Arthur Rubinstein was without a doubt a gifted man. He lived during the great years of composers such as Rachmaninoff and Shostakovich and among great pianists such as Wilhelm Kempf, Vladimir Horowitz, Claudio Arrau and many others.

Here he is performing one of my favorite pieces from Franz Schubert. The Impromptu in A-flat Major, Op.90 No.4



One of the biggest tragedies in music is that not many knew of the great genius in Franz Schubert until long after his death. It wasn't until 1838, ten years after his death that fellow friend Robert Schumann discovered the dusty manuscript to Schubert's great ninth symphony in C major.

Many of his piano and other major works went undiscovered until 1867 (almost forty years after his death) when Sir George Grove (famed for the "Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, a fuse to any music student and paper writing) and Arthur Sullivan made a trip to Vienna. In their quest they discovered and rescued from near oblivion, seven symphonies, the Rosamunde incidental music, some of the Masses and Operas, several chamber works including the great "Death and the Maiden" string quartet, and a vast quanity of miscellaneous pieces and songs.

The works of one of Western Music's greatest composers nearly disappeared into the rapidly changing world that his music helped shape.