January 21, 2019 • 27 mins
Not only was Teresa Carreño the most famous pianist of her day, she is considered to be Venezuela’s first international super star. And her personal life was just as compelling as her public persona.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. And in
December so fairly recently, there was a Google noodle about
Terisakaino in celebration of her one hundred and sixty fifth birthday.
(00:26):
And as I often do when there is a cool
one that pops up that I don't know about, I
start noodling around looking for info about that person or topic.
And as I read more and more about today's Akno,
I kept wondering why on earth her life story has
not made been made into a fantastical biopic um And
as I told friends about it, they were like the same.
(00:46):
They were like, when is this going to be a movie?
I'm like, I don't know, but it should be, because
not only was she the most famous pianist of her day,
she is considered to be Venezuela's first international superstar, and
her personal life was just as compelling as her public persona,
so she jumped to the top of my list of subjects.
Before we get into her life, I just want to
(01:07):
make a very brief disclaimer there is discussion of some
domestic violence in this episode. We keep it quite brief.
It is not terribly long or detailed, but just know
that going in Maria, said Gertrudis Deus. Kreno Garcia de
Sena was born on December eighteen fifty three in Caracas, Venezuela.
Her father, Manuel and Tonio Kreno was a politician. He
(01:30):
was the Venezuelan Minister of Finance and he also served
as president of the National Bank, and he published a
book on manners. But he also played the piano and
wrote music in addition to all of that. And in
spite of having all these things that he was doing,
he was good at that one too. Yeah, And his
book on manners was apparently very very popular, like it
(01:51):
became kind of everybody's handbook for how to be a
proper person. And it was from her father Manuel that
today's A first started learning to play the piano. Know
because of the family's very comfortable economic status. There were
two pianos in the home, including a concert grand piano,
and the entire family was musical, so from birth, music
(02:11):
was absolutely all around her. And according to her father,
Today'sa began to move in rhythm to music as a tiny,
tiny baby like he saw in her. He felt that
she clearly had an instinct for music, and she also
started playing simple melodies by ear on the piano by
the time she was four. Shortly before she turned six,
Manuel was starting to teach his daughter, but soon he
(02:32):
brought in another teacher as well, a pianist from Germany
named Julius ho Hennas, and with this new teacher, she
was learning really really quickly and mastering works that were
composed by box, Chopin and Mendelssohn, among many others. By
the time she was seven, she had started writing her
own compositions and would also play improvisationally for friends and family.
(02:54):
They would challenge her by giving her a theme and
then watch her come up with her own original music
just quickly, in confide ly. Yeah. She apparently played in
terms of confidence like someone who had been playing for decades.
She just had no hesitation. There was nothing shy about her.
She would not hem and haw. She would literally just
be like okay and then set to it um. In
eighteen sixty two, Manuel moved the family to New York City,
(03:16):
and of course, uh you may have noticed that is
while the US was in the midst of the Civil War,
and Manuel was motivated in part by a desire to
continue his daughter's musical education and expand her opportunities. But
Venezuela was also in the midst of its own upheaval.
The Federal War, which ran from eighteen fifty nine to
(03:36):
eighteen sixty three, was the result of decades long tensions
that had roots in the dissolution of the Republic in
eighteen thirty, so this is not a Venezuelan history episode.
So the broad strokes version of the situation is that
by the time of the Federal War, the Conservative Party
championed a central government and the Liberal movement wanted more
(03:57):
regional self government. There are a lot of other finesse
elements to it, but Manuel, at this point, as a
long term government official, had a vested interest in getting
out of the country. As things started to escalate, New
York opened up whole new musical opportunities for the eight
year old Teresa. She started taking lessons from Louis Morrow
gosh Chalk. He was a New Orleans born musician who
(04:19):
had made a name for himself as a pianist and
a composer and Tracey's father invited him to hear his
daughter play. After that meeting, they made an agreement for lessons,
and Today's that kind I know would often site got
Shocked as her ideal as a pianist, and he influenced
her work greatly. Although it is actually unclear how long
he taught her or how many like sort of formal
(04:40):
lessons were actually given, he definitely exposed her to a
lot of new music and he really gave her an
education in playing, not just with precision and technique, but
also serving as an interpreter between the music printed on
the page and the listener's ear. But also seemed that
a child prodigy such as Karenno would be giving concerts,
but her father really resisted that idea at first. It
(05:04):
wasn't until the family had a financial crisis that he
finally consented to his daughter appearing on the stage, and
at that point it was because they desperately needed money.
On November eighteen sixty two, Today's they gave a concert
at Irving Hall in New York. In the evening's program
included works composed by Rassini, Thalberg, Hobble and her teacher
gut Shock, and she also played a waltz that she
(05:26):
had composed herself and named after her mentor, so that
was gut Chuck Waltz Opus one. The evening was a
huge success, and booking requests poured in for Today's After
that and over the next three weeks, she gave five
more concerts and published The gut Chuck Waltz, which sold
out repeatedly. And we're going to include a link to
a recording of that waltz in the show notes. From
(05:48):
that point, she was not even ten years old, but
she had started a real career as a concert pianist.
She toured around the US Northeast. She was invited to
the White House, where she played for President Abraham Lincoln
as an adult. She wrote about the experience and how
kind and unassuming the First family was. But the White
House grand piano was so terribly out of tune that
(06:09):
after playing just a few pieces, she had to stop,
and she refused to play anymore. Yeah, she found that
a jarring and unpleasant experience. In terms of the actual playing.
