Piano Concerto For The Left Hand In D Major

One of the most astonishing stories in pianist history came from World War I veteran Paul Wittgenstein. A man with utter determination to make his dreams come true was surfacing in the pianist world.

All you have to do is see the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand in D Major, by French Composer Maurice Ravel. It is a true testament to his brilliance, and will as man to do what he loves best.

Back before World War I, a concert pianist by the name of Paul Wittgenstein was trying to make his mark in the world. After being drafted, he sadly lost his right arm throughout the fighting. However, Wittgenstein didn’t believe his concert piano career was over as a result.

Due to his inabilities, he began practicing his left-handed technique. The goal was to arrange two-handed works in such a way, that they would accommodate his one-handed state. By the late 1920s, Wittgenstein decided it was time to approach others about his innovation.

Sergei Prokofiev, Richard Wagner, and Benjamin Britten were among the illustrious composers who answered Wittgenstein’s call. And so did Maurice Ravel.

At this time, Ravel had never written a concerto before, though he had written piano solos. He was working on his Piano Concerto in G, more traditionally intended for two hands, and was feeling blocked. Enthusiastically taking up Wittgenstein’s challenge, Ravel studied the left-handed Etudes of Camille Saint-Saens. Ravel was determined that his left-handed Concerto would not be a mere stunt, but a noteworthy addition to piano repertoire.

Once complete, his masterpiece portrayed a dark piece of work about the struggles of a one-armed pianist. It was also about the long road to reinventing himself after a tragic injury. Turns out the craftsmanship was brilliant, and listeners couldn’t even tell it was being played by someone with one hand.

The biggest factor that allowed this to work, was the break-up into 3 sections. Normally, other concerti would have a Fast-Slow-Fast movement, but the Piano Concerto for the Left Hand was set up as Slow-Fast-Slow.

Wittgenstein was a client who was famously difficult to please. He found something to complain about in almost every concerto offered to him by his all-star line-up of composers. With Wagner’s work, Wittgenstein complained that the orchestration was too powerful to accompany a single-handed pianist, and would overpower the soloist. With Prokofiev’s work, Wittgenstein declared that he simply would not play it.

For Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand, Wittgenstein’s complaint had to do with the long solo cadenza just after the opening. “If I had wanted a solo piece,” he is said to have declared, “I wouldn’t have commissioned a concerto.” However, as Ravel refused to change it, Wittgenstein performed the work as written, and later came to like it.

In the end, the Concerto for the Left Hand was a true testament to the human spirit of, and more than just the overcoming nature of one man.