The Ferruccio Busoni Tradition

Piano Traditions Through Their Genealogy Trees

© 2022, by Daniel Pereira

Doctor of Musical Arts | www.daniel-pereira.com

 

Abram, Jacques

American (Lufkin, Texas, August 6, 1915 — Tampa, Florida, October 5, 1998)

Jacques Abram was a pianist. He was a precocious child who started improvising at the age of 3 and performing a few years after. While still young, he studied with Ima Hogg, Ruth Burr and, upon the recommendation of Paderewski and Hofmann, he entered the Curtis Institute where he became a pupil of David Saperton. Subsequently, he studied at The Juilliard School with Ernest Hutcheson and privately with Leschetizky´s student Arthur Shattuck. During World War II, Abram was stationed with a special services unit in San Antonio, Texas. As a teacher, he held positions at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and at the University of South Florida. Abram gave the first American performance and made the first recording of Britten´s Piano Concerto.

 

Abranches de Soveral, Hélia

Portuguese (Viseu, May 3, 1919 — Porto, May 14, 2009)

Hélia Abranches de Soveral was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Madre Casanova, Luís Costa, Guido Agosti, Reine Gianoli, Isabelle Ponciu and also attended Alfred Cortot´s last performing course in Paris. She taught at the Porto Conservatory, and was the founder and director of the Porto School of Music, Porto Professional School of Music and Regional Conservatory of Viseu. Abranches married historian and writer Joaquim Ferreira Torres. Their daughter, Madalena Abranches de Soveral Torres, was a renowned pianist.

 

Achot-Haroutounian, Tania

Iranian-Portuguese (Teheran, January 3, 1937 — Lisbon, January 6, 2022)

Tania Achot was a pianist and teacher. Her father was Armenian and her mother Russian. She studied with Lev Oborin in Moscow. In 1960, she achieved the third prize at the Frédéric Chopin Competition. Achot taught at the Escola Superior de Música of Lisbon and had a significant impact on several generations of Portuguese pianists. She made a record of a number of Chopin´s works for Deutsche Grammophon. Achot married pianist Sequeira Costa and settled in Portugal in the 1960s.

 

Almeida Prado, José Antonio de

Brazilian (Santos, February 8, 1943 — São Paulo, November 21, 2010)

José Antonio de Almeida Prado was a composer. He studied piano with Dinorah de Carvalho and composition with Osvaldo Lacerda and Camargo Guarnieri. Subsequently, he also studied with Clementi Terni, Nadia Boulanger, Oliver Messiaen, György Ligeti and Lukas Foss. The state of São Paulo granted him the Brazil Independence Prize in 1972. Almeida Prado taught piano at the Santos Conservatory from 1965 to 1969. His works with piano include the Concerto no. 1, Variações and Exoflora, for piano and orchestra, and Toccata, Momentos, Rios, Cartas celestas, 5 Noturnos, preludes, 9 sonatas and Guarinia, for piano solo.

 

Alves de Sousa, Berta

Portuguese (Liège, Belgium, April 8, 1906 — Porto, August 1, 1997)

Berta Alves de Sousa was a composer, teacher and critic. She studied at the Porto Conservatory and with Wilhelm Backhaus, Theodor Szántó, Georges Migot, Vianna da Motta and Alfred Cortot. Alves de Sousa was critic for the Primeiro de Janeiro and teacher at the Porto Conservatory.

 

Ansorge, Conrad

German (Buchwald, Silesia, October 15, 1862 — Berlin, February 13, 1930)

Conrad Ansorge was a pianist and composer. He was one of Franz Liszt´s last pupils in Weimar in 1885 and 1886 as well as one of the most intellectual pianists of his generation.  Ansorge taught at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory in Berlin and was head of the piano department at the German Academy in Prague. He was a noteworthy Beethoven interpreter and recorded the sonatas op. 27 no. 2 and op. 13 for the label Vox in the 1920s. Among his works as a composer, we find a Piano concerto and 3 piano sonatas. 

 

Agosti, Guido

Italian (Forlì, August 11, 1901 — Milan, June 2, 1989)

Guido Agosti was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Ferruccio Busoni, Bruno Mugellini and Filippo Ivaldi. He also studied Literature at the Bologna University. Due to stage nerves, he focused on teaching and held posts at the Venice Conservatory, Santa Cecilia Academy in Rome, Accademia Chigiana in Siena, Weimar and Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Among his notable students were Leslie Howard, Martin Jones, Maria Tipo and Kun-Woo Paik. Agosti made a few recordings including the music of Debussy, Mussorgsky and Janáček. His transcription for piano of Stravinsky´s The Firebird became very popular. Agosti edited Beethoven´s 32 Variations in C minor WoO 80.

[See the Guido Agosti Tradition]

 

Bachauer, Gina

Greek (Athens, May 21, 1910 — Athens, August 22, 1976)

Gina Bachauer was a pianist of Austrian descent. Her father moved to Greece in 1877. She studied at the Athens Conservatory with Woldemar Freeman and at the École Normale in Paris with Alfred Cortot. She also studied privately with Rachmaninov. During World Word II, she offered over 600 concerts for the allied troops. Bachauer´s recordings include the concertos of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin and Grieg and the piano music of Debussy, Ravel and Stravinsky.

 

Berger, Wilhelm

German (Boston, August 9, 1861 — Jena, January 15, 1911)

Wilhelm Berger was a pianist, conductor and composer. He was born in America, but his family moved to Germany when he was a year old. He studied in Bremen with Wilhelm Kallmeyer and in Berlin with Ernst Rudorff. In 1888, he was appointed professor at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. Berger composed Variationen op. 61, for two pianos, Sonata op. 76, and collections of klavierstücke, intermezzos, caprices and études.

 

Blanchet, Émile-Robert

Swiss (Lausanne, July 17, 1877 — Pully, near Lausanne, March 27, 1943)

Émile Blanchet was a pianist and composer. He began music instruction with his father, the organist Charles Blanchet, and with his mother, the pianist Marie Schnyder. Subsequently, he studied at the Cologne Conservatory and with Busoni. Blanchet directed the Lausanne Conservatory. As a composer, he composed Concertstück no. 1 op. 14 for piano and orchestra, Ballade op. 57 for two pianos and later transcribed for piano and orchestra, Tema con variazioni op. 13 and Suite in a minor op. 87.

 

Bloch, Joseph

American (Indianapolis, November 6, 1917 — Larchmond, March 4, 2009)

Joseph Bloch was a pianist. He studied with Bomar Cramera, then with Rudolph Ganz at the Chicago Musical College and, privately, with Olga Samaroff in New York. He earned a Master in Musicology from Harvard University. From 1941 to 1946, he was captain in the Army Air Forces. In 1946, Bloch was appointed head of the piano department at the University of Denver and, in 1948, he started teaching piano literature courses at The Juilliard School, where his students included Garrick Ohlsson, Van Cliburn, Misha Dichter and John Browning.

 

Boieldieu, François-Adrien

French (Rouen, December 16, 1775 — Jarcy, Seine et Oise, October 8, 1834)

François-Adrien Boieldieu was one of the most important opera composers in France during the early nineteenth century. He studied organ, piano, harmony and composition with Charles Broche, organist at the Rouen Cathedral. Boieldieu was appointed organist at the church of Saint André de Rouen in 1791. He achieved some success as a concert pianist. From 1798 to 1803, he taught piano at the Paris Conservatoire.

 

Bolet, Jorge

Cuban-American (Havana, November 15, 1914 — Mountain View, California, October 16, 1990)

Jorge Bolet was a pianist. He began piano lessons with his sister Maria and later with David Saperton at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia, where he also received advice from Godowsky, Hofmann and Rosenthal. In addition, Bolet studied conducting with Fritz Reiner. In 1937, he obtained the first prize at the Naumburg International Piano Competition in New York, a city in which his debut was attended by Rachmaninov, Horowitz, Elman and Godowsky. Between 1939 and 1942, Bolet was Serkin´s assistant at Curtis and also taught at Indiana University between 1968 and 1977. In 1942, he became military attaché for Cuba in Washington D.C. and also served in Japan, where he premiered in that country The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan. In 1974, Bolet signed an exclusive contract with Decca. The 1960 biopic Song Without End featured a soundtrack with Bolet performing at the piano. The film won the Oscar for Best Music Score.

 

Brailowsky, Alexander

Ukrainian-American (Kiev, February 16, 1896 — New York, April 25, 1976)

Alexander Brailowsky was a pianist. He was a pupil of Vladimir Puchalsky at the Kiev Conservatory and of Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. He also studied with Ferruccio Busoni in Switzerland. Brailowsky became widely recognized as a unique Chopin player and frequently offered all the Polish composer´s works in series of concerts.

 

Brassin, Louis

Belgian (Aix-la-Chapelle, June 24, 1840 — Saint Petersburg, May 17, 1884)

Louis Brassin was a pianist and composer. He was a musically precocious child and performed concerts since a very young age. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with Ignaz Moscheles. In 1866, Brassin started teaching at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin and, from 1869 and 1878, he taught at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1878, he moved to Saint Petersburg where he succeeded Theodor Leschetizky at the Conservatory. Among Brassin´s students were Safonov, Sapellnikov and Rummel. He composed two piano concertos, Polonaise op. 18, Au clair de la lune and made a number of piano transcriptions, including Magic Fire Music from Wagner´s Die Walküre. He also published the École modern du piano.

[See the Louis Brassin Tradition]

 

Brüll, Ignaz

Austrian (Prossnitz, now Prostějov, November 7, 1846 — Vienna, September 17, 1907)

A friend and member of Johannes Brahms´s inner circle in Vienna, for whom he regularly played, Brüll travelled as concert pianist, including a visit to London in 1878. He taught at the Horák Piano School in Vienna. As composer, he wrote two piano concertos, a sonata and four suites for piano, among other works.

 

Busoni, Ferruccio

Italian (Empoli, Tuscany, April 1, 1866 — Berlin, July 27, 1924)

Ferrucio Busoni was a pianist and composer. Born in the region of Tuscany, his family moved to Trieste in the Northern part of the country when he was only a few months old and, as a result, he was influenced by a Germanic atmosphere. His father, who gave Busoni his first piano instruction focused on Bach, was a virtuoso clarinet player, and his Austrian-born mother was a pianist. Although Busoni was baptized Catholic, he was fundamentally an atheist. He entered the Vienna Conservatory at the age of nine but, unhappy with the curriculum of studies, left after only two years. He taught at the Helsinki College of Music, New England Conservatory in the USA and at the Vienna Conservatory, and also in Switzerland and Moscow, where he married Gerda Sjöstrand. He enjoyed giving “historical recitals”, inspired by Anton Rubinstein, such as the six concerts he performed in Berlin in 1911 championing the music of Liszt or the series of eight recitals devoted to the keyboard literature since J.S. Bach. His extensive output includes works of a broad compositional spectrum including the monumental Piano Concerto (with a male chorus finale), Fantasia contrappuntistica, Suite Campestre, 24 Preludi, Sonata in F, Sonatina Seconda and the Toccata. The letters “BV” or “KiV” following his compositions refer to Jürgen Kindermann´s catalogue. Busoni mastered an extensive repertory and produced a number of Bach transcriptions such as the organ preludes and the Chaconne and published an annotated edition of the Well-tempered clavier and of Liszt´s works for the Franz-Liszt-Stiftung. He made several 78-rpm and piano-roll recordings including Liszt´s Feux follets and Réminiscences de Don Juan.

