Question about Raff...

[monafam]

From what I understand, Raff was essentially self-taught, correct?   After he sort of emerged as a composer, did he himself teach anyone of note?  I think it would be interesting to know if he or other self-taught composers, actually went on to teach and how that went.

[JimL]

Check out the www.raff.org website for answers to your question.  Just to give you a brief answer here, I would say that as the first director of the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt he did teach a few composers of note.  Probably the most famous was the American, Edward MacDowell, whose 1st Piano Concerto is directly attributable to a fib he told Herr Raff.

[Ilja]

Specifically:

http://www.raff.org/life/art/pupils.htm

[monafam]

Thanks!  Interesting read.  I particularly find the section about him forbidding his music to be played or used as teaching aids noteworthy.  Its as if he was going to let his pupil's take their music where they felt called to go.  Give them the general map of the area and the necessary tools for survival, but ultimately the pupil must make the exploration on their own.   

What was MacDowell's fib? 

[JimL]

That he was working on a piano concerto!