Peter Stadlen (14 July 1910 – 21 January 1996) was an Austrian pianist, musicologist and critic, specialising in the study and interpretation of Beethoven and the composers of the Second Viennese School.
Stadlen, who was born in Vienna, initially studied piano there with Paul Weingartner and composition with Joseph Marx and Max Springer (1877–1954). He then continued his piano studies in Berlin between 1929 and 1933 with Leonid Kreutzer.[1] By 1934 he had embarked on a career as concert pianist.[2] Stadlen premiered the Variations for piano, Op. 27 by Webern on 26 October 1937 in Vienna under the direction of the composer.[3] (Much later he edited the definitive interpretive edition, published by Universal Edition in 1979).[4] Stadlen was also the soloist in the German premiere of Schoenberg’s Piano Concerto at the Darmstadt Summer School on 17 July 1948.[5]
After the Anschluss, Stadlen left Austria and sought refuge in Britain in 1938. However, two years later he was interned and deported to Austria (between 1940 and 1942). Back in Britain he resumed performances at the National Gallery Concerts (organised by Myra Hess)[6] with the Austrian Musicians Group,[7] and in regular contemporary music broadcasts with the BBC.[8] Eventually, however, a neurological finger malfunction caused him to give up performing, and he became a music critic, serving the Daily Telegraph for 26 years (the last decade as chief music critic, succeeding Martin Cooper). He retired in 1985.[9] He became increasingly disillusioned with serial music and this was reflected in his criticism of contemporary music.[10]
Stadlen spent many years trying to track down Beethoven's metronome, an invention which Beethoven had commissioned. It was believed that the weight on his metronome was faulty as some of the speeds written on his pieces seemed incorrect. He wished to ascertain the make-up of this weight and to see the correct speeds which Beethoven himself had intended. He finally tracked it down to a small antiques shop only to discover that, although the metronome itself was intact, the weight itself was missing.[11][12]
Stadlen was a lecturer in music at the University of Reading (1965–1969) and visiting fellow of All Souls College, Oxford (1967–1968).[2] He was married to the philosopher, political activist and musicologist Hedi Stadlen, with whom he lived in Hampstead.[13] There were two sons: Nicholas (who became a High Court judge) and Godfrey (a civil servant in the Home Office). He died in London. His archive and scores are preserved by the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.
^"Peter Stadlen | Royal College of Music". Rcm.ac.uk. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^ abSadie, Stanley (2001). "Stadlen, Peter". Grove Music Online. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.26508. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^Bailey, Katheryn and Puffett, Kathryn. The Life of Webern (CUP 1998), p 152
^Notes (2nd Series), Vol 37 No 2, December 1980, p 405-406
^"The Schubert Institute (UK)". 23 September 2006. Archived from the original on 23 September 2006. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^"The National Gallery concerts in Wartime London: a vignette from the Rosenberg collection". 19 October 2010. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^Norris, Geoffrey. 'Tribute to a critic with a true musician's understanding' in The Daily Telegraph, 7 December 1996
^For instance, Roberto Gerhard and Egon Wellesz on 26 November 1947. Radio Times issue 1258, 23 November 1947, p 16
^"Northcott, Bayan. Obituary in The Independent, 23 January 1996". Independent.co.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2020.
^'Serialism Reconsidered', in The Score No 22 (1958) pp. 12–27
^Stadlen, Peter. 'Beethoven and the Metronome', Music and Letters 48, No 4 (1967), p 330-349
^Forsen, Gray, Lindgren and Gray. Was Something Wrong with Beethoven's Metronome? American Mathematical Society Notices, October 2013
^Hedi Stadlen obituary, The Times, 31 January 2004
PeterStadlen (14 July 1910 – 21 January 1996) was an Austrian pianist, musicologist and critic, specialising in the study and interpretation of Beethoven...
Lewis J. Stadlen, American stage and screen character actor Nicholas Stadlen, British former High Court judge, son of Hedi and PeterPeterStadlen, Austrian...
Felix Stadlen was born in Hampstead, London on 3 May 1950. His parents were political activist Hedi Stadlen and pianist and composer PeterStadlen. He was...
Mannerist Century, Appendix: Correspondence between Anthony Stadlen (nephew of PeterStadlen) and William Bolcom, Feb. 2012". William Bolcom's blog (3 March...
Erwin Schulhoff, Eugenie Schwarzwald, Rudolf Serkin, Roger Sessions, PeterStadlen, Erika Stiedry-Wagner [de], Igor Stravinsky, Georg Trakl, Edgard Varèse...
"Voyages Through Time by Peter Ackroyd". The Sunday Times. London. Stadlen, Matthew (21 April 2012). "Five minutes with Peter Ackroyd". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved...
Hedi Stadlen (6 January 1916 – 21 January 2004), better known in Sri Lanka as Hedi Keuneman, was an Austrian Jewish philosopher, political activist, and...
Gonzalo Soriano Jaap Spaanderman Pietro Spada Dubravka Tomšič Srebotnjak PeterStadlen Martin Stadtfeld Andreas Staier Fanny Stål Camille-Marie Stamaty Susan...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Peter Lawrence Frederick Heyworth (3 June 1921 – 2 October 1991) was an American-born British music critic and biographer. He wrote a two-volume biography...
laryngeal cancer. Herbert McEver, 89, American sportsman and coach. PeterStadlen, 85, British pianist. Henry Serrano Villard, 95, American diplomat and...
interpreter for the American prosecution at the post-war Nuremberg trials PeterStadlen, Austrian-born pianist and musicologist; returned to Britain Franz Stampfl...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Exercise: A Portrait of Leon Kochnitzky (G. Schirmer, 1940) The Dream World of Peter Rose-Pulham (G. Schirmer, 1940) Dora Maar or the Presence of Pablo Picasso...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...
Martin Cooper, music critic from 1950, chief music critic, 1954–1976. PeterStadlen, music critic from 1959, chief music critic, 1976–85. Colin Mason, music...
Hughes (1911–1932) Richard Capell (1933–1954) Martin Cooper (1954–1976) PeterStadlen (1976–1985) Michael Kennedy (1986–2005) Geoffrey Norris (1995–2009)...