Who Was Teresa Carreño? The Legendary Pianist Admired by Grieg and Arrau

Teresa Carreño
Venezuelan pianist. Caracas, 1853 – New York, 1917.

Read this article in spanish.

The composer Edvard Grieg, after hearing her perform his Piano Concerto in A minor, said to her:

“Madam, I did not know my concerto was so beautiful.”

This took place at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig.

The New York Times critic Joseph Horowitz, in an interview for his book Conversations with Claudio Arrau (1982):

Joseph Horowitz: I know you had a special admiration for Teresa Carreño.

Claudio Arrau: Ah! She was a goddess. She had an incredible drive and energy. I believe I never heard anyone fill the old hall of the Berlin Philharmonie with so much sound. Her octaves were fantastic—I think no one today can execute such octaves with that speed and energy. Incredible!

The Russian composer Anton Rubinstein called her:
“The Empress of the Piano.”

This quote appears on the cover of The Etude magazine (1939), where we see a very young Teresa Carreño. Twenty-two years had already passed since her death, and the United States paid tribute to her by commemorating her on this cover.

This extraordinary Venezuelan pianist developed her artistic life between the United States and Europe. She stood alongside the greatest pianists of the second half of the 19th century and the early 20th century.

Franz Liszt, in Paris, after hearing Carreño—then a child prodigy—told her:

“Little one, God has given you the greatest of gifts: genius. Work, develop your talents. Above all, remain true to yourself, and in time you will become like one of us.”

(M. Milinowski, “Teresa Carreño,” Monte Ávila Editores, 1986)