[See the Ferruccio Busoni Tradition]

 

Carreño, Teresa

Venezuelan (Caracas, Venezuela, December 22, 1853 — New York, June 12, 1917)

Teresa Carreño was a pianist, composer and singer. Both her grandfather and father were musicians, and she received her early musical training with the latter. In 1862, the family moved to New York City, where Carreño made her debut when she was eight years old. She also lived in Paris and Boston, and concertized with great acclaim in Europe, Australia, Africa, South America and in the United States. She championed the works of American composers, particularly the music of Edward MacDowell. Carreño also appeared on occasion as an opera singer. She composed about 80 works including the Marche triomphale op. 8, Ballade op. 15 and Vals Gayo op. 38. Carreño recorded a number of piano rolls for Welte-Mignon and Duo-Art in 1905 and 1914, respectively. She married four times: the violinist Emile Sauret, the baritone Giovanni Tagliapietra, and later his brother Arturo Tagliapietra, and the pianist Eugen d´Albert. Among the pallbearers at her funeral were Paderewski, Hutcheson and Elman.

 

Carreras, Maria

Italian (1872 — 1966)

Maria Carreras was a pianist. A child prodigy, she entered the Academia di Santa Cecilia in Rome with a scholarship at the age of six. She was a student of Sgambati, Liszt and Busoni. Carreras played frequently under Arturo Toscanini´s baton. In 1903, she married Italian businessman Guido Carreras, who became her concert manager, although they later divorced. She died at the age of 89 due to a heart ailment.

 

Carvalho, Sara

Portuguese (b. 1970)

Sara Carvalho is a composer. She studied composition at the University of Aveiro and obtained the master and doctoral degrees from the University of York in England. She is the founder and co-director of Momentum Ensemble and director of the bachelor´s program in music pedagogy at the University of Aveiro.

 

Cesi, Beniamino

Italian (Naples, November 6, 1845 — January 19, 1907)

Beniamino Cesi was a pianist and teacher and a key figure in establishing the Neapolitan piano school. He took his first piano lessons from his father and then studied with Luigi Albanesi and Sigismond Thalberg. He taught at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples and at the Conservatory of Parma and, between 1885 and 1891, he was professor of piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, upon Anton Rubinstein´s invitation. Cesi wrote an influential piano method, Metodo per pianoforte. Among his eminent pupils were Giuseppe Martucci, Alessandro Longo, Michele Esposito and Leopoldo Mugnone. His two sons, Napoleone and Sigismondo, were also pianists and composers.

[See the Beniamino Cesi Tradition]

 

Chaloff, Julius

American (Boston, September 2, 1892 — Boston, October 28, 1979)

Julius Chaloff was a pianist and composer of Russian descent. He studied at the New England Conservatory with Alfred DeVoto and in Berlin with Ignacy Friedman. He married piano teacher Margaret Stedman, who taught Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. Their son was baritone saxophone player Serge Chaloff.

 

Chiaffarelli, Luigi

Italian (Isernia, Italy, September 2, 1856 — São Paulo, Brazil, June 16, 1923)

Luigi Chiaffarelli was a pianist and teacher. He studied in Bologna with Gustavo Tofano and in Stuttgart with Sigmund Lebert. In addition, he studied and spoke 13 languages fluently. In 1885, he settled in Brazil where he took an active role in the establishment of the Conservatório Dramático e Musical de São Paulo. His most illustrious students were Antonietta Rudge Miller, Guiomar Novaes and Souza Lima. Chiaffarelli is regarded as the founder of the systematic and professional piano teaching in Brazil. He edited the pedagogical book Método e Migalhas and works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Mendelssohn or Albéniz.

[See the Luigi Chiaffarelli Tradition]

 

Chovan, Kalman

Hungarian (Szarvas, January 18, 1852 — Budapest, March 16, 1928)

Kalman Chovan was a composer and pianist. He began music lessons with his father. He taught in Vienna at the Eduard Horak School (currently, the Franz Schubert Conservatorium) and at the Saint-Genois Count School, and at the Budapest Conservatory where his students included Theodor Szántó and Arnold Székely. In collaboration with Árpád Szendy, he developed a systematic training for piano teachers in 1891.

 

Ciccolini, Aldo

Italo-French (Naples, August 15, 1925 — Paris, February 1, 2015)

Aldo Ciccolini was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Paolo Denza at the Naples Conservatory. In 1949, he won first prize at the Long-Thibaud Competition. In 1947, Ciccolini was appointed professor at the Naples Conservatory and, from 1971 to 1989, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire. Among his students were Artur Pizarro, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Franceso Libetta and Antonio Pompa-Baldi. Ciccolini became a French citizen in 1971.

 

Clementi, Muzio

Italo-English (Rome, January 23, 1752 — Evesham, Worcester, March 10, 1832)

Muzio Clementi was a pianist, composer, teacher and empresario. Popularly known as the “father of the pianoforte”, his influence on subsequent generations of pianists, piano composers, publishing and manufacturing firms is undisputed. Clementi counted among his students such distinguished pianists as Ludwig Berger, Carl Czerny, John Field and Frédéric Kalkbrenner. His pedagogical works Introduction to the Art of Playing the Pianoforte (1801) and Gradus ad Parnassum (1817, 1819, 1826) became of frequent use for pianists all over the world. In his teens, Clementi´s talent drew the attention of an Englishman named Peter Beckford, who in his own words “bought Clementi of his father for seven years”. Clementi spent all that time near Dorset, England, immersed in studying music and practicing the harpsichord. After this period, he moved to London where he became a celebrity as a composer, teacher, performer, manufacturer and publisher, and signed a contract with Beethoven to publish a few major works by the German composer. Clementi is buried at the cloisters of Westminster Abbey in London.

[See the Muzio Clementi Tradition]

 

Costa, Luís António Ferreira da

Portuguese (São Pedro, September 25, 1879 — Oporto, January 7, 1960)

Luís Costa was a pianist and teacher. Heir of Liszt´s piano tradition through his teachers Conrad Ansorge, José Vianna da Motta and Bernhard Stavenhagen, he also studied with Busoni and was director of the Porto Conservatory. Costa frequently played with such noted musicians as Casals, Hekking, Cortot and Enesco. He married pianist Leonilde Moreira de Sá, a pupil of Vianna da Motta. Two of their daughters became prominent musicians: pianist Helena de Sá e Costa and cellist Madalena de Sá e Costa.

 

D´Albert, Eugène Francis Charles 

German (Glasgow, April 10, 1864 — Riga, March 3, 1932)

Eugène D´Albert was a composer, pianist, teacher and editor. Domenico Alberti was one of his ancestors and his grandfather worked as Napoleon´s assistant. Admired by Anton Rubinstein and Clara Schumann, Liszt regarded him among his best students. D´Albert was in close terms with Brahms, whose piano concertos he played under the composer´s baton. Although he mastered a vast repertoire, he particularly excelled in performing the German composers. D´Albert was the dedicatee of Strauss´s Burleske. He wrote piano concertos, a suite and a good number of operas. His Bach transcriptions and editions were highly praised and equaled to those of Busoni. Among D´Albert´s six wives was Venezuelan pianist Teresa Carreño.

 

Demus, Jörg

Austrian (Saint Pölten, December 2, 1928 — Vienna, April 16, 2019)

Jörg Demus was a pianist, composer and lecturer. He studied at the Vienna Music Academy between 1940 and 1945 and also with Walter Gieseking, Yves Nat, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli and Wilhelm Kempff. Demus frequently performed with such renowned musicians as Schwarzkopf, Fischer-Dieskau, Suk, Janigro and Badura-Skoda. He had a keen interest on historical keyboards and published Abenteuer der Interpretation and, with Badura-Skoda, Die Klaviersonaten Ludwig van Beethovens. Demus recorded the complete piano works by Schumann and Debussy, Schubert´s Impromptus and several of his own compositions.

 

Denza, Paolo

Italian (Naples, February 28, 1893 — Naples, January 6, 1955)

Paolo Denza was a pianist. He studied piano and composition at the San Pietro a Majella Conservatory in Naples. After enrolling in the Military Academy in Modena for a brief period, in 1921 he moved to Berlin where he became a pupil and friend of Busoni. He concertized in Europe, South America and Japan. After World War II, Denza was appointed professor at the Naples Conservatory and gave regular masterclasses in Barcelona, Geneva and Berlin.

 

Diémer, Louis-Joseph

French (Paris, February 14, 1843 — Paris, December 21, 1919)

Louis Diémer was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied with A.F. Marmontel at the Paris Conservatoire where he obtained premiers prix in solfège, piano, harmony and accompaniment and counterpoint and fugue. Since 1887, he started teaching at the Conservatoire where his pupils included Cortot, Risler and Robert Casadesus. As a composer, Diémer wrote the Concert piece, op. 31 and the Concerto op. 31, both for piano and orchestra, Méthode supérieure de piano and over 70 piano piece and transcriptions.

[See the Louis Diémer Tradition]

 

Dieren [née Kindler], Frida van

Ukrainian (1879 — 1964)

Frida van Dieren was a student of Busoni and teacher of Thomas Lishman. She married Dutch composer, critic and author Bernard van Dieren.

 

Door, Anton

Austrian (Vienna, June 20, 1833 — Vienna, November 7, 1919)

Anton Door was a pianist and teacher. He had an important impact on the Russian school of pianism. He was a member of the Royal Academy in Stockholm and president of the Friends of Brahms Society in Vienna. Door was the dedicatee of Tchaikovsky´s Valse-Caprice op. 4 and Saint-Saëns´ Piano Concerto no. 4.

[See the Anton Door Tradition]

 

Essipova, Anna Nikolayevna

Russian (Saint Petersburg, February 12, 1851 – Saint Petersburg, August 18, 1914)

Anna Essipova was a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with Leschetizky, whom she married in 1880. In 1885, she was appointed pianist to the Russian court. She concertized with great success and taught at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. Prokofiev, Yudina and Borovsky were among her pupils. Essipova made a number of piano rolls recordings in the early 1900s.

