand could compass a keyboard so quickly and completely, make the treble sound clear and strong while the bass poured out a seething undercurrent. Compared with most pianists, Paul Wittgenstein has a fairly small hand. His trick was to train it to lightning speed, to develop his pedal technique so that he could cover transitions gracefully and subtly, give a solid, two-handed effect.

Wittgenstein was once a prize pupil of the Master Leschitizky who taught Paderewski. In those days he had two hands. Year after his Viennese debut came the War. Like any loyal 25-year-old Austrian, he went off to fight. On the way to the Russian frontier his right arm was wounded. He lost consciousness, woke up to find himself in a Russian prison camp. He was shunted about behind the lines, spent six months in Siberia before his group was exchanged for Russian prisoners in Austria.

Minus one hand, his musical career seemed ended. But music obsessed him and he discovered that he could still do wonderful things with his left hand. A year later he gave his second Vienna concert and his prestige spread throughout Europe. Since then Leopold Godowsky and Moritz Rosenthal have made many of his arrangements. Besides last week's Concerto, original music has been written for him by Erich Korngold, Sergei Prokofief, Richard Strauss.

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