She really enjoyed visiting the White House and meeting everyone,
but the playing was absolutely non delightful. From eighteen sixty
four to eighteen sixty five, there was a brief hiatus
in her appearances. Her family at that point had become
(06:32):
concerned about the toll that being constantly in the spotlight
was taking on her, because remember she was still a child,
so they made the decision to put her career temporarily
on hold so that she could regroup and focus on
her health and well being. By eighteen sixty six, she
was back on the job, though she started to go
to bookings outside the United States carrying a letter of
(06:52):
recommendation from her mentor Gosh Shock. She went to Cuba
for a short tour. Then her father booked her on
a European tour, and that really changed her life. The
eighteen sixty six European tour began in Paris, and while
the Carenos were there. Today's a meant an assortment of
luminaries of the European music scene, so Hector Berlioz, Jachino
(07:12):
Rassini and previous podcast subject France List all made the
young virtuoso's acquaintance. There's a little bit of a calendar
disparity when it comes to Teresa's social contacts during this time.
It's mentioned in several of her biographies that she became
friends with and started teaching Blonding Olivier, who was listed
adult daughter, but she had died back in eighteen sixty two.
(07:36):
It's possible that there's some confusion between her and her sister,
Cosima Wagner, but that's not clear. Yeah, that's one of
those things that appeared in kind of the main biography
that was written of Kreno, and then it's gotten repeated
over time. And I don't know why no one ever
did the calendar math to go. That's not possible. Um So,
(07:57):
so it's like I said, it's a little unclear. But
in any case, Lizt was either convinced by a daughter,
as is often relayed in that version of the story,
or simply of his own accord, moved to offer to
take Today's on as a pupil, but she had to
move to Rome, where he was living at the time.
Today's father Manuel turned down this offer. Liszt was not
(08:18):
the only famous musician who offered to teach to Day's a.
Jacchino Rossini, upon realizing that she had talent as a
singer as well, began giving her voice lessons to develop
her mezzo soprano, and he actually told her that what
she should really be doing was pursuing a singing career.
The family decided to stay in Paris and they lived
there for several years to continue her education. She auditioned
(08:41):
for the Conservatoid Peri and she was denied on the
claim that she was already passed the level expected of graduates,
but she did take lessons from one of Chopin's former students,
French composer George Matthias. And coming up, we're going to
talk more about Today's time in Paris, including both success
and tragedy. But first we will take a little break
(09:02):
to hear from one of the sponsors that keeps stuff
you missed in history class going. While the Cares were
settling into their life in France, the family was hit
with a tragedy when Today's mother, Clorinda, died suddenly in
(09:22):
September of eighteen sixty six. Manuel and Teresa remained in
Paris and they continued to work on building Today's as
concert bookings, and over the next two years she worked
continuously in venues in France. In eighteen sixty eight, she
was booked on a tour in London, where she met
Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubenstein, who introduced himself after
(09:42):
seeing one of her concerts. Rubenstein did not formally teach
Today's a but he would give her notes on her playing.
He would listen and then write up some notes and
they would discuss, and the two of them became very
good friends. And Today's had ranked Rubinstein right below Gotchok
as a mentor and Today's and her father mon L
stayed in London as she learned from him. In this way.
(10:03):
Throughout all of this terrace that was making a really
nice living. In addition to the income from her concerts,
Manuel was also working as a teacher, and the father
and daughter were welcomed and the wealthiest houses in Europe.
Her talent opened a lot of doors and gave both
of them a life of luxury. Terday's had begun her
performing career as a soloist, but during her time in Europe,
(10:23):
as she became more and more popular, she began to
be invited to participate in more collaborative performances with other musicians.
Maurice Trakash, who began his career as a child pianist
as well, but then transitioned primarily to the role of
promoter for other musicians really saw the financial potential in
adding Terday's A to group concerts, because again she was
(10:44):
still very young and could play with people much older
than her. Soon, Strakosh had the fifteen year old karain
No touring the Netherlands, Switzerland and France along with other
popular performers. In eighteen seventy two, Today's musical career shifted
as she made use of the training that she had
received from Jacino Rassini, and she made her debut as
an opera singer. Her first role was Marguerite in a
(11:07):
production of Les Ugueneau, which is an opera about the St.
Bartholomew's Day massacre. This show was mounted by the Mapleson
Operatic Concert Tours company. But even as she ventured into opera,
Today's A was still booking performances as a pianist, and
in eighteen seventy two she once again toured with a
roster of talented artists assembled by Maurice Trakash, this time
(11:31):
on a tour of the United States, and it was
on this tour that she met violinist Emile Charai, and
the two fell in love on tour, and they married
on July thirteenth, eighteen seventy three, right after they returned
to London. Manuel Kareno was not happy about this marriage
at all. He thought that Emil was a bad match
for his daughter, in part because he was kind of
(11:52):
a mess and not very financially stable. Teresa told her
father of how she had taken care of him on tour,
making sure that his clothes that needed mending were attended
to and seeing that he ate properly, and she was
completely taken with him. But her father saw all of
this as red flag after red flag. He told her, quote,
(12:13):
if you feel sorry for this young man's neglected condition,
by all means, so on his buttons, mend his clothes,
by his food even, but don't on that account marry him.
Of course, she married him anyway. Today's A and Emil
had their first child, a daughter named Emilita, in May
eighteen seventy four, but even as they celebrated their new family,
(12:36):
there was also a loss. Manuel Kareno died on September
four of that year, and Today's A blamed herself. She
was afraid that her union was sorry and the stress
that it had caused her father had led to the
decline in his health. While she was still grieving over
her father. She started another tour of the United States
in eighteen seventy five. This time she was booked both
(12:57):
for piano and singing engagements. While she and Emil had
fallen in love on tour, life on the road the
second time around really strained and ultimately ended their marriage.
By the time the tour was over, so was that relationship.
Theresa first traveled to New York after the separation and
then to Boston, which is where she had decided she
(13:17):
wanted to live. Yeah, she kind of picked out a
place where she thought, like, it's not tied to any
of my previous stuff. I can just make a new
start after this horrible marriage fell apart, and won't it
be great? Uh. The transition to living in the US
once again came with another upswing in Today's opera career.