[See the Anna Essipova Tradition]

 

Farnadi, Edith

Hungarian (Budapest, September 25, 1921 — December 12 or 14, 1973)

Edith Farnadi was a pianist. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy with Arnold Székely. At the age of 12, she performed and conducted Beethoven´s First Concerto. Farnadi taught at the Academy until 1942. Subsequently, she concertized and made records for the Westminster label. She formed a duo with eminent violinist Jenö Hubay and also with Bronislaw Huberman. Farnadi´s recordings include Tchaikovsky´s First and Second concertos and Liszt´s concertos in E flat and A major.

 

Fischer, Annie

Hungarian (Budapest, July 5, 1914 — Budapest, April 10, 1995)

Annie Fischer was a pianist. She studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Arnold Székely and Ernö Dohnányi. In her early teens, she performed Beethoven´s First Concerto and Mozart´s KV 488. In 1933, Fischer was awarded the first prize at the Liszt Competition in Budapest performing Liszt´s B minor Sonata. She recorded the complete Beethoven sonatas for Hungaroton over a period of 15 years, but never approved its release. The set was issued posthumously.

 

Foster, Sidney

American (Florence, South Carolina, May 23, 1917 — Boston, February 7, 1977)

Sidney Foster was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Walter Goldstein in New Orleans and with Isabelle Vengerova and David Saperton at Curts Institute. Foster taught at Florida State University and Indiana University. His recordings include the music of Mozart, Beethoven and Schumann.

 

Freeman, Woldemar

Woldemar Freeman was a pianist. He taught at the Athens Conservatory where his pupils included Gina Bachauer.

 

Freund, Etelka

Hungarian (1879 — May 2, 1977)

Etelka Freund was a pianist. Sister of pianist Robert Freund, she was a close friend of Béla Bartók, whose music she promoted, and of Brahms, with whom she spent many hours. Brahms also intervened to help her become a member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna and coached her for over a year. Freund toured and concertized until she got married and had to raise two sons. Years after, she returned to the concert stage in top pianistic shape.

 

Freund, Robert

Hungarian (Budapest, April 1, 1852 — Budapest, April 8, 1936)

Robert Freund was a pianist and teacher. His sister was the pianist Etelka Freund. He was one of the first professors of the Zurich Conservatory and counted among his circle of friends such personalities as Brahms, Nietzsche and Richard Strauss. Freund composed some works including songs and piano pieces and published a book of memoires with recollections of his encounters with Liszt, Brahms and others. 

 

Frey, Emil

Swiss (Baden, canton of Aargau, April 8, 1889 — Zürich, May 20, 1946)

Emil Frey was a pianist. He was a student of Otto Barblan, Joseph Lauber and Willy Rehberg at the Geneva Conservatory, and of Louis Diémer, Gabriel Fauré and Charles-Marie Widor at the Paris Conservatoire. Frey gave masterclasses in Moscow from 1912 to 1917 and, subsequently, he taught at the Hochschule der Künste in Zürich. He composed concertos, piano works, études and Bach transcriptions. Enescu dedicated his Piano Sonata no. 1 to Emil Frey.

 

Friedberg, Carl

German (Bingen, September 18, 1872 — Merano, September 9, 1955)

Carl Friedberg was a pianist and teacher. He studied with James Jacob Kwast and shortly with Clara Schumann at the Hoch Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where he also taught between 1893 and 1904. He played his debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Gustav Mahler. He was also a teacher at the Cologne Conservatory and at the New York Institute of Musical Art, an institution that was to become The Juilliard School. Among his students were Malcolm Frager, Bruce Hungerford and William Masselos. Friedberg was in close terms with Johannes Brahms, for whom he performed in private. He appeared with Fritz Kreisler and formed a trio with Daniel Karpilowsky and Felix Salmond. He made only one commercial recording in 1953 with the music of Brahms and Schumann and a few private recordings issued by the International Piano Archives at Maryland. Friedberg edited the complete Beethoven sonatas for Schott in 1922. His pupil Julia Smith published a biography titled Master Pianist: The Career and Teaching of Carl Friedberg in 1963.

[See the Carl Friedberg Tradition]

 

Friedman, Ignacy

Polish (Podgórze, near Kraków, February 13, 1882 — Sydney, January 26, 1948)

Ignacy Friedman was a pianist and composer. He studied with Flora Grzywińska and Theodor Leschetizky, for whom he acted as an assistant. He also attended Busoni´s masterclasses. Friedman performed over 2800 concerts around the world during a span of four decades. He lived in Berlin, Copenhagen, Siusi (Italy) and, in 1940, established his residence in Sydney. Ignace Tiegerman, Victor Schiøler, Julius Chaloff and Bruce Hungerford were among his eminent pupils. As a composer, he wrote over 100 works including transcriptions and exercises. He also edited the complete piano works of Chopin.

[See the Ignacy Friedman Tradition]

 

Gama, Joana

Portuguese (Braga, 1983)

Joana Gama is a pianist and dancer. She studied at the Braga Conservatory and at the Évora University, where she earned a doctoral degree. Gama specializes in the music of Erik Satie and released the cd Arcueil with his music and also of other composers. She also collaborated as a dancer in several projects such as Danza Ricercata and 27 Ossos. She received the Young Musicians Award / Antena 2 on three occasions.

 

Ganz, Rudolf

Swiss (Zürich, February 24, 1877 — Chicago, August 2, 1972)

Rudolf Ganz was a pianist and composer. He studied the cello and took composition lessons with Charles Blanchet and Heinrich Urban. He conducted the premiere of his First Symphony with the Berlin Philharmonic and directed a number of Young People´s Concerts with the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony. He was music director of the Saint Louis Symphony. Ganz favored modern music and introduced works by Bartók, Korngold, Loeffler and many others to American audiences, and was an advocate of the works of Macdowell. He was the dedicatee of Busoni´s First Sonatina and Ravel´s Scarbo. As a composer, Ganz wrote a Konzertstück and a Piano Concerto, among other works.

 

Genhart, Cécile

American (Basel, Switzerland, 1899 — 1983)

Cécile Genhart was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Ferruccio Busoni. Her father was in close terms with such renowned musicians as Max Reger, Fritz Kreisler and Walter Gieseking. Her debut as a soloist took place in Germany with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 1922. Genhart taught at the Eastman School of Music for 54 years. Her students included John Perry, Barry Snyder and Stewart Gordon.

 

Gevaert, François-Auguste

Belgian (Huysse, July 31, 1828 — Brussels, December 24, 1908)

François-Auguste Gevaert was a musicologist, teacher and composer. He studied organ and then piano with De Somere at the Ghent Conservatory. He had a significant impact on music education in Belgium, was composer to the King of Belgium and a member of the Belgian Royal Academy. Gevaert directed the Brussels Conservatory for 27 years and incorporated into the faculty such renowned musicians as Ysaye and De Greef.

 

Gnessina, Elena Fabianovna

Russian (Rostov-on-Don, May 30, 1874 — Moscow, June 4, 1967)                 

Elena Gnessina was a composer and teacher. She studied with Vasily Safonov at the Moscow Conservatory and, privately, with Busoni and Taneyev. In 1895, Elena and her sisters founded a music school in Moscow which became the Gnesin State Musical College in 1926. Her students included Lev Oborin and Aram Khachaturian. Gnessina composed piano études and children pieces.

 

Gordon, Stewart Lynell

American (Kansas, August 28, 1930)

Stewart Gordon is a teacher, pianist, editor and composer. He studied with Olga Samaroff, Walter Gieseking, Cécile Genhart and Adele Marcus. His teaching experience includes positions at the USC Thornton School of Music, Claremont Graduate University, University of Maryland, Queens College and Wilmington College. Gordon recorded works by Beethoven, Chopin, Freitas-Branco, Schubert, Schumann, Scriabin and Rachmaninov. He founded the William Kapell Competition in Maryland and the Cultural Heritage Competition in New York, among others. Among his publications are Etudes for piano teachers, A history of keyboard literature for the piano and its forerunners and Mastering the art of performance.

 

Gottschalk, Louis Moreau 

American (New Orleans, May 8, 1829 — Tijuca, Brazil, December 18, 1869)

Louis Moreau Gottschalk was a pianist and one of the most relevant American composers of the 19th century. He was recognized as a forerunner of the ragtime. His German-Jewish father was born in London and his mother had left Haiti for Louisiana during the 1790s. At the age of 11, Gottschalk travelled to France to study music. In 1845, Chopin congratulated the young pianist after a recital at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. Gottschalk concertized in Europe, became an idol in Spain under the support of Isabella II, and toured extensively in North America, Canada, Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Antilles. After he was forced to leave the USA due to a scandalous affair with a student, he travelled to South America where he continued to perform and had a profound influence on music education and Classical music in several countries. In 1869, he settled in Rio de Janeiro and organized the “monster concerts” featuring over 650 performers. His vast piano output consists of Classical and popular works including the Souvenirs d´Andalousie, La jota aragonesa, Le banjo, Last Hope, Souvenir de Puerto Rico, Bamboula, Le bananier and the Grande Tarantelle for piano and orchestra. Pianists John Kirkpatrick, Jeanne Behrend and Eugene List have championed Gottschalk´s piano works and contributed to increase an interest in his music.

 

Grainger, Percy

Australian-American (Brighton, Melbourne, July 8, 1882 — White Plains, February 20, 1961)

Percy Grainger was a pianist, composer, writer and ethnomusicologist. In 1895, he moved to Europe and studied in Frankfurt until 1899. He also received lessons from Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. Grainger was well-known in his time for what he called his fripperies, which were short orchestral pieces often known as piano solos. In England, he gathered 500 English folksongs. In 1941, Grainger moved to New York and played with the U.S. Army band for a few years. After his mother committed suicide in 1922, he travelled extensively in Scandinavia, collected folksongs and met Grieg, with whom he became a close friend. Grainger taught at the Chicago Musical College and was chairman of the New York University music department.

 

Gruenberg, Louis

American (near Brest, August 3, 1884 — Beverly Hills, June 10, 1964)

Louis Gruenberg was a composer of Russian birth. His family moved to the USA in 1885. He firstly studied with his father and then with Adele Margulies at the National Conservatory in New York. In 1908, he went to Berlin to study with Busoni with whom he developed a close friendship. At the outset of World War I, Gruenberg returned to the US, where he founded the League of Composers in 1923 and gave the American premiere of Schoenberg´s Pierrot Lunaire. From 1933 to 1936, he headed the composition department at the Chicago Musical College. He was a successful composer and three of his film scores where nominated for Academy Awards. His piano works include Jazzberries, Piano concerto no. 1, 6 Jazz Epigrams and 5 Caprices.

 

Gudel, Joachim

Polish (Toruń, August 16, 1927 — Gdańsk, January 14, 2002)

Joachim Gudel was a pianist and musicologist. He studied with Irena Kurpisz-Stefanowa and Henryk Sztompka. He taught in Kutno and Pabianice. Gudel also became a doctor in medicine in 1976.

