A pianist that used a wooden spacer/tool to artificially increase the length of their fingers?

Question

I've once heard a story about a pianist of the past who wrote a music piece that critics told him was impossible to play - the length of any person's fingers wouldn't be sufficient. But he used some tool to combat that and make his fingers longer and played that piece successfully. What was his name?

Answer 1

The only story I've heard along these lines was about Robert Schumann. As I understand it he actually damaged his hand in an attempt to increase --- not the length of his fingers, but the breadth of his hand.