ROSITA RENARD (1894-1949)
Chilean pianist

Rosita Renard, a shy and introverted woman off the stage, was a powerhouse of a pianist, wild and exuberant in her playing.  Her technical capabilites compared favorably to any of the great pianists of her day, and her musicality was extraordinary.

At the age of fifteen, after having made her debut in Chile the year before playing the Grieg piano Concerto, she was sent to study at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin.  Her teacher was Martin Krause, a pupil of Liszt.  One of her fellow students and very good friends was Edwin Fischer.  Another friend of Rosita Renard's, Claudio Arrau, came later to Krause's masterclass.  It is interesting to note that her approach and Arrau's, with the same formatinon, were at the very opposite end of the bell-shaped curve.

In 1945, this wonderful pianist who had retired from the concert stage for reasons of temperament and returned to Chile was discovered by the great German conductor, Erich Kleiber.  They performed Mozart concerti together all over South America and her concert career blossomed anew.

In 1949 Rosita Renard gave a recital at Carnegie Hall which the critics determined to be "Stirring, impressive, enchanting".  Fortunately for us all, this concert was recorded and can be heard in its entirety below.

Pianists of today would do well to study Rosita Renard's performances of Beethoven and leard from her use of dynamics.  We hear about the mercurial Beethoven and his emotional outbursts, and yet we do not hear evidence of this Beethoven in the overwhelming majority of current performances of his piano sonatas.

Carnegie Hall Recital, 19th January 1949

Bach  Partita 1 in B♭ major
i Prélude - ii Allemande - iii Courante - iv Sarabande - v Minuets 1 and 2 - vi Gigue

Mozart  Sonata 8 in A minor, K 310 (12:44)
i Allegro maestoso - ii Andante cantabile con espressione - iii Presto

Mendelssohn  Variations Serieuses, Op 54 (25:56)
Mozart  Rondo in D major, K 485 (35:37)

Chopin Études
in E♭ major, Op 10 ~11 (41:15) - in E Minor, Op 25 ~5 (43:18) - in E major, Op 10 ~3 (46:11)
in D♭ major, Op 25 ~8 (49:26) - in A minor, Op 25 ~4 (50:39) - in A minor, Op 10 ~2 (52:22)

Chopin  Mazurka in C♯ minor, Op 30 ~4 (53:46)
Mendelssohn  Prelude in B♭ major, Op 104 ~1 (56:42)

Chopin Études
in F minor, Op 25 ~2 (58:57) - in F major, Op 25 ~3 (1:00:06) - in C♯ minor, Op 10 ~4 (1:01:42)

Ravel  Valses nobles et sentimentales (1:03:41)
Debussy  Danse (1:14:19)
Chopin  Mazurka in F♯ minor, Op 59 ~3 (1:18:48)