 

Haubiel, Charles

American (Delta, Ohio, January 30, 1892 — Los Angeles, August 26, 1978)

Charles Haubiel was a pianist and composer. He studied with Rudolf Ganz and Josef and Rosina Lhévinne. Haubiel taught piano at the Institute of Musical Art in New York from 1920 to 1930, and theory and composition at New York University from 1923 to 1947. He served in France during World War I.

 

Hungerford, Bruce

Australian (Korumburra, Victoria, November 24, 1922 — New York City, January 26, 1977)

Bruce Hungerford was a pianist. He studied at the University of Melbourne with Roy Shepherd, and with Ignaz Friedmann, Olga Samaroff, Myra Hess and Carl Friedberg. He lived in Germany and in the United States, where he taught at the Mannes College of Music. Hungerford made several recordings, especially of the music of Beethoven. He also was a paleontologist and was deeply interested in Egyptology. He died in a car accident along with his mother, his niece and her husband, in a head-on collision caused by a drunk driver.

 

Jonas, Maryla

Polish (Warsaw, May 31, 1911 — New York, July 3, 1959)

Maryla Jonas was a pianist. She studied with Ignacy Jan Paderewski. In 1932, she ended in 13th place at the second Chopin Competition. During the invasion of Poland, Jonas was detained. Upon her release, she walked hundreds of miles to Berlin in order to obtain the necessary documents to travel to Brazil. This trip on foot under inhumane circumstances deeply affecter her health. She lived in Brazil for a time and finally settled in the United States, where she played at Carnegie Hall in 1946. She died at the age of 48. 

 

Joseffy, Rafael

Hungarian-American (Hunfalu, Hungary, July 3, 1852 — New York, June 25, 1915)

Rafael Joseffy was a pianist and teacher. Although he studied with Liszt for two summers, he claimed that he benefited more from Carl Tausig´s teaching in Berlin. He edited the works of Chopin and Liszt for Schirmer and published in 1902 the School of Advanced Piano Playing. Joseffy taught at the National Conservatory in New York from 1888 to 1906. His manuscript and score collection was destroyed due to a fire in his house.

 

Kalkbrenner, Frédéric

French (Early November 1785 — Enghien-les-Bains, June 10, 1849)

Frédéric Kalkbrenner was a pianist, teacher and composer. He was born en route from Kassel to Berlin. His father, Christian Kalkbrenner, gave him his first music lessons. Subsequently, Kalkbrenner studied at the Paris Conservatory and obtained the premier prix in piano and harmony. Between 1803 and 1804, Kalkbrenner travelled to Vienna where he met Haydn, who offered him guidance, and also made the acquaintance of Clementi. In 1814, Kalkbrenner settled in England, where he achieved fame as a pianist, teacher and composer. Ten years after, he returned to Paris and found his place among the most prominent virtuosos of his day, not only in France but all over Europe, attaining an international career without precedent. Kalkbrenner invited Chopin to study with him, but the Polish composer declined the offer. However, the two remained in good terms and Chopin dedicated his Concerto in E minor op. 11 to Kalkbrenner. As a composer, he focused mostly on the piano and produced piano concertos, 13 sonatas, Élégie harmonique op. 36, Caprice op. 104, and a number of other pieces such as airs variés, romances, rondeaux and waltzes. Kalkbrenner also wrote pedagogical pieces including the 24 études dans tous les tons opp. 20 and 88, 12 études préparatoires, 25 grandes études de style et de perfectionnement, and the influential Méthode pour apprendre le piano-forte à l´aide du guide-mains. He invented the hand-guide mechanism with the aim of helping the pianist avoid any arm movement and, as a consequence, develop the maximum finger independence possible.

[See the Frédéric Kalkbrenner Tradition]

 

Kentner, Louis

British (Silesia [now Karviná, Czech Republic], July 19, 1905 — London, September 22, 1987)

Louis Kentner was a pianist and composer of Hungarian birth. He studied piano with Arnold Szekely and Leó Weiner. He gave the first performance in Hungary of Bartók´s Second Piano Concerto. In 1935, Kentner settled in London and became a champion of the music of Walton, Bax, Lambert, Ireland and Tippett. He performed in duo with Yehudi Menuhin.  

 

Kerschbaumer, Walter

Austrian (Mödling, December 1, 1890 — Mödling, April 12, 1959)

Walter Kerschbaumer was a pianist and teacher. He studied Musicology at the University of Vienna and piano with his father, Emil Kerschbaumer, and Moriz Rosenthal.  From 1912 to 1914, he directed the piano department at the Canadian Academy in Toronto and concertized in the US. He served in the US Army during World War I. Subsequently, he taught at the Vienna Academy of Music and Performing Arts.

                             

Kestenberg, Leo

Hungarian-Israeli (Rosenberg, Hungary, now Ruzomberok, Slovakia, November 27, 1882 — Tel-Aviv, January 14, 1962)

Leo Kestenberg was a pianist and educationist. He studied with Kullak and Busoni. In Berlin, he taught at the Stern Conservatory and at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory. In 1918, he became musical adviser to the Prussian Ministry of Science, Culture and Education and, in 1922, director of the music department of the Central Institute for Education and Teaching, having a profound impact in Prussian music education at all levels. In Prague, Kestenberg founded the International Society for Music Education. In 1938, he moved to Tel-Aviv, where he was appointed general manager of the Palestine Orchestra, which became the Israel Philharmonic. He founded Israel´s first training college for music teachers. 

 

Khachaturian, Aram

Armenian (Tbilisi, June 6, 1903 — Moscow, May 1, 1978)

Aram Khachaturian was a composer and conductor. He moved to Moscow in 1921 and studied at the Gnessin Musical Institute and at the Moscow Conservatory and later taught at both institutions. In 1957, he became the Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers. He composed orchestral and solo music, film scores and ballets. His piano works include Poem, Variations on the theme Solveig, Suite, Sonatina, Piano Concerto in D-flat major and a number of pieces for children.

 

Korecka, Maria

Polish

Maria Korecka is a pianist and pedagogue. She studied with Henryk Sztompka and Dieter Weber. In 1967, she was appointed professor at the State Higher School of Music in Warsaw. She also taught at Bilkent University in Ankara and at the Grazyna and Kiejstut Bacewicz Academy of Music in Lodz. She is a member of the Chopin Society in Warsaw and Warsaw Music Society.

 

Kullak, Theodor

German (Krotoschin, now Krotoszyn, Poland, September 12, 1818 — Berlin, March 1, 1882)

Theodor Kullak was a pianist, composer and teacher. He was one of the most eminent piano teachers in the 19th century. Kullak was pianist to the Prussian court and teacher of the royalty and aristocracy in Berlin. In that city, he co-founded and directed the Stern Conservatory, succeeded by Bülow, and later the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, focused on piano teaching, which became the largest private school in Germany counting over 100 teachers and 1100 students. Kullak composed a substantial amount of piano works such as the Symphonie de piano op. 27, Ballade op. 54, Scherzo op. 125 and, particularly influential, the School of Octaves studies.

[See the Theodor Kullak Tradition]

 

Kurylewicz, Andrzej

Polish (Lwów, November 24, 1932 — Konstancin-Jeziorna, April 12, 2007)

Andrzej Kurylewicz was a composer, pianist, trombonist, trumpetist and conductor. He was a pupil of Henryk Sztompka. In 1954, he was expelled from the academy where he was studying at because of his involvement with jazz music and his refusal to join the Polish United Workers´ Party. In 1957, he became the first Polish musician from behind the Iron Curtain to receive the first prize at the Stuttgart Jazz Festival in West Germany. In 1999, he founded the Kurylewicz Trio. His compositions for piano include Prayer and Pavana.

 

Jacob James Kwast

Dutch-German (Nijkerk, Netherlands, November 23, 1852 — Berlin, October 31, 1927)

James Kwast was a pianist, teacher, composer and editor. He studied with his father and with Ferdinand Böhme, Carl Reinecke, Theodor Kullak, Louis Brassin and François-Auguste Gevaert. He settled in Germany in 1833, where he taught at the Cologne, Hoch, Klindworth-Scharwenka and Stern conservatories. He was the pianist for the English premiere of Brahms´ Piano Trio in C minor. The last piece that Clara Schumann ever played in public was the Variations on a theme by Haydn of Brahms, for two pianos, with Kwast as her partner. He wrote a Piano Concerto and made a number of Bach transcriptions, among other pieces, and edited the works of Joseph Haydn. His first wife was the daughter of Ferdinand Hiller and their daughter married the composer Hans Pfitzner, who was a student of Kwast. His second wife was one of his students, Frida Hodapp, who was also a pupil of Busoni and premiered his Concertino.

[See the Jacob James Kwast Tradition]

 

Lalewicz, Jerzy [Jorge de]

Polish (Wylkowyszki, 1875 — Buenos Aires, 1951)

Jerzy (Jorge de) Lalewicz was a pianist and teacher. He studied in Poland and in Russia, where he pursued studies in conducting with Rimsky-Korsakov and Anatole Liadov. His piano teachers included Annette Essipova. He taught at the Odessa, Krakow and Vienna conservatories. In 1921, Lalewicz settled in Buenos Aires, where he taught at the Conservatorio Nacional de Música y Arte Escénico, succeeding Ernesto Drangosch. His students included Lía Cimaglia Espinosa, Silvia Eisenstein, Flora Nudelman and Victoria Kamhi (in Vienna), Joaquín Rodrigo´s wife.

 

Lanza, Francesco

Italian (Naples, 1783 — Naples, 1862)

Franceso Lanza was a pianist, composer and teacher. Son of the composer and teacher Giuseppe Lanza, he moved with his father to London at the age of nine, where he met and studied with Clementi. He achieved reputation in London as a pianist and composer. He returned to Naples and taught many generations of pianists at the conservatory and is recognized as the father of the Neapolitan School of piano playing. In 1804, he offered one of the first public piano recitals in Naples. Lanza composed only piano works including two concertos, fantasias on opera tunes, two sonatas and a piano method.

[See the Francesco Lanza Tradition]

 

Lebert, Sigmund

German (Ludwigsburg, December 12, 1821 — Stuttgart, December 8, 1884)

Sigmund Lebert was a pianist and teacher. He was one of the founders of a piano pedagogy trend which came to be known as the Stuttgart Music School. With Ludwig Stark he published the piano method Grosse theoretisch-praktische Klavierschule. He worked with Liszt and Ignaz and Vincenz Lachner to make arrangements of Mozart works, and with Bülow to prepare the Cotta edition oft he complete Beethoven sonatas.

 

Lillo, Giuseppe

Italian (Galatina, Lecce, February 26, 1814 — Naples, February 4, 1863)

Giuseppe Lillo was a popular composer of theatre works in Naples. He received his first musical instruction from his father, the conductor Giosuè Lillo. He studied piano with Francesco Lanza. Lillo co-directed the Saint Carlo School and also taught at the Naples Conservatory. His piano compositions include the Valtz variato op. 3 and Mes loisirs op. 11.

