Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian pianist and composer who is considered to be among the greatest and most important musicians of the 20th century. Schnabel continues to be celebrated particularly for his performances of Beethoven and Schubert. Proclaimed by the American music critic, journalist, and writer on music Harold C. Schonberg as "the man who invented Beethoven", Schnabel's pedagogical lineage included Beethoven himself. When he was around ten years old, he began studying with Theodor Leschetizky, who was a student of Carl Czerny. Czerny was Beethoven's student, in addition to being his close friend and assistant. In 1927, on the occasion of the centenary of Beethoven's death, Schnabel performed all 32 Beethoven piano sonatas for the first time in a series of seven recitals at the theatre of the Volksbühne in Berlin. He performed the complete cycle three more times in his life; in London in 1934, at New York's Carnegie Hall in 1934, and at the Berliner Philharmonie from 1932 to 1933. Schnabel witnessed the development of the technology of sound reproduction throughout his life; the player piano, the radio, and the phonograph record were all invented during his lifetime. In 1905, he recorded several piano rolls on a Welte-Mignon, including works of Chopin, Bach, Schubert, Brahms, Weber, and Josef Strauss. These are Schnabel's first known recordings, albeit not of sound. A few weeks after making the piano rolls, Schnabel wrote in the Welte Autograph Book: "With the artistic excellence of the Welte-Mignon, the extreme limits of possibility in the mechanical reproduction of music appear to have been reached. ... Instead of all traces of his art disappearing with the last note played, the Pianist has now the consoling certainty that his performances will survive him." About a year later, Ludwig Hupfeld placed another reproducing piano on the German market. Schnabel also made several rolls on this new instrument, including a Chopin etude, a Schumann romance, and a Weber rondo. In 1922, Schnabel made rolls on an American Piano Company (Ampico) instrument during his first American tour as part of a contractual obligation. In addition to works of Bach, Brahms, Schubert, and Weber, he recorded two pieces of Beethoven.