She performed with companies in Boston and New York, but
(13:39):
she always felt that, even though people really really thought
she was fantastic at it, that her singing would just
never be as good as her piano playing. And throughout
all of this time, the poll to New York had
continued to grow, so she didn't really stay in Boston
for very long, although while she was there she did
strike up a romance with a baritone from Italy named
g of Annie taglia Pietre. In eighteen seventy six, she
(14:02):
became the celebrity face of the Webber Piano company, contracted
as its representative and moved to New York once that
deal was struck. The owner of the company, Albert Webber,
felt that his pianos never sounded better than when Teresa
was playing them, and so that was what she played
for her concerts under the terms of the contract. That
business arrangement went on for the next fourteen years. Yeah,
(14:26):
it was clearly a pretty good a pretty good business relationship,
And that same year Kareno and taglia Pietra were married,
and this marriage lasted longer than to Day's first, and
the two had three children together. Although their first daughter, Luisa,
was born in eighteen seventy eight and she died as
a child in eighteen eighty one, their second daughter, Teresita,
(14:47):
was born in eighteen eighty two, and a son, Giovanni,
was born in eighteen eighty five. After Teresa moved to
New York, she became close with the McDowell family. She
had been invited by a friend and fellow musician and
to hear one of his students play the piano, and
that student was Edward McDowell, who was son of Fanny
and Thomas McDowell. Teresa became very close with all of
(15:09):
them and remained lifelong friends with them, so much so
that she sometimes chows where she would live based on
how close it was to their home. And she became
Edwards teacher and mentor. Yeah, his name is always linked
with hers in music history, and that is why. The
Kareno Donaldi Operatic gem Company, which opened at Booth Theater
(15:29):
in New York in November one, was another project that
she took on. The Donaldi in the name came from
Italian operatic Prima Donna Emma Donaldi and Karaino Donaldi, and
a handful of other musicians toured with this company around
the United States. The New York Times reviewed the Kareno
Donaldi companies opening and wrote this of TRACE's performance, quote,
(15:51):
Madame Karago needs no further accommendation. She is unquestionably the
most accomplished of our feminine pianists and always brings to
her performance abundant strength native musical appreciation. A perfect technique
and a personal and artistic charm that give her a
position which she alone enjoys. Publicly, Kareno's life at this
(16:13):
point seemed amazing. It was all praise and success, and
her performances were all basically perfect, but privately things were
getting quite dark. Tag, which is what Giovanni was nicknamed,
since not everyone could say that long Italian name. It
was a very moody man, and while he could be
attentive and adoring, his behavior could turn sullen and even abusive.
When he was unhappy and he started drinking heavily, which
(16:36):
was hurting his singing voice, which made him angry, or
which made him drink more. He got kind of in
this horrible cycle, and at one point, when Todaysa was
pregnant with one of their children, he got so angry
that he threatened her with a knife, and he said
that she was going to kill her. And she relates
this as a moment when she was absolutely terrified and
just froze in fear and was just kind of unable
to do anything. And thankfully, apparently that was enough to
(17:00):
satisfy his cruelty for the moment, and Tag left the
house and went out. Instead of following through on this threat,
the Venezuelan president Joaquin Crespo invited ter such a tour
Venezuela in eighteen eighty five, and this was a really
successful enterprise, so much so that she and Giovanni started
an opera company in Caracas. While the project started out
(17:20):
with a lot of promise due to the impressive talent
the couple was able to recruit from around the world,
the financial side really didn't go very well. Venezuela's politics
grew volatile against Crespo, who was one of the opera
company's main sponsors, and the opera company itself became the
target of threats and insulting press as a consequence. In
eighteen eighties seven, Today Soa gave up on the opera company.
(17:43):
She and Giovanni went back to New York, but they're
already strained. Marriage was really at its breaking point. Teresa
threw herself into her work and just practiced relentlessly every day.
Uh spoiler alert. This marriage was doomed, and we're going
to talk about that in a moment, but first we
will paw and have another quick sponsor break. So Tag
(18:11):
Today's husband had not had any of the praise in
Venezuela that Today's A had initially received. He had been
rude and antagonistic with her publicly, which had been a
source of huge embarrassment for her and audiences. Has had
disliked him from the beginning. Not long after they returned
to New York, Giovanni's brother, Arturo arrived, and he was
(18:32):
absolutely horrified at how his brother treated Today's A. It
was pretty well known within Today's social circle that Tag
physically abused her. In letters that were written by Fannie
McDowell to caen later in their lives, she referenced things
like black eyes and bloody noses that Tag had given
to Day's A. And when he arrived, Arturo stepped into
the role of protector and he strongly suggested that the
(18:54):
couple should separate, which they finally did. For some time,
Today's had been thinking once again of going to Europe,
and in eighteen eighty nine she set her sights on Berlin.
She reached out to her Mon Wolff, a promoter there,
to plan her return to the European stage, and this
catalyzed a long term business partnership between the two of them.
He managed her appearances from eighteen eighty nine. On November eighteenth,
(19:18):
eighteen eighty nine, was her first concert in Berlin, and
it launched a new phase of tours all through Europe
and Russia and established her once again as a virtuoso performer.
Today's A was not the only performer that Wolf acted
as Agent four, and in eighteen ninety one she met
another pianist who he managed, named Eugene d'Albert, who was
(19:39):
eleven years for Junior, and the two hit it off
and they were married in eighteen nine. Two. That same year,
they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Eugenia.
Two years later, another daughter named Harto was born, and
while it was Today's a third marriage, it was Delbert's
force and merging their families Delbert also had children from
(19:59):
pre vious relationships, proved extremely challenging. There's one account that
says something to the effect of Today's A saying to
her husband, my children and your children can't get along
with our children, like there were just so many kids
to merge, and none of them were getting along, and
it just sounded like stress and chaos. The couple moved
(20:19):
to a home in koz Big, a town in Saxony,
and their house, which was built in eighteen seventy three,
was named Villa Teresa. They lived there together for two
years before the marriage split up after she was single again.
