Few pedagogues can claim the fame enjoyed by Heinrich Neuhaus as his name transcended the confines of musical circles to become a national cultural icon and household name. In an environment where music making and interest in culture were seen in many ways as marks of an upright Soviet citizen, Neuhaus's photo portrait sat atop countless pianos and graced the walls of music rooms. For many growing up in the Soviet Union the honor of being admitted to Neuhaus's class at the Moscow Conservatory was the realization of a childhood dream. His witty remarks and the beguiling, even coquettish, charm of a raconteur attracted large audiences to observe his lessons. The larger the audience the more he came into his own: unlike his esteemed colleagues Alexander Goldenweiser and Konstantin Igumnov, Neuhaus flourished as his students (both his own and those of other professors), colleagues, and music lovers flocked into his famous “Room 29,” and the lack of available chairs and standing room turned windowsills into benches.

By 1958 Neuhaus was able to boast of his “suitcase” of competition laureates who had become renowned pianists in their own right. Such a distinction stands alongside the huge number of former students who went on to teach in music schools across the USSR, as well as hundreds of otherwise “musically defective” students who had passed through his hands. Neuhaus was well aware of his unprecedented success as a pedagogue of international significance: “There are kind people who (not without cause) will comfort me: you have created a whole school, one of the best in the [Soviet] Union, you have given so many wonderful concerts, your cultural direction is valued not only in the motherland, but also abroad etc.” Indeed, his most famous book, About the Art of Piano Playing, which due to high demand warranted being published just three years later in a revised edition, carries the subtitle Notes of a Pedagogue and was translated into German, French, and English during his lifetime.

Notwithstanding the fierce loyalty toward their professor demonstrated by students of the “Neuhaus School,” however, there were many instances when it could be difficult to speak of him as a typical pedagogue.