The Edward Marxsen Tradition
Piano Traditions Through Their Genealogy Trees
© 2021, by Daniel Pereira
Doctor of Musical Arts | www.daniel-pereira.com
Aitken, Webster
American (Los Angeles, June 17, 1908 — Santa Fe, May 11, 1981)
Webster Aitken was a pianist. He studied in California with Alexis Kall and Alfred Mirovitch, at Curtis with Herbert Simpson and in Berlin with Arthur Friedheim, Moriz Rosenthal, Email Sauer, Artur Schnabel and Marie Prentner. In 1938, he performed the complete Schubert sonatas in New York and London. Aitken offered the first known complete performance of Ives´s Four Transcriptions from Emerson. His recordings include the music of Handel, Beethoven, Schubert and Webern.
Albrechtsberger, Johann George
Austrian (Klosterneuburg, February 3, 1736 — Vienna, March 7, 1809)
J.G. Albrechtsberger was a composer, teacher, theorist and a prestigious organist. He was appointed Kapellmeister in 1793, the highest ranked position for a musician in the empire. Albrechtsberger was a friend of Mozart´s, and Haydn sent Beethoven to study with him between 1794 and 1795. He produced internationally recognized treatises on composition and figured bass. Among his works, there are 278 keyboard compositions.
Askenase, Stefan
Polish-Belgian (Lemberg, July 10, 1896 — Cologne, October 18, 1985)
Askenase was a pianist and teacher. During the World War II, he served in the Autro-Hungarian army. He concertized extensively over the course of six decades. Askenase taught at the Cairo Conservatory between 1922 and 1925. Subsequently, he returned to Europe and settled in Brussels, where he taught at the Royal Conservatory and became a Belgian citizen. Askenase also taught at the Rotterdam Conservatory. He recorded most of Chopin´s piano works for Deutsche Grammophon in the 1950s and 1960s. In 1965, Askenase founded The Arts and Music Society, whose main objective was to preserve the historical Rolandseck railway station upon the river Rhine. Upon its restoration, the station became an important concert venue.
Bocklet, Carl Maria von
Prague (November 30, 1801 — Vienna, July 15, 1881)
Carl Maria von Bocklet was a pianist, violinist and composer. He caused great sensation in Vienna improvising his free fantasias on the piano, and Beethoven wrote recommendation letters for him. Bocklet was in close terms with Franz Schubert and premiered his piano trios. He contributed with one variation to part II of Diabelli´s Vaterländischer Künstlerverein.
Brahms, Johannes
German (Hamburg, May 7, 1833 — Vienna, April 3, 1897)
One of the greatest composers of all time, his father made a living by playing in dance halls and taverns. Although his upbringing was within a modest family, he was a keen reader of many subjects and amassed a substantial personal library of over 800 volumes, now conserved at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. He was fond of folklore and contributed to support his family and himself by playing at the “Schänken”, in theatres and probably at sailor´s bars. He was in close terms with Joseph Joachim and Clara Schumann, with whom he was likely enamored. In the 1850s, Brahms signed a manifesto against the “Music of the Future”, particularly that of Liszt. His piano compositions are among the finest in the history of the piano repertoire. He wrote two colossal piano concertos, several sets of variations, three sonatas, ballades, waltzes and the last sets of shorter pieces such as the opp. 116, 117, 118 and 119. He also produced many chamber music works of the highest quality that became part of the standard repertoire. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and died at the age of 63. He is buried in Vienna close to the remains of Beethoven and Schubert.
Bruchollerie, Monique de la
French (Paris, April 20, 1915 — Bucarest, December 15, 1972)
Monique de la Bruchollerie was a pianist. She was awarded at the Third Frédéric Chopin International Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1937 and at the Brussels Competition in 1939. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at age 7 in the class of Isidor Philipp, who was a friend of her parents. She graduated at 13 and won the Premier Prix in 1928. She also studied with Cortot, Sauer and Koczalski. She concertized extensively including the United States and appeared with the Boston Symphony under Ernest Ansermet and in other cities. In 1969, she was injured in a car accident that abruptly terminated her performing career. She made a number of recordings for His Master´s Voice and Vox Records including the piano concertos of Chopin, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Mozart, Franck and Rachmaninov. Jean-Marc Savelli and Cyprien Katsaris are among her students.
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.
Clasing, Johann Hermann
German (Hamburg, July 4, 1779 — February 8, 1829)
Johann Hermann Clasing was a pianist and composer. He studied with Anton Reicha and Paul Wineberger. In 1816, he co-founded a music society which dedicated its efforts to preserve the music of Handel. Clasing composed the Sonata op. 5 and several fantasies for piano and orchestra.
Cossel, Otto
German (1813 — 1865)
Otto Cossel was a professor. He studied with Eduard Marxsen and had Johannes Brahms among his students.
Deppe, Ludwig
German (Alverdissen, Lippe, November 7, 1828 — Bad Pyrmont, September 5, 1890)
Pianist, teacher, conductor and composer, his piano technique and teaching methods had a great influence, as we can withdraw from his pupil Amy Fay´s writings. His ideas were continued and developed by Adolf Mikeš and partially followed by Leschetizky. He was Kapellmeister of the Royal Opera in Berlin. Deppe wrote an autobiography.
Epstein, Julius
Croatian (Zagreb, August 7, 1832 — Vienna, March 3, 1926)
Julius Epstein was a pianist. He studied in Vienna with Anton Halm. He taught at the Vienna Conservatory where his pupils included Ignaz Brüll, Gustav Mahler and Richard Robert. Epstein edited the Beethoven sonatas. His son Richard Epstein became a reputed pianist and professor in Vienna.
