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Community Corner

Lacey Resident Shares His Passion for Music

Richard Bidnick shows "All in One Hand" at the Lacey Library

Lacey resident Richard Bidnick is known to many residents in town for his political endeavors with the Citizens for Responsible Government but in his day to day life, he has a passion for the piano and classical music that he will be sharing with the town during a lecture at the Lacey branch of the Ocean County Library on Wednesday, April 6 at 7:30 p.m.

Bidnick will be presenting a 52-minute documentary film All in One Hand—The Pianist Paul Wittgenstein, the Man Who Would Not Give Up on the life of early 20th century one-handed pianist Paul Wittgenstein for which Bidnick was interviewed to appear on screen by the filmmakers in 2009.

“If you have a love and passion for music, if you want to understand human psychology, if you love good film, this is a film that will work for you,” said Bidnick as he invited the public to come to Wednesday’s event.

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The tale of how Bidnick became familiar enough with the life and work of a European World War I era composer to be interviewed for this documentary is an interesting story in its own right.

Bidnick recalled that it all began in 2000 when he purchased a new grand piano and began looking online for ways to broaden his own playing repertoire. In his search he came across the book The Art of the Piano by David Dubal, which Bidnick said then got him interested in the works of composer Sergei Bortkiewicz.

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Bidnick’s research of Bortkiewicz led him to discover the composer had written a left-handed concerto for Wittgenstein in 1923, and it was then that Bidnick began to research Wittgenstein’s life.

Wittgenstein was born into a wealthy family in Austria. He was just beginning a career as a concert pianist when he was called to serve in World War I where he lost his right arm in combat at age 26. However this setback did not deter him from a concert performer using just his left hand until his death in 1961.

“I always had a passion for the underdog,” said Bidnick on why he was immediately drawn to Wittgenstein’s tale. “He had to overcome such insurmountable odds to make a success of what he wanted to do.”

When he was director of the Brielle Library, Bidnick was able to use his expertise to better research Wittgenstein’s life. He began by contacting the major European libraries and music institutions in and around Vienna, getting articles on Wittgenstein transcribed from Polish, German, French and Dutch into English for the first time as he pulled his research together.

This led to Bidnick contacting Wittgenstein’s daughter Joan Ripley

“She wrote an excellent [college] thesis with pictures and diagrams. We emailed and talked, and she made a copy for me to use in my research. We became friendly,” said Bidnick, who added, he eventually met Ripley in Berlin and the two remain good friends.

The trip to Berlin came across a much larger backdrop as Bidnick was invited to speak there in 2004 on symposium on Wittgenstein’s life, where one of his Commissioned lost concertos was publicly performed for the first time.

“For 81 years people had never seen this concerto performed. It was released from the archives when his widow died,” said Bidnick. “This was a big international event. All of the music world was there. This had never been performed. It was a great honor for me to speak at the symposium.”

When Bidnick returned home he began a series of lectures on Wittgenstein’s life.

“I thought I could use the angle of inspirational story. Here is a young man with great wealth. His right arm gets blown off. He had just started his concert career eight months before. He had to persevere and focus to continue his career as a left-arm pianist and then he makes a significant contribution to art,” said Bidnick.

“I consider him to be a hero. A hero, who takes a great tragedy and makes great art and can be an inspiration for anyone with a handicap,” Bidnick added.

Bidnick was later contacted by Ripley to speak with British author Alexander Waugh when he put together the authorized biography of Wittgenstein, entitled The House of Wittgenstein: a Family at War.

He was subsequently contacted to offer insight for a second book on the topic, “The Empty Sleeve” by Irene Suchy. Thus, when the documentary was being put together he became a natural source for the filmmakers to come to in April 2009 as part of series of interviews on four continents that make up the story.

Bidnick noted he has been playing the piano since he was 11-years-old, and commented on what it has been like to be involved as interest in Wittgenstein’s life has continued to grow these past ten years.

“Music has always been the passion of my life. It is the international language, music. We can all understand and feel things when we hear music. For me to be a part of that, an important part of what I am so passionate, it’s just great,” said Bidnick

The film is produced by Bernard Fleisher Moving Images (BFMI) and directed by Michael Beyer. It premiered in May 2010 on the French/German television channel ARTE. Bidnick said BFMI is currently in discussion to bring the film to PBS for U.S. distribution, but in the meantime Bidnick himself received permission from the filmmakers to show the film as part of his lecturing tour.

“When people see the whole film they understand how I and many others consider him a 20th century hero,” said Bidnick. “The film shows a tragedy and the power of the human spirit to be able to rise above.”

While Bidnick’s lectures have taken him across the state, Wednesday will be the first time he presents this material in the town in which he lives.

 “It’s nice to be able to screen this in Lacey,” said Bidnick, who noted the program is being underwritten by the Friends of the Lacey Library.

“It is nice to show it in my own community. You never know what people are doing and what there passions are. I’m very excited to share it with people here in my own community,” he added.

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