 

Lishman, Thomas

Thomas Lishman was a pianist and professor who taught at Westchester College where his students included Garrick Ohlsson.

 

Liszt, Franz

Hungarian (Raiding, [in Hungarian: Doborján], October 22, 1811 — Bayreuth, July 31, 1886)

Franz Liszt was a pianist, conductor, teacher and composer. He is indisputably one of the greatest piano virtuosi of all time and a pioneer in different areas: father of modern piano technique, inventor of the piano recital, the masterclass and of novel concepts in orchestral conducting. He performed complete concerts by memory, performed works from the entire history of the keyboard literature and always opened the lid of the piano towards the audience. His compositions envisioned new harmonic paths which greatly influenced Debussy, Ravel or Scriabin. Born in the Burgenland, a region which nowadays belongs to Austria, located at about 100 kms. from Vienna, Liszt´s native tongue was German, and he never became fluent or comfortable in Hungarian. His father, Adam, an amateur musician who worked for a long time at the Esterházy estates and met Joseph Haydn, gave him his first music lessons. During his travels, Liszt met Beethoven, Brahms, Anton Rubinstein, Chopin, Schumann, Berlioz, Alkan, Hiller, Grieg and many other contemporary figures. A student of Czerny, Salieri, Reicha and Ferdinando Paër, he went on extended concert tours in Europe, England, Scotland, Russia, Turkey, Spain and Portugal, playing numerous and populated recitals such as the one he offered at La Scala in Milan for 3,000 people. At the age of 35, he decided to abandon the stage and devote his time to mostly compose, teach and doing a great deal of travelling, especially to Weimar, Rome and Budapest. Always interested in the live of the saints, religion and spiritual life, he received the four minor Catholic orders in July 1865. He lived at the Vatican for a time and became friends with Pope Pius IX. His compositional output for piano is enormous. His large-scale works include the Sonata in B minor, Dante Sonata and the piano concertos. He went beyond the Romantic concept of the étude with the 12 Transcendental Études, 6 Paganini Études or the several Études de Concert, and wrote numerous Hungarian Rhapsodies. He produced many sets of pieces including the Années de Pèlerinage, Harmonies Poétiques et Religieuses, as well as the Ballades and the Mephisto Waltzes. Liszt also made a number of transcriptions of Bach´s works, Schubert lieder and Beethoven symphonies, and paraphrases on operatic themes such as Rigoletto, Don Juan and Norma. In the late pieces, he explored new harmonic devices, the exploitation of the limits of tonality and atmospheric effects in Nuages Gris, La Lugubre Gondola, Unstern! and Bagatelle sans tonalité. He produced editions of the Beethoven complete sonatas, Field´s nocturnes, Chopin´s complete works, and of pieces by Schubert and Weber. The most authoritative catalogue of Liszt´s works was compiled by British composer Humphrey Searle, hence the use of the letter “S” following the titles of Liszt´s works. Liszt had three children, two of them died during his lifetime, and his daughter Cosima was married to Hans von Bülow before she left him for Richard Wagner. By the end of his life, Liszt suffered from dropsy, fevers and cataracts. He likely died of heart infraction at the age of 74.

[See the Franz Liszt Tradition]

 

Logier, Johann Bernhard

German (Kassel, February 9, 1777 — Dublin, July 27, 1846)

John Bernhard Logier was a pianist, composer, teacher and author. In 1791, he went to England and, in 1809, he settled in Dublin. In 1814, he developed and patented the chiroplast artifact, which Kalkbrenner would modify years later. The chiroplast was used for many teachers in Britain and in the USA for a time. Samuel Webbe and Louis Spohr were among the defenders of the new mechanism. Logier was interested in improving the existing teaching methods and created a group class to teach several pupils at the same time. He published Logier´s Theoretical and Practical Studies for the Pianoforte and several method books to introduce the chiroplast.

 

Longo, Alessandro

Italian (Amantea, December 30, 1864 — Naples, November 3, 1945)

Alessandro Longo was a pianist and composer. He studied with his father, Achille Longo and with Beniamino Cesi at the Naples Conservatory. He also studied organ and composition. Longo taught at the Naples Conservatory and at the Alfonso Rendano´s private school. He founded the Domenico Scarlatti Society in Naples and edited Scarlatti´s sonatas for keyboard. Among his students were Franco Alfano, Paolo Denza and Tito Aprea. In 1914, Longo founded the journal Arte pianistica. He composed numerous works for different instruments.

 

Margulies, Adele

Austrian-American (Vienna, March 7, 1863 — New York, June 6, 1949)

Adele Margulies was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Anton Door at the Vienna Conservatory. In 1885, she premiered in New Yok the last two movements of Edward MacDowell´s Second Concerto. Two years later, Margulies became the first professor of piano at the National Conservatory of Music of America in New York, where she remained until 1936. She performed in the Margulies Trio.

 

Marmontel, Antoine-François

French (Clermont-Ferrand, July 16, 1816 — Paris, January 16, 1898)

Antoine-François Marmontel was a pianist and teacher. Winner of the Premier Prix in 1832 at the Paris Conservatory, he taught there solfège first and then piano, succeeding his former teacher Pierre Zimmermann. His son Antonin-Emile-Louis Corbaz was also a pianist and became professor at the Conservatory. Marmontel published a number of books on music including Les pianistes célèbres, Histoire du piano et de ses origins and Virtuoses contemporains, and composed piano studies, sonatas and other piano works. He edited a large number of compositions for the École classique du piano.

[See the Antoine-François Marmontel Tradition]

 

Martini, Padre Giovanni Battista

Italian (Bologna, April 24, 1706 — Bologna, August 3, 1784)

Padre Martini was one of the most influential and renowned musicians of the 18th century. Ordained a priest in 1729, he taught counterpoint to numerous pupils who became famous composers including J.C. Bach, Mozart, Grétry and Jommelli. According to historian Charles Burney, Martini gathered a colossal library of approximately 17,000 volumes. He maintained correspondence with such prominent figures as Agricola, Locatelli, Marpurg, Metastasio, Quantz and Rameau. Martini composed a number of sonatas and concertos for the keyboard, among other works.

 

Matthay, Tobias

English (London, February 19, 1858 — High Marley, England, December 15, 1945)

Tobias Matthay was a pedagogue, writer, composer and pianist of German descent. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Sterndale Bennett, among others. He taught at the RAM and in 1900 founded his own private school. Among his students were Myra Hess, Irene Scharrer, Harriet Cohen, Harold Craxton and Moura Lympany. Matthay published numerous books including The Act of Touch, The Problems of Agility, The Visible and Invisible in Pianoforte Technique and The Act of Musical Concentration.

[See the Georges Mathias Tradition]

 

Mendes, Gilberto

Brazilian (Santos, October 13, 1922 — Santos, January 1, 2016)

Gilberto Mendes was a Brazilian composer. He studied piano at the Santos Conservatory with Antonietta Rudge Miller. He studied composition with Cláudio Santoro and also attended the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music where he took masterclasses with Boulez and Stockhausen. In 1965, Mendes founded the Santos New Music Festival. He taught at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, University of Texas and at the University of São Paulo.

 

Mikuli, Karol

Armenian-Polish-Romanian (Chernivtsi, now in Ukraine, October 20, 1819 — Lviv, Ukraine, May 21, 1897)

Karol Mikuli was a pianist and composer. He was one of the most famous Chopin´s pupils. Mikuli concertized in Austria, France, Italy and Russia. He taught at the Lviv Conservatory from 1858 to 1888 and, subsequently, he founded his own academy. He was a pioneer in the field of ethnomusicology, collecting and notating Romanian and Polish folk songs. His most important work is the 17-volume critical edition of Chopin´s piano works, published in Leipzig in 1879 and in the United States in 1895, and for which he used primary sources from Chopin. Mikuli composed a number of piano pieces, particularly noteworthy are his arrangements for piano of the 48 Airs nationaux roumains.

 

Moscheles, Ignaz

Bohemian (Prague, May 23, 1794 — Leipzig, March 10, 1870)

Ignaz Moscheles was a pianist, composer, conductor and teacher of Jewish descent. Besides the piano, he studied counterpoint with Albrechtsberger and composition with Salieri in Vienna, where he met Beethoven. The publisher Artaria commissioned him to write a piano reduction of Beethoven´s opera Fidelio. Clementi and Cramer regarded him as an equal and friend, as well as Mendelssohn, whom he taught piano. Moscheles also met Chopin and played with him his Grande sonata op. 47. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music and was conductor of the Philharmonic Society, conducting the first performance of Beethoven´s Missa Solemnis in London in 1832. He also taught at the Leipzig Conservatory. Moscheles translated and edited Schindler´s biography of Beethoven and published it as The Life of Beethoven. He established the “historical soirées” in London which championed early music played on the harpsichord. He commissioned Chopin´s Trois nouvelles études for his piano method. He composed numerous piano works including the Sonate mélancolique op. 49, La marche d´Alexandre op. 32, Präeludien op. 73, sonatas, fantasias, rondos, variations, etudes opp. 70 and 95, piano concertos, and the Hommage á Händel op. 92 for two pianos.

[See the Ignaz Moscheles Tradition]

 

Mugellini, Bruno

Italian (Potenza Picena, December 24, 1871 — Bolonia, January 15, 1912)

Bruno Mugellini was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied with Gustavo Tofano and Giuseppe Martucci in Bologna. He taught at the Liceo Musicale di Bologna from 1898 until 1911. He was a founding member of the Quintetto Mugellini. Guido Agosti was one of his most important pupils. Mugellini published a few piano pieces and pedagogical traits such as Method of technical piano exercises and New fundamental systems for the piano technique.

 

Munz, Mieczyslaw

Polish-American (Krakow, October 31, 1900 — August 25, 1976)

Mieczyslaw Munz was a pianist. He studied with Jerzy Lalewicz at the Krakow Conservatory and with Ferruccio Busoni in Berlin. At the age of 20, he played three concertos in one evening with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. He concertized extensively in Europe, Scandinavia, the Far East, South America and in the US, where he established his home. On January 26, 1925, while attending a concert at Carnegie Hall by Ethel Leginska, Munz substituted her at the last minute because she did not appear on stage (she was later found wandering the streets of New York in a disoriented state). Munz taught at the conservatories in Cincinnati, Curtis, Peabody, Juilliard and Gedai University in Tokyo. His students included Emanuel Ax, Antonio Barbosa, Felicia Blumenthal, Ann Schein and Ilana Vered. He was shorty married to Aniela Mlynarska, who became Arthur Rubinstein´s wife shortly after Munz and Aniela got divorced. During World War II, Munz lost his family in Europe. He suffered from an incurable disorder in his right hand which seriously affected his concert career when he was in his early forties. Americus Records issued two broadcasts of Munz performing works for piano and orchestra. He only made one commercial recording. The Munz Collection is held at the International Piano Archives at Maryland.

