# How many public performances did famous composers conduct / play in?



## VoiceFromTheEther (Aug 6, 2021)

Anyone you can estimate it about, be it Haendel, Liszt, or Boulez.

Say, "safely over 200" for Anton Rubinstein


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## MarkW (Feb 16, 2015)

Hard to guesstimate. For Bach, hundreds if Church performances count. Several hundred private ones for Haydn. Mozart and Beethoven, and Chopin, and Schumann, and Liszt were concert pianists for part or all of their careers; Mahler and Mendelssohn conductors; Brahms played piano in bars when younger. . .


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## Kreisler jr (Apr 21, 2021)

Chopin restricted himself fairly early to private salons, I believe, and didn't much like performing for larger audiences. Beethoven appeared only a few times after ca. 1812 because of his deafness, I think he most frequently performed in his first decade in Vienna ca. 1792-1802 and not that often afterwards. Schumann's piano career was over before it had really begun but he conducted (badly, it seems), Clara was more famous throughout their life... So these three were probably not among the most busy performers.

But for long lived active composers like Vivaldi, Bach, Handel, Haydn, Liszt, or even for not so long lived but very active ones like Mozart or Mahler we have certainly many hundreds of (semi)public appearances (court or church performances were most of the time not exactly private like playing for a dozen of friends).


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## HerbertNorman (Jan 9, 2020)

I would have loved to have been one of the guests at the "Schubertiaden"


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## Pat Fairlea (Dec 9, 2015)

Rachmaninoff must have racked up a high score?


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## David Phillips (Jun 26, 2017)

Elgar toured with the London Symphony Orchestra. His party piece was Brahms' Third Symphony.


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## GraemeG (Jun 30, 2009)

Brahms toured as a pianist & later conductor for most of his life, even if he eventually restricted himself mostly to his own works as the years went by.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

Gathering exact numbers would be difficult because records where not always kept. However, some general inferences can be made based on changes to do with the following:

Power structures - With the erosion of the court system, musicians where no longer servants but freelance artists. If a freelancer was able to make a decent living from music, it stands to reason that he would have given a fair amount of concerts.

Travel - Even if musicians where free to travel during the time before rail, they had to endure being thrown around a carriage for months or years. They where able to travel faster by rail to places far beyond their town or city. With the industrial revolution, populations became urbanised.

Social changes - From the French revolution onwards, the ancien regime struggled to retain political power but had to grant economic concessions. That impacted on culture, which included the building of venues like concert halls, opera houses and museums which opened up access to the arts and also provided gathering places for the bourgeoisie. This led to establishment of philharmonic societies with regular concert seasons rather than just ad-hoc events.

There are other points to be made, such as influence among peers. Paganini was the role model for many, including Liszt. There's also the opening up of the American market, which was made accessible with ocean liners (e.g. Saint-Saens, Mahler). Rachmaninov was probably the last composer-virtuoso, and things had changed by the end of his career. He saw advances in recording technology, the radio, cinema during his lifetime. Mass air travel, vinyl records and television where just around the corner, so too the postwar economic boom which rapidly increased social mobility.



Pat Fairlea said:


> Rachmaninoff must have racked up a high score?


Certainly. He also worked as a conductor but was more in demand as a pianist. His career spanned from the 1890's to his death in 1943. Until 1917 he was based in Russia, and had given tours on the continent, UK and USA. After that he settled in the USA, and apart from his own music he mainly played music between Beethoven and the early 20th century. He used the American rail system which, at the time, was still one of the best in the world. During the yearly break from the concert season, he spent time learning new repertoire and composing.


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