Extracts from the book "Worte des Dankes"
Published by Hans Schneider, Tutzing

Her playing is admirable. Now 85, Elly Ney still has the power to fascinate audiences with her Beethoven interpretations. In Rheydt she is presenting four of the finest sonatas to over a thousand music-lovers…. Elly Ney plays Beethoven, "her" Beethoven, with incomparable rhythmic finesse, a finely balanced pointing of the melodic lines, and meticulous dynamics and rhythms.
Westdeutsche Zeitung, 23 October 1967

She is the doyenne of Beethoven performers. We saw and heard Elly Ney in a Beethoven-Saal packed to the rafters. She is a famous example of how much can be achieved by the highly cultured senior citizens of our own times. What interpretative power!
Hannoversche Allgemeine, 1 November 1967

(c) Ilse Buhs

Elly Ney beckoned us to come to the Gürzenich Hall and everyone, but everyone, came -- from lifelong fans to young people anxious to catch their first glimpse of her great artistry. And there cannot have been a single member of the audience who remained untouched by her radiance….
Kölnische Rundschau, 1-2 November 1967

Despite her advanced age, every reappearance counts amongst those musical and cultural events that are dominated by the allusive power of her personality. Her mastery of the piano is the expression of a clearly defined individuality.
Hannoversche Allgemeine, 25-26 November 1967

Never before in postwar times has Wesel musical life witnessed scenes like this: 35 minutes of applause at the end of a piano recital. The audience rose to their feet spontaneously to express their veneration for that "grand old lady", Elly Ney.
Just as Artur Rubinstein, her almost exact contemporary, has become the supreme embodiment of the spirit of Chopin, so Elly Ney has become the outstanding interpreter of Beethoven.
Rheinische Post, 27 November 1967

As the last notes of the Arietta died away there was general amazement among the audience at her sheer mental and physical stamina. But when Elly Ney proceeded to treat them to another 45 minutes' worth of encores, their rapture knew no bounds. The astonishing Elly Ney is one of the outstanding phenomena of our time.
Weser Kurier, 11 December 1967

The phenomenon of this queen of Beethoven interpreters is not to be grasped by analysing the physical sound. You have to open your mind and allow yourself to be drawn into the poetry of the heart as Elly Ney conveys it in her playing. Through her approach and manner of performing on the concert platform she extends an aura of serenity, a general love of humanity, and a special affection for her great congregation of loyal admirers, so much so that in the wild applause at the end of her recital the audience streamed to the front in order to get closer to her.
Stuttgarter Nachrichten, 16 December 1967

The final concert: 8 March 1968, Darmstadt
As the white-haired pianist made her appearance and, step by painful step, though still erect in bearing, moved to the front of the stage to acknowledge the audience's welcoming applause, we saw a smile that was noticeably overshadowed by a hint of sadness: it was clear she knew that this was her leavetaking. And even the most blasé amongst those present must have felt more than a twinge of emotion, for here in their midst was a living piece of history.
At 85, she had felt unwell that evening. In the afternoon she had had to consult a doctor, and he had strongly advised her to cancel the concert. But she was in no mood to spare herself or to disappoint her public. She overcame the decline of her strength with steely willpower.
The climax of the recital was undisputably the C sharp minor sonata, the "Moonlight", especially the Adagio first movement: the temptation is almost to confine this review to that piece alone. Scarcely troubled by its technical difficulties, Elly Ney here attained the highest imaginable degree of expressive power. Her interpretation of its warm melancholy was refreshingly unsentimental, her playing as clear as a bell, her touch crystalline, and the music's rapt self-absorption was conveyed with unsurpassable immediacy….
All those present -- including even the most discriminating of critics amongst them -- were filled with gratitude and happiness.
Darmstädter Echo, 11 March 1968

(C) Torsten Rehbinder

Extracts from the book "Worte des Dankes"
Published by Hans Schneider, Tutzing

It is with deep sadness that the Bonn, Beethoven's home city, bids farewell to its honorary citizen, Elly Ney. Countless times in childhood this great artist passed by the "Beethoven house", the birthplace of the genius who was later to become the raison d'être of her long and distinguished life …. As Elly Ney grew up in these surroundings, maturing both as an individual and as an artist, she increasingly grew into his creative oeuvre. And just as the Beethoven effect radiated out from the composer's beginnings in Bonn to reach the four corners of the earth, so she too saw to it that his music was heard all over the world; she unbarred the way for her innumerable listeners to find their path to him, and touched their hearts…. She loved Bonn and it loved her right from the start, bestowing honorary citizenship on her as early as forty years ago….
Wilhelm Daniels, Oberbürgermeister, Bonn

