How long are Chopin's hands/fingers?

Question

or who is the composer with the longest hands?

Answer 1

There is, of course, no 'ideal' hand, pianistically speaking: when you heard the miracles that Gilels, for example, achieved with what looked like the clumsiest mitts ever to grace a keyboard, that idea of an 'ideal' went straight out the window.

Having had the opportunity to handle a copy of the Clesinger cast of Chopin's hand, it strikes you how 'normal' it actually is. My own hand fitted over his cast without anything left nor clearly running short so, a living hand being much easier to measure than a cast one, that gives you something like 8" from the centre of the wrist (the 'hinge point') to the tip of the middle finger. Desiree has kindly and craftily provided a photograph of a copy of the cast, and when you look at that, what does strike you is the tremendous development of the musculature from the base of the thumb right round in a crescent to the base of the 5th finger. The cast was taken on October 18th, 1849, so even with the loss of tone in death, that muscular development jumps out at you. What the photo can't show, is that, seen from the top, that muscular development extends right up the side of (2) as well as of the outside of (5). That's the result of life-long work on extremely flexible extensions, like those found in op.10/1, which were a hallmark of Chopin's style of power technique. What a cast obviously can't show is the extent of the extensions, but you can see the tissue bunched in between the knuckle bases to each finger which suggest major work on that aspect of his playing over a long period of time.

I'd say that Chopin's grip could strike a tenth cleanly, but it's something he only very rarely prescribes (there's a famously tricky LH one in the coda to the 2nd Ballade, for example) but filling in chordally within the tenth, his extensions could be quite fearsome. (Bars 184-190 of the Allegro de Concert op. 46 demonstrate the most extreme form he ever wrote, and they are utterly daunting to strike cleanly at speed, as demanded.)

Rachmaninoff's gargantuan paws were legendary, but even he was intimdated by those of Anton Rubinstein. To give you some idea of his particular maulers, he demands *unarpeggiated* thunderous repetitions of 5-part E-flat major chords, RH fingered 1 though 5: B-flat-E-flat-G-B-flat-E-flat, in multiple places throughout his 5th concerto, and that's how he played them. Now that *is* BIG... :-)

Edit (2)

I never thought a matter of public record could provoke such an Italianate huff:

Rachmaninoff (age 13) attended the entire Moscow leg of the legendary Rubinstein historical recital series of Jan/Feb 1886, surveying 200 years of keyboard music, in the company of Zverev. In fact, he didn't only attend them once, he attended each recital's repeat the following morning as well, some 16 or so, 3hr-each performances in all. The whole series left such an indelible impression on Rachmaninof that 48 years later he was still speaking about them:

"In this way I heard the program of these historical concerts twice and was able each Wednesday morning to re-examine my impressions of the previous evening."

(Rachmaninoff, reminiscing to Riesemann, 1934)

All pretty straightforward really.

Answer 2

Well, looking at his music would give you the impression that he could reach an 11th with little effort. But more important was the suppleness of those fingers, which he developed from early childhood. With that kind of flexibility, larger reaches become easier even without gargantuan hands. CubCur most likely will have a reference "handy" for the dimensions of his hands, but I do not.

Rachmaninof is generally considered to be the composer with the largest hands. His span was a 13th -- but I do not have a reference to back that up.

EDIT:

To :

Artur Rubinstein 1887 – 1982)
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff 1873 –1943)
Anton Rubenstein 1829 - 1894

Let's see, Anton died when Sergei was uh .. 21
Artur was born when Sergei was (ticks on fingers) 14
Artur was never a composer.

Who do YOU think he meant, Artur or Anton?
Are you truly confused??
What exactly are you driving at???

SECOND EDIT:

Anton gave his last concert in St. Petersburg in 1891. Rachmaninoff was 18 at the time and living in Moscow. He was a student at the conservatory in Leningrad when he was 14. Might Sergei have had a chance to see him in concert? Even though they didn't have TV's then, they did have trains. And Sergei's family lived in St. Petersburg.