Today's so finished out the nineteenth century with a very
busy booking schedule, touring the world. Okay, once again there's
a marriage. Uh. In nineteen o two, Karaino married for
(20:44):
a fourth and final time, this time to our Turo
Taglia Pietra. That last name is not a mistake. It
is the brother of her second husband that we mentioned earlier.
Arturo had moved to Germany in nineteen o one to
help Terday's A manage her business affairs. She was really
bad at keeping track of things like scheduling and her
teaching appointments and the other bookings that were constantly filling
(21:06):
up her calendar, and his arrival was like a breath
of fresh air in her life, and before long the
two decided that they wanted to be together. This was
kind of an almost scandalous in some ways, not because
he had been the brother of her second husband, but
people were like, you're both kind of old, why are
you bother. She was forty nine at the time, which
to me doesn't seem that old, but uh it it
(21:28):
seems that as though Teresa finally found the right match,
because this was genuinely a very happy and loving and
caring marriage. There was a huge gala in Berlin for
her fiftieth anniversary as a performer, and that was celebrated
in nineteen twelve. Germany really loved her and it was
there that she was given the nickname Balkyrie of the Piano.
(21:50):
But that love didn't last forever. World War One led
to another move for Cranni and her family. As a
foreigner living in Germany, she was viewed with a lot
of suspicion, and in nineteen fourteen, she decided to move
once again to the United States. In the winter of
nineteen sixteen nineteen seventeen, she performed with the New York
Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall or Carnegie if you've listened to
(22:11):
her Andrew Carnegie episodes. Uh. This proved to be one
of her last times appearing on stage. In the spring
of nineteen seventeen, she became ill. She had traveled to
Cuba in March of that year for a tour, but
before the tour started, she had been having problems that
were publicly reported as some kind of eye trouble. She
canceled all of her dates and returned to New York.
(22:32):
Her health declined really rapidly from that point, and eventually
she became paralyzed. She died on June twelfth, nineteen seventeen,
in her home at seven twenty West End Avenue in
New York City, and her husband Arturo was with her
to the end. The legacy that today's a Caninia left
is significant. In addition to playing, as we mentioned, she
started writing music when she was a child, and she
(22:53):
was a prolific composer, and while she has known for
her many compositions for piano, she also wrote ring quartets
and orchestra pieces. She composed in total more than seventy
five pieces, many of which are still performed. Canio also
passed the musical tradition on by teaching and mentoring other performers.
One of her most well known proteges ended up being
(23:16):
composer Edward McDowell, who she had known It's Hot since
he was a boy. We talked about that family earlier,
and Villa Teresa, the home that she and Eugene spent
their brief marriage in, is now home to the days
at Cadino Society. It is a spectacularly beautiful space. I
have not been there, but I have looked at a
lot of pictures of it online. The main floor is
preserved as it was when Today's lived in the home,
(23:36):
and there's a museum upstairs covering the lives of both
Daisa and Eugene, because, as we mentioned, he was also
a musician and quite popular. The gardens surrounding the house
are now a park and chamber concerts and other events
are often held on the grounds of the house. After
she died, Today's a Cano was cremated, and although she
had often said that she wanted her final resting place
(23:57):
to be in Venezuela, her remains didn't go there for
twin two years. In ninety eight, after only minor amounts
of lobbying, the Venezuelan government welcomed her home. Her ashes
were placed in an urn created by sculptor Nicholas Blows,
and her daughter ted Asita, who had also become a
concert pianist, was on hand for the ceremony. Her ashes
(24:18):
were initially placed the top of marble pedestal in the
Semanario do Sur in Caracas, but in nineteen seventy seven,
they were moved to the panton Nascionale, which is reserved
for Venezuela's national heroes. Today's u Uh. There are recordings
of her that you can find online. Like I said,
we'll have the composition that she the waltz that she
(24:40):
composed her first one linked and I will try to
find some additional ones of her performing so you can
hear sort of her incredibly expressive and also just technically
really really accomplished work. Yeah, I'm doing a weird Christmas
card round up for um Our listener mail Christmas is asked,
(25:00):
of course, but because there was a lot of travel
and stuff going on in at the end of the year,
I didn't get to open a lot of them until
I came back in the new year. So I will
buzz through a few of these um Our listener. Tess,
along with her cats Bill, Pippy and Buster, sent us
a card. She has some very pretty babies, one of
(25:20):
which is a buff Calico that I think I would steal.
Thank you so much. She was just happy New Year. Uh.
We also got a card. This is a repeat offender. Uh.
Brandy and Phoenix, the cat who we talked about her
card last year on the podcast, and she said thanks
for mentioning last year's card on the show. It gave
me warm fuzzies. All the best to you and yours
(25:41):
this holiday season. Again another cat that I would probably
steal if given half a chance. I don't really want
to steal people's pets. I just really really like them
and want to hug them. We also got a lovely
card from our listener Rebecca from Detroit, who said, thank
you so much for a year of first rate History podcast.
I appreciate all your hard work and Merry Christmas. And
it's a niful Christmas scene. And then we had a
(26:02):
lot more than this, but I don't want to drag
on forever and ever and ever, so I will close
out with um the one that was probably my favorite,
just in terms of the card itself. It is from
our listener Danielle, and it says thank you for all
you do. But what the card actually is is the
Edward Gory fruitcake illustration, which is so funny because it's
a bunch of people dragging their fruitcake to a hole
(26:24):
in the ice to get rid of it forever. Uh So,
thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who sent
us cards. I always say it, but it bears repeating that.
I'm always incredibly touched that people take time out of
their lives just to share something like that with us
and sit down and put an address on an envelope
and write a cute note and send it off. I'm
not good at that and keeping up with it in
my daily life, so I appreciate it when other people
(26:46):
do it. If you would like to write to us
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dot com um, where you can find all of the
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Tracy and I have worked on, and occasionally other little
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(27:09):
the show that sounds great to me, you can do
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Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from how
Stuff Works dot Com. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Holly Fry and I'm Tracy Vie Wilson. And in
December so fairly recently, there was a Google noodle about
Terisakaino in celebration of her one hundred and sixty fifth birthday.
