Rachmaninoff's last living student
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Ruth Slenczynska, a former prodigy who is now 99 years old, believed to be Rachmaninoff's last living student, recently retired and now lives near Hershey, Pennsylvania. She recorded her last album at age 97. She claims: "... my hands are as youthful and free of pain as when I was 30."
May we all be so lucky.
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Interesting story. Obviously a prodigy, but at what cost? She seems like she turned out okay, but still........
“He wanted more than he could get out of everybody, including me,” she said. “What would you call a person who beat you for every little mistake you made? It was miserable.”
As she grew up, Slenczynska said her father forced her to practice the piano for nine hours a day while her two younger sisters played outside. Her family had moved to Paris when she was 4 so she would have access to the best teachers as she progressed in her piano studies.
“I wanted to join [my sisters], but if I didn’t want to practice, I was chased around with a stick,” she said.