Answer 3

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Chopin Prelude A major Op.28-7 Cherry Blossoms A Spring greeting is very short and very much Chopin's style.. However, also if you want something just as short, but "longer" (quicker) go with his Minute Waltz.. It's commonly played in one minute, however he didn't intend for it to be played THAT quickly.. (I played that a few years back, it's a little difficult).. There is also his famous Mazurka Op. 7/i. Also, there is his Valse in B Minor currently, which is relatively short.. and VERY beautiful.. If you want a little longer, however somewhat easier is Nocturne In E Flat Major Op. 9 No. 2.. It DOES have a few tricky spots in it if you aren't very advanced at the piano.. You could also YouTube "easy Chopin" and see if you can find simplified versions of his greats.. Then find out how to purchase the sheet music.. I know Readers Digest music books have a FEW simplified versions.. At least they did back when I was growing up.. (back in the '80s).. If you just want to *hear* some of his music go on YouTube and listen to his Etudes.. They are the most difficult, yet impressive things you can hear.. I actually played one when I auditioned for college back in 1995.. I feel your absolute LOVE for Chopin.. He is one of the TRUE great masters of music - and he specialized in piano and made it sound haunting and beautiful.. His music makes it absolutely rewarding to learn and play the piano..

Answer 4

Chopin had slender fingers but small hands, as other posters have told you. But if you want a good laugh - go on YouTube and search for *Rachmaninoff big hands*. There is a classical music comedy team that has a unique solution to the big stretches in the Rach literature. Thee look at the other clips by these two guys - they take turns being the artist. This is HYSTERCAL.

Liszt and Paganini (violinist) are suspected to have had Marfan's Syndrome, a disorder of the connective tissue. This caused their hands to expand to huge stretches. Always reminds me of the scene in Gattica where Ima Thuman goes to the piano concert, and the artist throws his gloes into the audience, a la Liszt - and when she catches one, she sees he has 6 fingers on each hand.

Answer 5

http://www.hunterian.gla.ac.uk/collections/object_month/left_hand/112086a.jpg

There is a picture of Chopin's Left Hand. Have Fun!

Answer 6

Far as I remember from the picture I saw, Chopin didn't have long fingers. If you are talking about fingers/hands for pianist, long fingers are not an advantage. It's the width of your palms that makes
the difference. Pianist's fingers should be
strong/meaty stubby and flexable. Long and skinny fingers are good for models/movie stars, not for playing piano.

Answer 7

I would recommend one of his etudes! Etude Op. 25 No. 9, Trois Etudes No. 1, No. 2, and No. 3 are all 2 pages long! Another piece by Chopin that is 2 pages is Mazurka No. 14 in g minor Op. 24 No. 1! Hope this helps!

Answer 8

Anton (1829-1894) or Artur Rubinstein, CubCur ?

Later: Ok. Any information on Paderewski's feet, Canio ?

To grinzlek: You seem confused. Rachmaninoff was 21 when Anton died. How many real chances did he have to be "intimidated" (meaning scared by a direct vision) by Anton's hand ? You remember that there was no TV ? That's for the confusion, which is all on your side.
Now let's see where I am driving. Peacock's wheel is a normal animal behavior, especially when females are out of reach. But what we have here is a sort of freewheeling dwelling on the fact that nobody will take the trouble to check the landlisde of peanuts. It was quite more likely, just for the dates you put down and wouldn't decode, that he might be intimidated by Artur's hand, though he was not a composer and it seems his hand was pretty normal.
But a normal question was prone to a rude answer. Sorry, two.

Final edit: now someone we know will check with the russian czar's railways and will confirm that R. traveled and got intimidated. Take it easy, I go to the beach.

Answer 9

Rachmaninoff Big Hands

Answer 10

long enough. To my knowledge, Liszt had the longest spread on the piano - an octave and a fifth.

But his fingers are now "decomposing"....