(00:26):
And as I often do when there is a cool
one that pops up that I don't know about, I
start noodling around looking for info about that person or topic.
And as I read more and more about today's Akno,
I kept wondering why on earth her life story has
not made been made into a fantastical biopic um And
as I told friends about it, they were like the same.
(00:46):
They were like, when is this going to be a movie?
I'm like, I don't know, but it should be, because
not only was she the most famous pianist of her day,
she is considered to be Venezuela's first international superstar, and
her personal life was just as compelling as her public persona,
so she jumped to the top of my list of subjects.
Before we get into her life, I just want to
(01:07):
make a very brief disclaimer there is discussion of some
domestic violence in this episode. We keep it quite brief.
It is not terribly long or detailed, but just know
that going in Maria, said Gertrudis Deus. Kreno Garcia de
Sena was born on December eighteen fifty three in Caracas, Venezuela.
Her father, Manuel and Tonio Kreno was a politician. He
(01:30):
was the Venezuelan Minister of Finance and he also served
as president of the National Bank, and he published a
book on manners. But he also played the piano and
wrote music in addition to all of that. And in
spite of having all these things that he was doing,
he was good at that one too. Yeah, And his
book on manners was apparently very very popular, like it
(01:51):
became kind of everybody's handbook for how to be a
proper person. And it was from her father Manuel that
today's A first started learning to play the piano. Know
because of the family's very comfortable economic status. There were
two pianos in the home, including a concert grand piano,
and the entire family was musical, so from birth, music
(02:11):
was absolutely all around her. And according to her father,
Today'sa began to move in rhythm to music as a tiny,
tiny baby like he saw in her. He felt that
she clearly had an instinct for music, and she also
started playing simple melodies by ear on the piano by
the time she was four. Shortly before she turned six,
Manuel was starting to teach his daughter, but soon he
(02:32):
brought in another teacher as well, a pianist from Germany
named Julius ho Hennas, and with this new teacher, she
was learning really really quickly and mastering works that were
composed by box, Chopin and Mendelssohn, among many others. By
the time she was seven, she had started writing her
own compositions and would also play improvisationally for friends and family.
(02:54):
They would challenge her by giving her a theme and
then watch her come up with her own original music
just quickly, in confide ly. Yeah. She apparently played in
terms of confidence like someone who had been playing for decades.
She just had no hesitation. There was nothing shy about her.
She would not hem and haw. She would literally just
be like okay and then set to it um. In
eighteen sixty two, Manuel moved the family to New York City,
(03:16):
and of course, uh you may have noticed that is
while the US was in the midst of the Civil War,
and Manuel was motivated in part by a desire to
continue his daughter's musical education and expand her opportunities. But
Venezuela was also in the midst of its own upheaval.
The Federal War, which ran from eighteen fifty nine to
(03:36):
eighteen sixty three, was the result of decades long tensions
that had roots in the dissolution of the Republic in
eighteen thirty, so this is not a Venezuelan history episode.
So the broad strokes version of the situation is that
by the time of the Federal War, the Conservative Party
championed a central government and the Liberal movement wanted more
(03:57):
regional self government. There are a lot of other finesse
elements to it, but Manuel, at this point, as a
long term government official, had a vested interest in getting
out of the country. As things started to escalate, New
York opened up whole new musical opportunities for the eight
year old Teresa. She started taking lessons from Louis Morrow
gosh Chalk. He was a New Orleans born musician who
(04:19):
had made a name for himself as a pianist and
a composer and Tracey's father invited him to hear his
daughter play. After that meeting, they made an agreement for lessons,
and Today's that kind I know would often site got
Shocked as her ideal as a pianist, and he influenced
her work greatly. Although it is actually unclear how long
he taught her or how many like sort of formal
(04:40):
lessons were actually given, he definitely exposed her to a
lot of new music and he really gave her an
education in playing, not just with precision and technique, but
also serving as an interpreter between the music printed on
the page and the listener's ear. But also seemed that
a child prodigy such as Karenno would be giving concerts,
but her father really resisted that idea at first. It
(05:04):
wasn't until the family had a financial crisis that he
finally consented to his daughter appearing on the stage, and
at that point it was because they desperately needed money.
On November eighteen sixty two, Today's they gave a concert
at Irving Hall in New York. In the evening's program
included works composed by Rassini, Thalberg, Hobble and her teacher
gut Shock, and she also played a waltz that she
(05:26):
had composed herself and named after her mentor, so that
was gut Chuck Waltz Opus one. The evening was a
huge success, and booking requests poured in for Today's After
that and over the next three weeks, she gave five
more concerts and published The gut Chuck Waltz, which sold
out repeatedly. And we're going to include a link to
a recording of that waltz in the show notes. From
(05:48):
that point, she was not even ten years old, but
she had started a real career as a concert pianist.
She toured around the US Northeast. She was invited to
the White House, where she played for President Abraham Lincoln
as an adult. She wrote about the experience and how
kind and unassuming the First family was. But the White
House grand piano was so terribly out of tune that
(06:09):
after playing just a few pieces, she had to stop,
and she refused to play anymore. Yeah, she found that
a jarring and unpleasant experience. In terms of the actual playing.
She really enjoyed visiting the White House and meeting everyone,
but the playing was absolutely non delightful. From eighteen sixty
four to eighteen sixty five, there was a brief hiatus
in her appearances. Her family at that point had become
(06:32):
concerned about the toll that being constantly in the spotlight
was taking on her, because remember she was still a child,
so they made the decision to put her career temporarily
on hold so that she could regroup and focus on
her health and well being. By eighteen sixty six, she
was back on the job, though she started to go
to bookings outside the United States carrying a letter of
(06:52):
recommendation from her mentor Gosh Shock. She went to Cuba
for a short tour. Then her father booked her on
a European tour, and that really changed her life. The
eighteen sixty six European tour began in Paris, and while
the Carenos were there. Today's a meant an assortment of
luminaries of the European music scene, so Hector Berlioz, Jachino
(07:12):
Rassini and previous podcast subject France List all made the
young virtuoso's acquaintance. There's a little bit of a calendar
disparity when it comes to Teresa's social contacts during this time.
