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In 1897–98 the Polish-American pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky is reported to have performed the entire 19th century piano repertoire in a series of only 8 concerts. This is hardly imaginable or even possible.

Is this claim true? What pieces were played by him exactly?

Web Archive of the Biography from godowsky.com:

For the 1897-98 season he presented a series of eight programs surveying the entire 19th-century literature of the piano.

Biographical book reference provided by the site

David Dekker
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  • The linked web page seems to be by an author of the biography "Godowsky - The Pianists' Pianist". Is there a list of citations in the book? – user5341 Feb 22 '16 at 18:01
  • This page has the authors then-current email address: https://web.archive.org/web/20060207191721/http://www.godowsky.com/Biography/nicholas.html – user5341 Feb 22 '16 at 18:02
  • Unfortunately I do not have the book! – David Dekker Feb 22 '16 at 18:30
  • Thanks for the hint on the email address, will look here first. – David Dekker Feb 22 '16 at 18:31
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    [Welcome to Skeptics!](http://meta.skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/1505/welcome-to-new-users) I found the actual claim from the (archived) web-site. It doesn't claim he played every possible piece written in the 19th Century, but that he merely "surveyed" it. Is this a misreading of the claim, or is there more to it? – Oddthinking Feb 22 '16 at 18:58
  • Thanks! That is an interesting specification. I would want to know what pieces were played to survey the 19th century music, it would be interesting to know what a giant like Godowsky would think as 'essential', if that would be the way to look at it. – David Dekker Feb 22 '16 at 23:37
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    Unfortunately, that is out of scope here. There is no notable claim you are doubtful about. – Oddthinking Feb 23 '16 at 00:08

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