Karl Ulrich Schnabel

An internationally celebrated teacher of the piano, his students include, among others, Leon Fleisher, Claude Frank, Richard Goode, Kwong-Kwong Ma, Stanislav Ioudenitch, Jon Nakamatsu, Murray Perahia, and Peter Serkin.

Schnabel left Berlin in 1933 when Adolf Hitler came to power, settling briefly at Lake Como; he emigrated to the United States in 1939, shortly before World War II.

During this time, Karl Ulrich Schnabel also maintained an elaborate miniature electric train set, complete with timetables.

Their son Claude Alain Mottier (1972-2002), who was a pianist as well, died as an innocent victim in a traffic accident and was buried in the family grave.

In 2006, the municipality of Schwyz declared the grave site a protected monument wherefore it is exempted from regulations that stipulate the removal of the remains after a certain period.

[2] Karl Ulrich Schnabel inherited from his parents an approach that united dramatic intensity of expression with absolute fidelity to the printed text.

Schnabel made many recordings, solo and four-hand, for HMV, EMI, Philips, Musical Heritage Society, Sheffield, and TownHall, among others.

It is incredibly difficult for two people to play a piece on one piano and be exactly together in timing, phrasing, and expression, yet the Schnabels were beautifully together and made of every note a work of art.

"[5] Five years after his wife’s death, in 1979, Karl Ulrich Schnabel formed a new duo with the Canadian pianist Joan Rowland.

Beginning in 1947, he resumed a family tradition: annual international summer master courses at Lake Como, Italy.

In addition, he taught master courses in England, Scotland, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, Spain, Israel, Brazil, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and all over the United States, including at the Ravinia Festival.

Pianists who have played in Schnabel's master classes include Murray Perahia, Richard Goode, Wyung Whon Chung, Ursula Oppens and George Watson.

"[10] He also had a flair for imagery, describing the grotesque of Schumann's Fantasie as "a whole army of three-legged trolls advancing" and the turbulence of Chopin's Fantaisie as "Poseidon stirring up the waves with his big fork.