It's mentioned in several of her biographies that she became
friends with and started teaching Blonding Olivier, who was listed
adult daughter, but she had died back in eighteen sixty two.
(07:36):
It's possible that there's some confusion between her and her sister,
Cosima Wagner, but that's not clear. Yeah, that's one of
those things that appeared in kind of the main biography
that was written of Kreno, and then it's gotten repeated
over time. And I don't know why no one ever
did the calendar math to go. That's not possible. Um So,
(07:57):
so it's like I said, it's a little unclear. But
in any case, Lizt was either convinced by a daughter,
as is often relayed in that version of the story,
or simply of his own accord, moved to offer to
take Today's on as a pupil, but she had to
move to Rome, where he was living at the time.
Today's father Manuel turned down this offer. Liszt was not
(08:18):
the only famous musician who offered to teach to Day's a.
Jacchino Rossini, upon realizing that she had talent as a
singer as well, began giving her voice lessons to develop
her mezzo soprano, and he actually told her that what
she should really be doing was pursuing a singing career.
The family decided to stay in Paris and they lived
there for several years to continue her education. She auditioned
(08:41):
for the Conservatoid Peri and she was denied on the
claim that she was already passed the level expected of graduates,
but she did take lessons from one of Chopin's former students,
French composer George Matthias. And coming up, we're going to
talk more about Today's time in Paris, including both success
and tragedy. But first we will take a little break
(09:02):
to hear from one of the sponsors that keeps stuff
you missed in history class going. While the Cares were
settling into their life in France, the family was hit
with a tragedy when Today's mother, Clorinda, died suddenly in
(09:22):
September of eighteen sixty six. Manuel and Teresa remained in
Paris and they continued to work on building Today's as
concert bookings, and over the next two years she worked
continuously in venues in France. In eighteen sixty eight, she
was booked on a tour in London, where she met
Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubenstein, who introduced himself after
(09:42):
seeing one of her concerts. Rubenstein did not formally teach
Today's a but he would give her notes on her playing.
He would listen and then write up some notes and
they would discuss, and the two of them became very
good friends. And Today's had ranked Rubinstein right below Gotchok
as a mentor and Today's and her father mon L
stayed in London as she learned from him. In this way.
(10:03):
Throughout all of this terrace that was making a really
nice living. In addition to the income from her concerts,
Manuel was also working as a teacher, and the father
and daughter were welcomed and the wealthiest houses in Europe.
Her talent opened a lot of doors and gave both
of them a life of luxury. Terday's had begun her
performing career as a soloist, but during her time in Europe,
(10:23):
as she became more and more popular, she began to
be invited to participate in more collaborative performances with other musicians.
Maurice Trakash, who began his career as a child pianist
as well, but then transitioned primarily to the role of
promoter for other musicians really saw the financial potential in
adding Terday's A to group concerts, because again she was
(10:44):
still very young and could play with people much older
than her. Soon, Strakosh had the fifteen year old karain
No touring the Netherlands, Switzerland and France along with other
popular performers. In eighteen seventy two, Today's musical career shifted
as she made use of the training that she had
received from Jacino Rassini, and she made her debut as
an opera singer. Her first role was Marguerite in a
(11:07):
production of Les Ugueneau, which is an opera about the St.
Bartholomew's Day massacre. This show was mounted by the Mapleson
Operatic Concert Tours company. But even as she ventured into opera,
Today's A was still booking performances as a pianist, and
in eighteen seventy two she once again toured with a
roster of talented artists assembled by Maurice Trakash, this time
(11:31):
on a tour of the United States, and it was
on this tour that she met violinist Emile Charai, and
the two fell in love on tour, and they married
on July thirteenth, eighteen seventy three, right after they returned
to London. Manuel Kareno was not happy about this marriage
at all. He thought that Emil was a bad match
for his daughter, in part because he was kind of
(11:52):
a mess and not very financially stable. Teresa told her
father of how she had taken care of him on tour,
making sure that his clothes that needed mending were attended
to and seeing that he ate properly, and she was
completely taken with him. But her father saw all of
this as red flag after red flag. He told her, quote,
(12:13):
if you feel sorry for this young man's neglected condition,
by all means, so on his buttons, mend his clothes,
by his food even, but don't on that account marry him.
Of course, she married him anyway. Today's A and Emil
had their first child, a daughter named Emilita, in May
eighteen seventy four, but even as they celebrated their new family,
(12:36):
there was also a loss. Manuel Kareno died on September
four of that year, and Today's A blamed herself. She
was afraid that her union was sorry and the stress
that it had caused her father had led to the
decline in his health. While she was still grieving over
her father. She started another tour of the United States
in eighteen seventy five. This time she was booked both
(12:57):
for piano and singing engagements. While she and Emil had
fallen in love on tour, life on the road the
second time around really strained and ultimately ended their marriage.
By the time the tour was over, so was that relationship.
Theresa first traveled to New York after the separation and
then to Boston, which is where she had decided she
(13:17):
wanted to live. Yeah, she kind of picked out a
place where she thought, like, it's not tied to any
of my previous stuff. I can just make a new
start after this horrible marriage fell apart, and won't it
be great? Uh. The transition to living in the US
once again came with another upswing in Today's opera career.