[See the Mieczyslaw Munz Tradition]

 

Nyiregyházi, Ervin

Hungarian-American (Budapest, January 19, 1903 — Los Angeles, April 8, 1987)

Ervin Nyiregyházi was a pianist and composer. His father was a singer at the Royal Opera Chorus in Budapest and died when Nyiregyházi was 12. His mother died in a Nazi concentration camp, an event that brought joy to Nyiregyházi, who claimed later in his life that his mother had sexually molested him. He studied piano with Erno Dohnányi and Frederic Lamond. Nyiregyházi had an active career during the 1920s and later went into oblivion until he reappeared briefly in the 1970s. He spent most of his life in poverty and was sometimes forced to sleep in subways. In 1928, Nyiregyházi moved to Los Angeles where he worked for a film studio playing piano reductions of film scores and as a hand double. His hands are shown in A Song to Remember and Song of Love, among others. In the 1970s, he made a few studio recordings for International Piano Archives and the Ford Foundation. Some recordings and live performances have been issued on CD by the labels VAI, Music and Arts and Sonetto Classics. Ervin Nyiregyházi he married 10 times.

 

Oborin, Lev

Russian (Moscow, September 11, 1907 — Moscow, January 5, 1974)

Lev Oborin was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Elena Gnessina and Konstantin Igumnov. He received the first prize at the inaugural Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1927. A year after, Oborin started to teach at the Moscow Conservatory where his most famous pupil was Vladimir Ashkenazy. He formed a duo with David Oistrakh and also a trio with him and with Sviatoslav Knushevitsky. Oborin premiered numerous including the Khachaturian Piano Concerto.

[See the Lev Oborin Tradition]

 

Ohlsson, Garrick

American (White Plains, New York, April 3, 1948)

Garrick Ohlsson is a pianist. He studied at Westchester Conservatory and at The Juilliard School. His teachers include Thomas Lishman, Sascha Gorodnitzki, Rosina Lhévine, Claudio Arrau and Olga Barabini. He won competitions in Bolzano, Montreal and, especially, the Warsaw International Chopin Competition in 1970, becoming the first American to have won it. Ohlsson has an extensive discography including the complete works of Brahms and Chopin. He world premiered Wuorinen´s Third Piano Concerto and his concerto repertoire includes over 80 works.

 

Oliveira, Paulo

Portuguese (Vila do Conde, 1979)

Paulo Oliveira is a pianist and teacher. His first music lessons were with Joaquim Bento. Subsequently, he studied at the São Pio X Academy of Music with Margarida Almeida and Felipe Silvestre. Later, he was a pupil of Tania Achot at the Lisbon Conservatory of Music and of Sequeira Costa at the University of Kansas. Oliveira also studied with Helensa Sá e Costa, Moura Castro, Vladimir Viardo, Vitaly Margulis, Aldo Ciccolini, Badura-Skoda and Dmitri Bashkirov. He taught at the National Conservatory and at the Piaget Institute. Oliveira currently teaches at the Academy of Music of Santa Cecilia and at the National Academy of Orchestra Metropolitana. He is a founding member of the Portuguese chapter of EPTA.

 

Pabst, Pavel

Russian (Königsberg, now Kaliningrad, May 15, 1854 — Moscow, June 9, 1897)

Pavel Pabst was a pianist and teacher. Born into a family of musicians in East Prussia, he was one of the most influential teachers in Russia and his students brought the Russian tradition into the 20th century. He performed with Rachmaninov, premiered Arensky´s Piano Concerto and wrote numerous piano transcriptions which are regarded as fine as those of Liszt. In 1884, Tchaikovsky appointed him editor of his piano works. Pabst wrote a Piano Concerto, which he premiered under Anton Rubinstein´s baton, who was the dedicatee of his Piano Trio in A major.

 

Palma Pereira, Teresa

Portuguese (Lisbon)

Teresa Palma Pereira is a pianist. She received first prize at the International Competition Maria Campina. Her doctoral thesis on the work of Robert Schumann was titled Carnaval de Schumann: Obra de Génio e Loucura (2018). Palma Pereira made records with the works of Schumann, Brahms, Mozart, Debussy, Prokofiev and Liszt. She is a member of the directing committee of the Academia de Música Flor da Murta e artistic director of the International Piano Festival of Oeiras.

 

Palmgren, Selim

Finnish (Björneborg, now Pori, February 16, 1878 — Helsinki, December 16, 1951)

Salim Palmgren was a pianist, conductor and composer. He led the Helsinki University Chorus and the Turku Musical Society orchestra. He toured in Europe and the USA, frequently accompanied by his first wife, the singer Maikki Järnefelt. Palmgren taught composition at the Eastman School and harmony and composition at the Sibelius Academy. He composed five piano concertos and the 24 Preludes, among other works.

 

Pembaur, Joseph

Austrian (Innsbruck, April 20, 1875 — Munich, October 12, 1950)

Joseph Pembaur was a pianist. He was the son of the composer Josef Pembaur the Elder and was married to the pianist Maria Elterich, with whom he performed two piano recitals. Pembaur was an active teacher and concert pianist. He was juror for the Ibach Prize in Berlin. He composed a handful of piano pieces.

 

Perry, John

American

John Perry is a pianist and teacher. He studied at the Eastman School and with Cecile Genhart and Frank Mannheimer. After winning a Fulbright Scholarship, he went to Europe and became a pupil of Wladylslav Kedra and Carlo Zecchi. Perry was awarded at the Busoni, Viotti and Long competitions. He has served as faculty at the Glenn Gould School in Toronto, California State University at Northridge, USC Thornton School of Music, Lake Como International Academy, Banff Center and many others. Perry made numerous records for Telefunken, Musical Heritage Society, CBC, ACA and Fox.

 

Petri, Egon 

Dutch-German-American (Hanover, March 23, 1881 — Berkeley, California, May 27, 1962)

Egon Petri was a pianist and teacher. His father played in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and taught him the violin when Petri was 5 years old. Petri also learned the organ and the horn. He became one of the most respected of Busoni´s pupils and helped the Italian master with the corrections of operas and piano works and with the edition of Bach´s keyboard works. Petri had an active teaching career and held positions at the Royal Manchester College of Music, Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, Cornell University, Mills College and San Francisco Conservatory. He was naturalized American in 1955. Petri made remarkable recordings including the works of his teacher Busoni. He was fluent in 6 languages. 

[See the Egon Petri Tradition]

 

Pizarro, Artur

Portuguese-American (Lisbon, August 17, 1968)

Artur Pizarro is a pianist. He gave his first public performance at the age of three and appeared on public television at the age of four. He is a winner of the International Vianna da Motta Competition, Greater Palm Beach International Competition and Leeds International Competition. Pizarro has made numerous recordings including works of Liszt, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Milhaud and Rodrigo and a two-piano program of Spanish music with Sequeira Costa, one of his teachers.

 

Pommers, Leon

Belarus (Pruzhany, Russian Empire, October 12, 1914 — New York, June 7, 2001)

Leon Pommers was a pianist. He studied in Minsk, at the State Conservatory of Music in Warsaw and at the City University of New York. He performed with Erica Morini, Nathan Milstein, Yehudi Menuhin, Joseph Szigeti, Janos Starker and Pierre Fournier. Pommers taught at Queens College, City University of New York and Mannes College of Music.

 

Proksch, Josef

Bohemian (Reichenberg, now Liberec, August 4, 1794 — Prague, December 20, 1864)

Josef Proksch was a piano teacher who became blind at the age of 13. He studied in Prague with Wenzel Franz Kozeluch and in Berlin with J.B. Logier. In 1831, he founded his Musikbildungsanstalt in Prague, which had a far-reaching influence in the city´s music life and education. Smetana was among his pupils. He published numerous piano compositions.

 

Reinecke, Carl

German (Altona, June 23, 1824 — Leipzig, March 10, 1910)

Carl Reinecke was a pianist, composer, conductor, teacher, administrator, painter and poet. He received a complete music instruction from his father J.P. Rudolf Reinecke. He was appointed court pianist in Copenhagen in 1846 and taught counterpoint and piano at Hiller´s conservatory in Cologne and at the Leipzig Conservatory, which he also directed and transformed into a famous school in Europe. In Leipzig, Reinecke also conducted the Gewandhaus Orchestra. As a composer, he wrote a substantial amount of works including piano sonatinas, exercises and four piano concertos. He was remarkably noted in the “Hausmusik” style. Reinecke also wrote books and essays on music subjects. 

[See the Carl Reinecke Tradition]

 

Reisenauer, Alfred

German (Königsberg, November 1, 1863 — Libau, October 3, 1907)

One of Liszt´s predilected students, he toured extensively in Russia, Siberia and China. In 1900, he became professor at the Leipzig Conservatory and also taught at the Sondershausen Conservatory in Thuringia. He composed some piano works including the Reisebilder op. 14. He recorded ten piano pieces for the Welte-Mignon player piano in 1905. Supposedly, he feared the public and sometimes appeared to be drunk on the stage.

 

Rosenthal, Moriz

Polish (Lemberg, now L′viv, December 18, 1862 — New York, September 3, 1946)

Moriz Rosenthal was a pianist. He was the son of a mathematics professor. He inherited the pianism of Chopin through Mikuli, with whom he performed Chopin´s Rondo in C major for two pianos, and of Liszt, through Joseffy and Liszt himself, with whom he studied for nine years. During this time, Rosenthal also earned a degree in Philosophy at the University of Vienna. His circle of friends included Brahms, Anton Rubinstein, Saint-Saëns, Massenet and Albéniz. Rosenthal toured in the USA with Kreisler and taught privately in New York. He left about four hours of recordings and composed piano works including paraphrases on Johann Strauss´s works. Ullstein Verlag published his editions of Liszt´s works. He married Hungarian pianist and Leschetizky´s student Hedwig Kanner.

 

Rudge Miller, Antonietta

Brazilian (São Paulo, June 13, 1885 — São Paulo, July 13, 1964)

Antonietta Rudge Miller was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Gabriel Giraudon and Luigi Chiaffarelli. In 1906, she married Charles Miller, an Englishman who introduced football in Brazil. Rudge Miller was one of the founders of the Conservatório Musical of Santos, where she taught for over 40 years and her students included Almeida Prado and Gilberto Mendes. She made a number of 78-rpm records for Odeon and Parlophon, some of which were issued on CD by the label Masterclass.

 

Rudorff, Ernst

German (Berlin, January 18, 1840 — Berlin, December 31, 1916)

Ernst Rudorff was a pianist, conductor, composer and teacher born into a cultural and intellectual family. His mother was a friend of Mendelssohn and his father a law professor. Besides music, he studied Theology and History. He taught at the Cologne Conservatory and at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik and succeeded Bruch as conductor of the Stern Choral Society. Rudorff was a close friend of Clara Schumann, who also taught him for a short period. He produced a number of piano compositions including the Fantasie op. 14, Romanzen op. 48 and the Impromptu op. 51. He was a member of the editorial committee of Denkmäler Deutscher Tonkunst.

