Géza Zichy

Count Géza Zichy (23 July 184914 January 1924) was a Hungarian composer and was also renowned as the world’s first professional one-armed pianist. Zichy also published an autobiography (“Aus meinem Leben”, 3 vols, 1911–24) and some poetry. Zichy lost his right arm in a hunting accident at age 14 or 15. Instead of despair, he doubled his strive, to form himself into a true piano virtuoso. “I closed the door,” he says in his memoirs, “and got dressed alone. The door handle, the furniture, my legs, my teeth all helped. At lunch, I did not eat any food that I could not cut myself and did not accept the slightest service. Today I peel apples, cut my nails myself, dress alone, ride, drive four-in-hand, I am a good hunter with bullets and buckshot, and I even learned to play the piano a bit. You can be independent with one hand, you just have to know how." So, he persevered by writing and performing piano music for the left hand. In 1873 he began six years of study with Franz Liszt. He also studied under Robert Volkmann. In spite of his limitations, Zichy had a successful career as both a concert pianist and a composer for the next 40 years. He gave entire concerts playing music only for