Who is Sigismond Thalberg from The Great Pianists and what is their importance?

Sigismond Thalberg was a great pianist who played piano as he sat erect and formal with minimal movement. He developed a specialty new in the 1830s that earned him the nickname "Old Arpeggio." Thalberg played the melody with his thumbs in the middle of the keyboard while his fingers played chords up and down the keyboard. This technique created the impression of playing with a third hand. Thalberg was aristocratic, talented and popular with ladies like Liszt but was genteel and did not cause hysterical behavior. Old Arpeggio recommended pressing the keys with energy and vigor rather than striking them and kneading tender passages with "fingers of velvet." Thalberg retired from playing without even a piano at home in 1863. He died in 1871.