Prof. Theodor Heuss congratulates Elly Ney to her 75.th birthday


Together with great numbers of her friends and admirers I bow my head at the grave of Elly Ney. The strength of her personality and the expressive power of her interpretations will live on in the grateful memories of many many people.
Kurt Georg Kiesinger, former President of the German Federal Republic

We loved Professor Elly Ney very much as an artist. With her we lose not only a splendid artist but above all a sensitive, lovable personality whom we have regarded with constantly renewed admiration and affection throughout the many years of our collaboration.
Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg

Elly Ney and Ludwig Hoelscher [© Theo Schafgans / Schafgans Archiv Bonn]

If there was ever a performing artist who cared about educating and encouraging the young and exerting musical influence on them, and who believed these enterprises to be amongst the most exalted of human undertakings, that artist was the great pianist and teacher Elly Ney. For many decades it was her central concern to bring the higher values of life closer to young people through playing and talking to them, in public concerts but equally, indeed especially, in schools, conservatoires and other educational establishments. Her work with the young was deeply imbued with idealism, and was undertaken as a matter of course, with no thought of any material advantages for herself….
When the eminent Russian pianist Sviatoslav Richter was asked from which master of the keyboard he could still receive stimulation, he is said to have replied: "No master, but a mistress of the keyboard: Elly Ney."
So is it farewell to Elly Ney- For all those who loved and revered this remarkable woman, she lives on in the memory as the kind, modest person who approached all aspects of life with an open mind, a warm heart and a readiness to help. Equally, her image remains alive as an incomparably fine exponent of piano music. She has left these recordings, made at the culmination of her mature artistry, as a lasting document, as a consolation to her friends and as her statement to her critics, proof of an almost unimaginably admirable achievement in overcoming of all outward material considerations. But her recordings are also her gift to succeeding generations: a model of greatness as a human being and as an artist.
Ludwig Hoelscher

It was in 1912 that I was introduced to your mother at a music festival. I followed her wonderful musical career and at countless concerts sat admiringly at her feet amongst the audience. As an artist and as a figure to be revered she has earned a lasting place in musical history …
Prince Albrecht von Hohenzollern

My ears still hear her melodious voice, with its unmistakable hint of her Rhineland origins, which had the gift of establishing immediate contact with everyone she spoke to. This happened even more intensely when she stepped onto the concert platform. Just one mysterious chord (Beethoven's D minor sonata, for instance), and the listener was drawn into her magnetic field. What then ensued cannot and should not be described in words, nor should it be scientifically dissected. Those who had ears, heard for themselves. But that was by no means the end of the matter. A realisation continued to resonate in her listeners' hearts, as it had begun to resonate from the moment this greatest of performers stepped onto the platform - the realisation that artistry of this quality draws its strength from roots that have their being in the unfathomable depths of the human soul.
Wilhelm Kempff, conductor and composer

An exceptionally rich, fulfilled life has now drawn to its close. The successes Elly Ney achieved were the result of sustained effort and hard work. Love of music and continual service to humanity were equally important to her. This is why, though enthusiastically received in every concert hall she played in, she also performed in schools, factories, hospitals and prisons. Our nation will attest to its gratitude by lovingly cultivating its musical life.
Heinrich Lübke, former President of the German Federal Republic

(c) M.A. Gräfin zu Dohna

These lines come to you from Werl Prison. In 1962 your dear Mother gave us a concert which we still remember (there were about 1,900 of us present). My words are accompanied, therefore, by many kind thoughts from my fellow inmates.
At that concert, at your Mother's suggestion, we hummed along with the music, so today we hummed along again as we listened to the record that your Mother had sent us.
I feel I can best show my understanding of your dear late Mother by writing the message "Sing and be happy" - for that was what we were told back in 1962 by that great lady, Elly Ney.
N.N.

Elly Ney, Willem van Hoogstraten and
Willy Luther (the former manager of colosseum), 1960