She performed with companies in Boston and New York, but
(13:39):
she always felt that, even though people really really thought
she was fantastic at it, that her singing would just
never be as good as her piano playing. And throughout
all of this time, the poll to New York had
continued to grow, so she didn't really stay in Boston
for very long, although while she was there she did
strike up a romance with a baritone from Italy named
g of Annie taglia Pietre. In eighteen seventy six, she
(14:02):
became the celebrity face of the Webber Piano company, contracted
as its representative and moved to New York once that
deal was struck. The owner of the company, Albert Webber,
felt that his pianos never sounded better than when Teresa
was playing them, and so that was what she played
for her concerts under the terms of the contract. That
business arrangement went on for the next fourteen years. Yeah,
(14:26):
it was clearly a pretty good a pretty good business relationship,
And that same year Kareno and taglia Pietra were married,
and this marriage lasted longer than to Day's first, and
the two had three children together. Although their first daughter, Luisa,
was born in eighteen seventy eight and she died as
a child in eighteen eighty one, their second daughter, Teresita,
(14:47):
was born in eighteen eighty two, and a son, Giovanni,
was born in eighteen eighty five. After Teresa moved to
New York, she became close with the McDowell family. She
had been invited by a friend and fellow musician and
to hear one of his students play the piano, and
that student was Edward McDowell, who was son of Fanny
and Thomas McDowell. Teresa became very close with all of
(15:09):
them and remained lifelong friends with them, so much so
that she sometimes chows where she would live based on
how close it was to their home. And she became
Edwards teacher and mentor. Yeah, his name is always linked
with hers in music history, and that is why. The
Kareno Donaldi Operatic gem Company, which opened at Booth Theater
(15:29):
in New York in November one, was another project that
she took on. The Donaldi in the name came from
Italian operatic Prima Donna Emma Donaldi and Karaino Donaldi, and
a handful of other musicians toured with this company around
the United States. The New York Times reviewed the Kareno
Donaldi companies opening and wrote this of TRACE's performance, quote,
(15:51):
Madame Karago needs no further accommendation. She is unquestionably the
most accomplished of our feminine pianists and always brings to
her performance abundant strength native musical appreciation. A perfect technique
and a personal and artistic charm that give her a
position which she alone enjoys. Publicly, Kareno's life at this
(16:13):
point seemed amazing. It was all praise and success, and
her performances were all basically perfect, but privately things were
getting quite dark. Tag, which is what Giovanni was nicknamed,
since not everyone could say that long Italian name. It
was a very moody man, and while he could be
attentive and adoring, his behavior could turn sullen and even abusive.
When he was unhappy and he started drinking heavily, which
(16:36):
was hurting his singing voice, which made him angry, or
which made him drink more. He got kind of in
this horrible cycle, and at one point, when Todaysa was
pregnant with one of their children, he got so angry
that he threatened her with a knife, and he said
that she was going to kill her. And she relates
this as a moment when she was absolutely terrified and
just froze in fear and was just kind of unable
to do anything. And thankfully, apparently that was enough to
(17:00):
satisfy his cruelty for the moment, and Tag left the
house and went out. Instead of following through on this threat,
the Venezuelan president Joaquin Crespo invited ter such a tour
Venezuela in eighteen eighty five, and this was a really
successful enterprise, so much so that she and Giovanni started
an opera company in Caracas. While the project started out
(17:20):
with a lot of promise due to the impressive talent
the couple was able to recruit from around the world,
the financial side really didn't go very well. Venezuela's politics
grew volatile against Crespo, who was one of the opera
company's main sponsors, and the opera company itself became the
target of threats and insulting press as a consequence. In
eighteen eighties seven, Today Soa gave up on the opera company.
(17:43):
She and Giovanni went back to New York, but they're
already strained. Marriage was really at its breaking point. Teresa
threw herself into her work and just practiced relentlessly every day.
Uh spoiler alert. This marriage was doomed, and we're going
to talk about that in a moment, but first we
will paw and have another quick sponsor break. So Tag
(18:11):
Today's husband had not had any of the praise in
Venezuela that Today's A had initially received. He had been
rude and antagonistic with her publicly, which had been a
source of huge embarrassment for her and audiences. Has had
disliked him from the beginning. Not long after they returned
to New York, Giovanni's brother, Arturo arrived, and he was
(18:32):
absolutely horrified at how his brother treated Today's A. It
was pretty well known within Today's social circle that Tag
physically abused her. In letters that were written by Fannie
McDowell to caen later in their lives, she referenced things
like black eyes and bloody noses that Tag had given
to Day's A. And when he arrived, Arturo stepped into
the role of protector and he strongly suggested that the
(18:54):
couple should separate, which they finally did. For some time,
Today's had been thinking once again of going to Europe,
and in eighteen eighty nine she set her sights on Berlin.
She reached out to her Mon Wolff, a promoter there,
to plan her return to the European stage, and this
catalyzed a long term business partnership between the two of them.
He managed her appearances from eighteen eighty nine. On November eighteenth,
(19:18):
eighteen eighty nine, was her first concert in Berlin, and
it launched a new phase of tours all through Europe
and Russia and established her once again as a virtuoso performer.
Today's A was not the only performer that Wolf acted
as Agent four, and in eighteen ninety one she met
another pianist who he managed, named Eugene d'Albert, who was
(19:39):
eleven years for Junior, and the two hit it off
and they were married in eighteen nine. Two. That same year,
they welcomed their first child together, a daughter named Eugenia.
Two years later, another daughter named Harto was born, and
while it was Today's a third marriage, it was Delbert's
force and merging their families Delbert also had children from
(19:59):
pre vious relationships, proved extremely challenging. There's one account that
says something to the effect of Today's A saying to
her husband, my children and your children can't get along
with our children, like there were just so many kids
to merge, and none of them were getting along, and
it just sounded like stress and chaos. The couple moved
(20:19):
to a home in koz Big, a town in Saxony,
and their house, which was built in eighteen seventy three,
was named Villa Teresa. They lived there together for two
years before the marriage split up after she was single again.
Today's so finished out the nineteenth century with a very
busy booking schedule, touring the world. Okay, once again there's
a marriage. Uh. In nineteen o two, Karaino married for
(20:44):
a fourth and final time, this time to our Turo
Taglia Pietra. That last name is not a mistake. It
is the brother of her second husband that we mentioned earlier.