 

Sá e Costa, Helena

Portuguese (Porto, May 23, 1913 — Porto, January 8, 2006)

Helena Sá e Costa was a pianist and teacher. She was a crucial figure in Portugal´s piano scene. Her parents were pianists Luís Costa and Leonilda Moreira de Sá e Costa. She succeeded Vianna da Motta at the Lisbon Conservatory and also taught at the Porto Conservatory, founded by her grandfather. She played Bach concertos with Edwin Fischer throughout Europe and was the first pianist to perform the complete Bach´s Well-tempered clavier in Portugal. She had a tremendous performing career playing recitals, concertos and chamber music, and influenced many generations of pianists. 

[See the Helena Costa Tradition]

 

Safonov, Vasily Ilyich

Russian (Cossack settlement, near Itsyursk, Caucasus, February 6, 1852 — Kislovodsk, Caucasus, February 27, 1918)

Vasily Safonov was a pianist, teacher, conductor and composer. His father was a Cossack general. In 1862, the family moved to Saint Petersburg, where Safonov studied the piano with Theodore Leschetizky and Louis Brassin. He graduated from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory with a gold medal and taught there until 1885, when he was appointed professor at the Moscow Conservatory and, later, its director in 1889. Safonov spent some time in United States, where he conducted such orchestras as the LSO and New York Philharmonic and was appointed director of the National Conservatory in New York. Scriabin, Medtner and the Lhévinnes were among his pupils. Safonov wrote a pedagogical book, the New Formula for the Piano Teacher and the Piano Student.

[See the Vasily Safonov Tradition]

 

Santiago, Paulo

Portuguese (Lisbon, March 10, 1958 — July, 1992)

Paulo Santiago was a pianist. He studied at the National Conservatory of Lisbon with Maria Cristina Pimentel, Tânia Achot and Sequeira Costa, with whom he also studied in the USA besides Leon Fleisher.

 

Saperton, David

American (Pittsburg, October 29, 1889 — Baltimore, July 5, 1970)

David Saperton was a pianist and teacher. His first music lessons came from his grandfather and father. Subsequently, he studied with Joseph Gittings, August Spanuth and also with Busoni in Berlin. Saperton gave the American première of Szymanowski´s Second Sonata. In January 1915, he performed 6 recitals in 6 consecutive days in New York and played numerous virtuoso works. In 1924, he married Leopold Godowsky´s daughter, Vanita, and became assistant to Josef Hofmann and professor at the Curtis Institute. Saperton´s students included Jorge Bolet, Abbey Simon, Jacques Abram and Sidney Foster. Among his piano works is the virtuoso Zephyr.

 

Schiøler, Victor

Danish (Copenhagen, April 7, 1899 — Copenhagen, February 17, 1967)

Victor Schiøler was a pianist and conductor. He studied with his mother, with Ignacy Friedman in Copenhagen and with Artur Schnabel in Berlin. From 1930 to 1932, he was the director of the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen. During the Nazi regime, he abandoned the concert stage and obtained a degree in psychiatry. Schiøler performed with violinist Emil Telmányi, with whom he made a recording of Beethoven´s Kreutzer Sonata.

 

Schnabel, Artur

Austrian-American (Lipnik, April 17, 1882 — Axenstein, Switzerland, August 15, 1951)

Artur Schnabel was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied with Theodor Leschetizky in Vienna. He frequently performed with Casals, Feuermann, Fournier, Hindemith, Huberman, Szigeti and Primrose. He taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Clifford Curzon and Claude Frank were among his pupils. Schnabel made the first recording ever of the complete Beethoven sonatas for HMV and also recorded the 5 concertos and the Diabelli Variations. Schnabel composed a number of works including a piano concerto and published several books including My Life and Music and Reflections on Music and edited the Beethoven´s sonatas and the Diabelli Variations. In 1905, he married contralto Therese Behr.

[See the Artur Schnabel Tradition]

 

Schumann [née Wieck], Clara

German (Leipzig, September 13, 1819 — Frankfurt, May 20, 1896)

Clara Schumann was a pianist and composer. She was one of the greatest and most influential concert pianists of all time and was admired by Paganini, Chopin and Liszt. She was Robert Schumann´s wife and contributed to promote her husband´s music by performing and editing it. Her father and teacher was Friedrich Wieck, who not only taught her the piano but supervised her career and general education until her late teens. Her mother Marianne came from a family of musicians and was an accomplished singer and pianist. Clara concertized all over Europe, travelling to the British Isles over 19 times, not only performing but acting as her own manager. She was regarded as a piano equal to Liszt, Thalberg and Anton Rubinstein and was known in Europe as the “Queen of the Piano”, with a career that lasted for about 60 years. She was one of the pioneers in performing from memory, without assisting artists, a with a detailed attention to the music text, designing shorter concert programs in order to keep the audience´s attention. Her compositions include the Piano Concerto in F, Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann, Impromptus, Trois Romances and Souvenir de Vienne. She edited the works of Robert Schumann and arranged works of Brahms and Sterndale Bennett for piano. Composer and conductor Woldemar Bargiel was Clara´s half-brother.

[See the Schumann/Wieck Tradition]

 

Sebök, György

Hungarian (Szeged, November 2, 1922 — Bloomington, Indiana, November 14, 1999)

György Sëbok was a pianist and teacher. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest with Székely and Keéri-Szántó. He won first prize at the Berlin International Competition, after which he launched an international career as a concert pianist. He taught at the Béla Bartók School in Budapest, Toho Gakuen School in Tokyo, Indiana University, Hochschule in Berlin and the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada. Sebök made numerous recordings including chamber works with Janos Starker and Arthur Grimaux.

 

Seiss, Isidor

German (Dresden, December 23, 1840 — September 25, 1905)

Isidor Seiss was a pianist, composer, conductor and teacher. He studied with Friedrich Wieck. He taught for many years at the Cologne Conservatory. Among his students were Elly Ney, Carl Lachmund and Willem Mengelberg. Seiss composed a number of pedagogical works for the piano. He suffered from an increasing blindness which prevented him from teaching during the last years of his life. Seiss committed suicide at the age of 64.

 

Seixas, Carla

Angolan (Luanda)

Carla Seixas is a pianist and teacher. She studied at the National Conservatory in Lisbon with Noémia de Brederode and Olga Pratts and later with Sequeira Costa and Tania Achot. Subsequently, she received the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation scholarship to study at the University of Kansas with Sequeira Costa. Other teachers included Leon Fleisher, Gary Graffman and Jean Fassina. Since 1978, Seixas teaches piano at the Music School of the Lisbon National Conservatory.

 

Sgambati, Giovanni

Italian (Rome, May 28, 1841 — Rome, December 14, 1914)

Giovanni Sgambati was a pianist, composer and conductor. He was a key figure in the late 19th century reemergence of non-operatic music in Italy. He gave his first public recital at the age of six and started composing shortly after. Sgambati was a protégé and close friend of Liszt and met Anton Rubinstein and Richard Wagner. In Rome, he co-founded the Liceo Musicale di Santa Cecilia, which was to become the Rome Conservatory. His piano works include a Piano Concerto, Prelude and Fugue and Suite.

[See the Giovanni Sgambati Tradition]

 

Simon, Abbey

American (New York, January 8, 1922 — Geneva, December 18, 2019)

Abbey Simon was a pianist. He studied at the Curtis Institute with Josef Hofmann, David Saperton, Dora Zaslavsky and Harold Bauer. He concertized in the United States, Europe, Middle East, East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa and South America. Simon taught at Indiana University, Juilliard School and University of Houston. His recordings include the complete piano works of Chopin and Ravel and the Rachmaninov concerti.

 

Sirota, Leo Gregorovich

Ukrainian (Kamenets-Podolski, May 4, 1885 — New York, February 24, 1965)

Leo Sirota was a pianist. He studied with Chodorovski at the Imperial School of Music in Kiev, with Glazunov at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and with Busoni in Vienna. He also studied Philosophy and Law at the University of Vienna. He concertized extensively, directed the Ueno Imperial Academy in Tokyo and was artist-in-residence at the Saint Louis Institute of Music. Sirota offered radio broadcasts performing the complete Beethoven sonatas and works by Chopin, Schumann and Liszt and premiered the Three Movements from Petrushka by Stravinski.

 

Smendzianka, Regina

Polish (Toruń, October 9, 1924 — September 15, 2011)

Regina Smendzianka was a pianist. She was a pupil of Zbigniew Drzewiecki in Krakow. She finished 11th at the 1949 Chopin Competition in Warsaw. She taught at the Chopin Music Academy in Warsaw and served as a juror for several Chopin Competitions.

[See the Regina Smendzianka Tradition]

 

Snyder, Barry

American (March 6, 1944)

Barry Snyder studied with Vladimir Sokoloff and Cécile Genhart. He was a member of the Eastman and Meadowmount trios. Snyder was awarded the Diapason D´or for his recordings of the complete cello and piano works by Fauré with Steven Doane. He taught at Georgia State University and Eastman School.

 

Stavenhagen, Bernhard

German (Greiz, November 24, 1862 — Geneva, December 25, 1914)

Bernhard Stavenhagen was a pianist, conductor and composer. He was one of Liszt´s favorite pupils at the end of his life. Stavenhagen performed Liszt´s First Piano Concerto at his debut concert in London, with Liszt in the audience. He concertized in Europe, Russia and North America with great acclaim. Stavenhagen held positions for the Grand Duke of Weimar, for the Hofoper and as Kapellmeister at the court in Munich. He produced a few piano roll recordings and composed piano works including the Concerto in B minor op. 4.

[See the Bernhard Stavenhagen Tradition]

 

Steuermann, Edward

Polish-American (Sambor, June 18, 1892 — New York, November 11, 1964)

Edward Steuermann was a pianist and composer. He studied with Vilém Kurz and Ferruccio Busoni. He premiered many of the piano works by Schoenberg and presented new pieces by Scriabin to Vienna audiences. In 1838, he moved to the United States. Steuermann taught at The Juilliard School since 1952. Among his pupils were Theodor Adorno, Alfred Brendel, Lorin Hollander, Joseph Kalichstein, Lili Kraus, Moura Lympany and Russell Sherman. He composed a number of works and made a piano transcription of Schoenberg´s Chamber Symphony op. 9.

 

Szántó, Theodor

Hungarian (Vienna, June 3, 1877 — Budapest, January 7, 1934)

Theodor Szántó was a pianist and composer. He studied in Vienna and Budapest, and in Berlin with Ferruccio Busoni. He settled in Germany and became a well-known pianist. He also lived in Paris, Switzerland and Budapest. His most important piano piece were the Variations and Finale in D on a Hungarian Folk Melody.

