Guiomar Novaes - The Romantic Novaes (2024)

Guiomar Novaës (Novahes) and Claudio Arrau were the most celebrated pianists born in South America immediately before and after 1900: she in Brazil in 1895 (not 1896, as some biographies continue to list), he in Chile, in 1903. They were first to win international acclaim since Venezuelan-born Teresa Carreño (1853-1917), who had studied with Gottschalk. In São Paulo, where the family had moved from a provincial village soon after her birth, she revealed precocity at age four, and began studying at age seven with Luigi Chiafarelli, a Busoni pupil. He helped her developed the basics of tonal nuance, legato, and pedaling that won her a grant from the Brazilian government to study in Paris. At the Conservatoire in 1909 she placed first among 388 candidates for admission (some sources say 398). The jurors were Fauré, Moritz Moszkowski, and Debussy. She was assigned to the class of Isidor Philipp (1863-1958), formerly a pupil of Saint-Saëns, and graduated two years later with a First Prize. Novaës made her formal debut that same year with the Châtelet Orchestra conducted by Gabriel Pierné, then toured throughout Western Europe until the outbreak of WWI. Hardly had she returned to São Paulo when an invitation came from the U.S. She made her North American debut in Aeolian Hall, New York City, on November 11, 1915, and returned often during the next 57 years. Novaës played her U.S. farewell at Hunter College in 1972. To the end, her tone remained mellifluous, her touch varied, her pedaling a wonder, and her legato special, even after sheer strength had ebbed.