Arturo had moved to Germany in nineteen o one to
help Terday's A manage her business affairs. She was really
bad at keeping track of things like scheduling and her
teaching appointments and the other bookings that were constantly filling
(21:06):
up her calendar, and his arrival was like a breath
of fresh air in her life, and before long the
two decided that they wanted to be together. This was
kind of an almost scandalous in some ways, not because
he had been the brother of her second husband, but
people were like, you're both kind of old, why are
you bother. She was forty nine at the time, which
to me doesn't seem that old, but uh it it
(21:28):
seems that as though Teresa finally found the right match,
because this was genuinely a very happy and loving and
caring marriage. There was a huge gala in Berlin for
her fiftieth anniversary as a performer, and that was celebrated
in nineteen twelve. Germany really loved her and it was
there that she was given the nickname Balkyrie of the Piano.
(21:50):
But that love didn't last forever. World War One led
to another move for Cranni and her family. As a
foreigner living in Germany, she was viewed with a lot
of suspicion, and in nineteen fourteen, she decided to move
once again to the United States. In the winter of
nineteen sixteen nineteen seventeen, she performed with the New York
Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall or Carnegie if you've listened to
(22:11):
her Andrew Carnegie episodes. Uh. This proved to be one
of her last times appearing on stage. In the spring
of nineteen seventeen, she became ill. She had traveled to
Cuba in March of that year for a tour, but
before the tour started, she had been having problems that
were publicly reported as some kind of eye trouble. She
canceled all of her dates and returned to New York.
(22:32):
Her health declined really rapidly from that point, and eventually
she became paralyzed. She died on June twelfth, nineteen seventeen,
in her home at seven twenty West End Avenue in
New York City, and her husband Arturo was with her
to the end. The legacy that today's a Caninia left
is significant. In addition to playing, as we mentioned, she
started writing music when she was a child, and she
(22:53):
was a prolific composer, and while she has known for
her many compositions for piano, she also wrote ring quartets
and orchestra pieces. She composed in total more than seventy
five pieces, many of which are still performed. Canio also
passed the musical tradition on by teaching and mentoring other performers.
One of her most well known proteges ended up being
(23:16):
composer Edward McDowell, who she had known It's Hot since
he was a boy. We talked about that family earlier,
and Villa Teresa, the home that she and Eugene spent
their brief marriage in, is now home to the days
at Cadino Society. It is a spectacularly beautiful space. I
have not been there, but I have looked at a
lot of pictures of it online. The main floor is
preserved as it was when Today's lived in the home,
(23:36):
and there's a museum upstairs covering the lives of both
Daisa and Eugene, because, as we mentioned, he was also
a musician and quite popular. The gardens surrounding the house
are now a park and chamber concerts and other events
are often held on the grounds of the house. After
she died, Today's a Cano was cremated, and although she
had often said that she wanted her final resting place
(23:57):
to be in Venezuela, her remains didn't go there for
twin two years. In ninety eight, after only minor amounts
of lobbying, the Venezuelan government welcomed her home. Her ashes
were placed in an urn created by sculptor Nicholas Blows,
and her daughter ted Asita, who had also become a
concert pianist, was on hand for the ceremony. Her ashes
(24:18):
were initially placed the top of marble pedestal in the
Semanario do Sur in Caracas, but in nineteen seventy seven,
they were moved to the panton Nascionale, which is reserved
for Venezuela's national heroes. Today's u Uh. There are recordings
of her that you can find online. Like I said,
we'll have the composition that she the waltz that she
(24:40):
composed her first one linked and I will try to
find some additional ones of her performing so you can
hear sort of her incredibly expressive and also just technically
really really accomplished work. Yeah, I'm doing a weird Christmas
card round up for um Our listener mail Christmas is asked,
(25:00):
of course, but because there was a lot of travel
and stuff going on in at the end of the year,
I didn't get to open a lot of them until
I came back in the new year. So I will
buzz through a few of these um Our listener. Tess,
along with her cats Bill, Pippy and Buster, sent us
a card. She has some very pretty babies, one of
(25:20):
which is a buff Calico that I think I would steal.
Thank you so much. She was just happy New Year. Uh.
We also got a card. This is a repeat offender. Uh.
Brandy and Phoenix, the cat who we talked about her
card last year on the podcast, and she said thanks
for mentioning last year's card on the show. It gave
me warm fuzzies. All the best to you and yours
(25:41):
this holiday season. Again another cat that I would probably
steal if given half a chance. I don't really want
to steal people's pets. I just really really like them
and want to hug them. We also got a lovely
card from our listener Rebecca from Detroit, who said, thank
you so much for a year of first rate History podcast.
I appreciate all your hard work and Merry Christmas. And
it's a niful Christmas scene. And then we had a
(26:02):
lot more than this, but I don't want to drag
on forever and ever and ever, so I will close
out with um the one that was probably my favorite,
just in terms of the card itself. It is from
our listener Danielle, and it says thank you for all
you do. But what the card actually is is the
Edward Gory fruitcake illustration, which is so funny because it's
a bunch of people dragging their fruitcake to a hole
(26:24):
in the ice to get rid of it forever. Uh So,
thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who sent
us cards. I always say it, but it bears repeating that.
I'm always incredibly touched that people take time out of
their lives just to share something like that with us
and sit down and put an address on an envelope
and write a cute note and send it off. I'm
not good at that and keeping up with it in
my daily life, so I appreciate it when other people
(26:46):
do it. If you would like to write to us
via email, you can do so at History podcast at
House of Works dot com. You can also find us
pretty much everywhere on social media as Missed in History,
and you can also visit our website missed in History
dot com um, where you can find all of the
shows that have ever existed, show notes for the episodes
Tracy and I have worked on, and occasionally other little
odds and ends. If you would like to subscribe to
(27:09):
the show that sounds great to me, you can do
that on Apple Podcasts, the I Heart Radio app, or
wherever you find your podcasts. For more on this and
thousands of other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com
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