 

Székely, Arnold

Hungarian (Budapest, November 6, 1874 — Montreal, Canada, September 24, 1958)

Arnold Székely was a pianist and teacher. He studied with István Thomán, Kalman Chovan and Ferruccio Busoni. He taught at the Liszt Academy in Budapest and at the Fodor Music School. In 1951, he travelled to Canada to teach and perform. His pupils included Georg Solti, Andor Földes, Pál Kadosa, Louis Kentner, Antal Doráti and Edith Farnadi.

 

Szpinalski, Stanislaw

Polish (1901 — 1957)

Stanislaw Szpinalski was a pianist of Russian birth. He studied with Paderewski and taught at the Vilnius Conservatory. Szpinalski received the second prize at the 1927 Chopin Competition after Lev Oborin.

 

Sztompka, Henryk

Polish (Boguslawka kolo Lucka, April 1, 1901 — Krakow, June 21, 1964)

Henryk Sztompka was a pianist and pedagogue. He was a pupil of Antoni Sygietyński, Józef Turczyński and Ignacy jan Paderewski. He also pursued studies at the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Warsaw. Sztompka made records of the complete Chopin mazurkas and nocturnes and of the Rachmaninov Second Concerto for Polskie Nagrania. He taught at the Pomerania Conservatory in Toruń and at the Music High School in Krakow. His students included Maria Korecka and Tania Achot.

 

Tagliapietra, Gino

Italian (Ljubljana, May 30, 1887 — Venice, August 8, 1954)

Gino Tagliapietra was a composer, pianist and musicologist. He was a pupil of Busoni in Vienna and was a piano teacher at the Liceo Musicale in Venice between 1906 and 1940. Tagliapietra was forced to curtail his concert career because of a neuritis in his right arm. His piano output includes Tre pezzi, Rapsodia armena, Otto prelude, 40 studii di perfezionamento and a piano concerto for male chorus and orchestra.

 

Tausig, Carl

Polish (Warsaw, November 4, 1841 — Leipzig, July 17, 1871)

Carl Tausig was a pianist. He was one of Liszt´s favorite pupils, who described him as having an “infallible” technique and possessing “fingers of steel”. Tausig also studied counterpoint, composition and instrumentation with the Hungarian master, and accompanied him while touring. His public debut was at a concert conducted by Hans von Bülow in Berlin in 1858. He had a vast repertoire which he could play from memory. Tausig composed a number of piano pieces including Tarantelle and Etudes de concert, and also transcribed, arranged and edited a handful of other works. His Tägliche studien are of great value. He married pianist Seraphine von Vrabely. Tausig died of typhoid before he turned 30 years of age. 

 

Thomán, István

Hungarian (Homonna, November 4, 1862 — Budapest, September 22, 1940)

István Thomán was a pianist, teacher and composer. He was a crucial figure in perpetuating Liszt´s influence in Hungary. He was a superb pianist and devoted much of his time to write pedagogical works, such as the Intermezzo and Caprice or the six volumes of technical études, which are still used today. His wife Valerie (1878-1948) was a successful singer and gave early performances of works by Bartók and Kodály. Their daughter Mária (1899-1948) was a professional violinist.

[See the István Thomán Tradition]

 

Tiegerman, Ignacy

Polish (February 24, 1893 — Cairo, May 31, 1968)

Ignacy Tiegerman was a pianist and teacher. He was a student of Theodor Leschetizky and Ignacy Friedman. He spent most of his life teaching in Cairo. Among his students were Henri Barda and Edward Said.

 

Toffano, Gustavo

Italian (Naples, December 22, 1844 — Bolonia, June 30, 1899)

Gustavo Tofano was a pianist and composer. He studied with Golinelli and Lillo. In 1872, he was appointed professor at the Liceo Musicale di Bolonia.

 

Tomášek, Václav Jan Krtitel

Bohemian (Skuteč, April 17, 1774 — Prague, April 3, 1850)

Václav Tomášek was a composer and teacher. He studied with Abbé Vogler and Forkel but was mainly self-taught in music. He settled in Prague in 1790 and studied Mathematics, History, Aesthetics, Philosophy and Law at Charles University. He met Haydn and Beethoven in Vienna and also made the acquaintance of Clara Schumann, Wagner, Berlioz, Paganini and Ole Bull. Among his notable students were Dreyshock, Hanslick and Würfel. Tomášek composed variations, sonatas, rhapsodies and German dances, among other works.

 

Turczyński, Józef

Polish (Zhitomir, Wolhynia, February 2, 1884 — Lausanne, December 27, 1953)

Józef Turczyński was a pianist and teacher. He received lessons from his father and later with Anna Essipova at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and with Ferruccio Busoni in Vienna. He also studied Law at Kiev University. Turczyński was a professor at the Kiev Conservatory from 1914 to 1919, and at the Warsaw Conservatory from 1920 to 1939. He was in the jury panel for the first three Chopin competitions in Warsaw. His students included Maryla Jones, Stanislaw Szpinalski and Henryk Sztompka. Along with Bronarski and Paderewski, Turczyński edited an edition of Chopin´s works which was published in Kraków between 1949 and 1961.

 

Vallier, John

English (London, October 1, 1920 — June 11, 1991)

John Vallier was a pianist and composer. His mother was the pianist Adela Verne, a pupil of Leschetizky, and his father Jean Vallier, a well-known opera bass. He studied with his aunt Mathilde Verne, with Walter Kerschbaumer and with Edwin Fischer. Vallier taught at the London College of Music. As composer, he produced numerous miniatures including Toccatina, Witches´ Ride and also the Piano Concerto in a minor. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died the age of 71.

 

Vianna da Motta, José

Portuguese (Santo Tomé, April 22, 1868 — Lisbon, June 1, 1948)

José Vianna da Motta was a pianist, teacher and composer. Regarded as the father of the piano in Portugal, he trained many generations of accomplished pianists. He went on extensive concert tours in Europe, United States and South America, sometimes performing four works with orchestra on the same program. His music editions include works of Bach and Liszt, in collaboration with Busoni, with whom he performed on two-piano recitals. His performance in 1927 of the complete Beethoven sonatas was a landmark in Portugal´s music history. Among his piano compositions are the Ballada op. 16, a piano concerto and a transcription for piano solo of Alkan´s Treize Prières for pedal piano. He also made a few recordings. Vianna da Motta succeeded Bernhard Stavenhagen as professor at the Geneva Conservatory.

[See the Vianna da Motta Tradition]

 

Vieira de Almeida, Nuno

Portuguese (Lisbon)

Nuno Vieira de Almeida is a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied with José Manuel Beirão in Lisbon, with Leonid Brumberg in Vienna and with Geoffrey Parsons in London. He is an accomplished lied accompanist and has appeared on stage with Gundula Janowitz, Peter Weber, Ulla Gustafson and Gabriele Fontana, among others. Vieira de Almeida premiered in Portugal works by Schönberg, Webern, Korngold, Bernstein and Britten. He frequently collaborates with theatre and film productions as performer and soundtrack composer. He teaches repertoire at the Escola Superior de Música in Lisbon.

 

Vogler, Abbé Georg Joseph

German (Würzburg, June 15, 1749 — Darmstadt, May 6, 1814)

Abbé Vogler was a keyboard player, theorist, teacher, organ designer and composer. He precluded Romanticism in music through his chromatic harmony and colorful orchestration, with the use of folk materials. He studied music with Padre Martini in Bologna, Theology and also Law in Würzburg and Bamberg. Pope Pius VI named him Knight of the Golden Spur. Upon his return to Mannheim, Vogler published several pedagogical treatises and opened a music school. He travelled extensively and lived in Paris, London, Munich, Stockholm, Gibraltar, Tangiers, Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague and Vienna, where he met Haydn. Vogler composed a number of keyboard works including concertos and Variations on Air de Marlborough.

 

Weber, Bedrich Diviš

Bohemian (Velichov, October 9, 1766 — Prague, December 25, 1842)

Bedrich Weber was a composer, pianist and teacher. Besides music, he studied Theology, Philosophy and Law. He contributed to the foundation of an institution which led to the establishment of the Prague Conservatory and was an influential figure in raising the musical standards in his native land. His piano works include rondos, variations, marches and minuets.

 

Wieck, Friedrich

German (Pretzsch, near Torgau, August 18, 1785 — Loschwitz, near Dresden, October 6, 1873)

Friedrich Wieck was an important teacher and education specialist. His daughter was the famous pianist Clara Wieck, whom he trained and married Robert Schumann. Wieck pursued theological studies, but his interest in education and music became more profound after his collaboration with piano teacher Adolph Bargiel. He was mainly focused on elementary piano instruction, based on playing without notation during the first steps of the learning process. He also taught Italian vocal technique and was involved in instrument sales and a music lending library business. His pedagogical work Klavier und Gesang summarizes his teaching principles. 

[See the Schuman/Wieck Tradition]

 

Zadora, Michael von

Polish-American (New York, June 14, 1882 — New York, June 30, 1946)

Michael Zadora was a pianist and composer. He received his first piano lessons from his father and later studied at the Paris Conservatoire. He also worked with Leschetizky, Busoni and Petri. Zadora taught at the Lemberg Conservatory and at the Institute of Musical Art in New York. He composed numerous works for the piano including the Kirgiz Sketches and Bach and Buxtehude transcriptions. Sometimes he signed his compositions with the pseudonym Pietro Amadis.

 

Zecchi, Carlo

Italian (Rome, July 8, 1903 — Salzburg, August 31, 1984)

Carlo Zecchi was a pianist, conductor and teacher. He firstly studied with his mother and with Franceso Bajardi. Subsequently, he went to the Rome Conservatory, and also worked with Schnabel and Busoni in Berlin. Zecchi also studied composition and conducting. For a time, he developed a solo concert career and, since 1955, formed a duo with cellist Mainardi. He toured in Russia, North and South America. Zecchi married pianist Velta Vait in 1936. He made records for Cetra, Ultraphone, Odeón and for the Russian Music Trust, a predecessor of Melodiya. His complete recordings were issued by Fonoteca in Italy in 8 cds. Zecchi taught at the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and gave masterclasses in Salzburg.

[See the Carlo Zecchi Tradition]

 

Zimmermann, Pierre-Joseph-Guillaume

French (Paris, March 19?, 1785 — Paris, October 29, 1853)

Pierre Zimmermann was a pianist, teacher and composer. His father was a Parisian piano maker. Zimmermann entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1798, where he became a student of Boieldieu and won the Premier Prix in 1800, surpassing Frédéric Kalkbrenner. He started teaching at the Conservatoire in 1811. Charles Gounod was his son-in-law. He published the Encyclopédie du pianist in 1840.

[See the Pierre Zimmermann Tradition]

 

© 2022, by Daniel Pereira