Editing Vladimir Horowitz (section)

==Life and early career==
[[File:Horowitz birth certificate.png|thumb|Birth certificate of Vladimir Horowitz]]
Horowitz was born on October 1, 1903, in [[Kiev]], then in the [[Russian Empire]] (now [[Ukraine]]).<ref name="schonberg">Schonberg, 1992.</ref> According to [[Nicolas Slonimsky]], Horowitz was born in [[Berdichev]],<ref>Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, Eight Edition, page 798 (Scribner Books, New York, 1982).</ref> a city near [[Zhitomir]] in the [[Volhynian Governorate]]. However, his birth certificate states that Kiev was his birthplace.<ref>{{Cite web |date=27 September – 3 October 2003 |script-title=ru:Полновластный король, вечный странник-артист... |url=http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/znamenitye-kievlyane/lyudi-iskusstva/vladimir-gorovits/polnovlastniy-korol-vechniy-strannik-artist |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111018001822/http://www.interesniy.kiev.ua/znamenitye-kievlyane/lyudi-iskusstva/vladimir-gorovits/polnovlastniy-korol-vechniy-strannik-artist/ |archive-date=October 18, 2011 |access-date=2011-12-30 |website=Interesting Kiev |publisher=Interesniy.kiev.ua |language=ru}} (Title translation: "Sovereign king, an eternal wanderer-artist...")</ref>

He was the youngest of four children of Samuil Horowitz and Sophia (''née'' Bodik), who were [[Jewish assimilation|assimilated Jews]]. His father was a well-to-do electrical engineer and a distributor of electric motors for German manufacturers. His grandfather Joachim was a merchant (and an arts-supporter), belonging to the First Merchant's Guild, which exempted him from having to reside in the [[Pale of Settlement]]. In order to make him appear too young for military service so as not to risk damaging his hands, Samuil took a year off his son's age by claiming that he was born in 1904. The 1904 date appeared in many reference works during Horowitz's lifetime.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

His uncle Alexander was a pupil and close friend of [[Alexander Scriabin]].<ref>Bowers, Faubion. ''Scriabin, a Biography'' p,. 82.</ref> When Horowitz was 10, it was arranged for him to play for Scriabin, who told his parents that he was extremely talented.<ref>Chotzinoff, Samuel (1964). ''A Little Nightmusic'', p. 36. Harper & Row.</ref>

Horowitz received piano instruction from an early age, initially from his mother, who was herself a pianist. In 1912 he entered the [[Kiev Conservatory]], where he was taught by Vladimir Puchalsky, [[Sergei Tarnowsky]], and [[Felix Blumenfeld]]. His first solo recital was in [[Kharkov]] in 1920.{{cn|date=October 2024}}

Horowitz soon began to tour Russia and the [[Soviet Union]], where he was often paid with bread, butter and chocolate rather than money, due to the economic hardship caused by the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref name="plaskin">Plaskin, 1983, pp. 52, 56, 338–37, 353.</ref> During the 1922–23 season, he performed 23 concerts of eleven different programs in [[Petrograd]] alone.<ref name=plaskin/> Despite his early success as a pianist, he maintained that he wanted to be a composer and undertook a career as a pianist only to help his family, who had lost their possessions in the [[Russian Revolution (1917)|Russian Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite news |last=Holland |first=Bernard |date=November 6, 1989 |title=Vladimir Horowitz, Titan of the Piano, Dies |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/06/obituaries/vladimir-horowitz-titan-of-the-piano-dies.html |access-date=2010-03-18 |archive-date=2019-12-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191202231035/https://www.nytimes.com/1989/11/06/obituaries/vladimir-horowitz-titan-of-the-piano-dies.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In December 1925, Horowitz emigrated to Germany, ostensibly to study with [[Artur Schnabel]] in Berlin but secretly intending not to return. He stuffed American dollars and British pound notes into his shoes to finance his initial concerts.<ref>Horowitz interview with Charles Kuralt, CBS News Sunday Morning</ref>