[See the Julius Epstein Tradition]
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.
Goldsand, Robert
Austrian-American (Vienna, Austria, March 17, 1911 — Danbury, Connecticut, September 16, 1991)
He concertized in Europe and Latin America and was admired by his interpretations of Chopin, whose works he recorded in the 1940s and 50s. He often programmed works by American composers in his recitals. The International Piano Archives at Maryland owns the Robert Goldsand Collection which consists mainly of private recordings of Goldsand’s concerts.
Goll, Edward
Bohemian (Kaaden, Bohemia, February 4, 1884 — January 11, 1949)
Edward Goll was a pianist. He started studying the violin and then entered the Prague Conservatory to learn the piano and also studied with Antonín Dvorák and Emil von Sauer. Goll often performed before Queen Marie of Romania and under such conductors as Arthur Nikisch and Hans Richter. He formed a trio with Jan Kubelík and Leopold Schwab. In 1911, while on tour in Australia, he fell in love and settled there where he taught at the Melbourne University Conservatorium. His students included Margaret Sutherland and Waldemar Seidel. After World War I, Goll received some lessons from Eugene D´Albert. He made numerous 78-rpm recordings, and Elina Yasumoto published a memoir titled Edward Goll: A Light in Dark Times.
Halm, Anton
Austrian (Haselberg, June 5, 1789 — Vienna, April 6, 1872)
An official of the Imperial and Royal Army for a period of three years, he met Beethoven and performed his works on a few occasions, writing a four-hand arrangement of the Grosse Fugue for Artaria. He also collaborated with a variation for Anton Diabelli´s project.
Hauser, Richard
Austrian (Vienna, December 31, 1909 — Vienna, July 17, 1970)
Richard Hauser was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Josef Hofmann, Norbert Kahrer, Paul Weingarten and Emil von Sauer. He also studied with theory and composition with Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern. Hauser taught at the Vienna Conservatory. Among his students were Mitsuko Uchida and Heinz Medjimorec.
Hummel, Johann Nepomuk
Austrian (Pressburg, now Bratislava, November 14, 1778 — Weimar, October 17, 1837)
Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a pianist and composer. He was one of the most famous musicians of his time and was also active as a conductor and teacher. The son of a string player and conductor, he was musically precocious since the age of three. A pupil of Mozart, Hummel lived in the Mozart´s household where he met da Ponte, Haydn and other personalities of Vienna. He also studied with Albrechtsberger and Salieri. In 1788, he went on an extended concert tour that took him all over Europe during the next five years. In 1804, he succeeded Haydn at Esterházy and conducted the premiere of Haydn´s The Creation at the palace in Eisenstadt. In 1818 he was appointed Grand-Ducal Kapellmeister at Weimar, a post he held until his death. Hummel met and had a profound impact on Chopin, Liszt and Schubert, who had dedicated to him his last three piano sonatas until Diabelli posthumously changed the dedicatory to Schumann. Hummel was a prolific composer in virtually all genres of the time and wrote piano concertos, variations, sonatas, preludes, bagatelles, rondos and numerous other pieces, including successful piano arrangements of orchestral works. His Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instructions on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte enjoyed a tremendous success and was published almost at the same time in Germany, England and France, selling thousands of copies. He maintained an unsettling but lasting friendship with Beethoven, was one of the pallbearers at his funeral and improvised at the Beethoven´s memorial concert upon the composer´s request. He married the singer Elisabeth Röckel and one of their sons, Eduard, became a pianist.
[See the Johann Nepomuk Hummel Tradition]
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.
Katsaris, Cyprien
French (Marseilles, May 5, 1951)
Winner of the Premier Prix at the Paris Conservatory, Prix Albert Roussel and Cziffra Competition, he received his first musical instruction in Cameroon. He was the first pianist who recorded the complete Liszt transcriptions of the Beethoven symphonies as well as Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde in its original piano and voice version. He also recorded a substantial number of Chopin´s works.
Lane, Piers
Australian (London, January 8, 1958)
Piers Lane is a pianist. Both his parents were pianists who met while auditioning at the Royal College of Music. He studied at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music with Nancy Weir. In 1977, he was named Best Pianist at the Sydney International Piano Competition. Since 2007, Lane is the Artistic Director of the Australian Festival of Chamber Music in Townsville. He recorded for Hyperion, EMI, Decca, BMG, Lyrita and Unicorn-Khanchana and include the complete piano concertos by Malcolm Williamson. He is also a radio broadcaster on BBC Radio 3 including the program The Piano.
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.
Marxsen, Eduard
German (Nienstädten, near Altona, July 23, 1806 — Altona, November 18, 1887)
Appointed Royal Music Director in 1875 in Hamburg, he was a respected and demanded teacher whose most famous pupil was Johannes Brahms, who dedicated to him his Second Piano Concerto. Marxsen not only taught Brahms the piano but also strict counterpoint and the works of Bach and Beethoven.
He composed numerous piano works including the Fantasie “alla moda” über den Kaffee, based on the notes c-a-f-f-e-e, published the same year as Schumann´s Abegg Variations.
[See the Eduard Marxsen Tradition]
Mewton-Wood, Noel
Australian (Melbourne, November 20, 1922 — London, December 5, 1953)
Noel Mewton-Wood was a pianist and composer. He studied in Melbourne with Waldemar Seidel, in London at the Royal Academy of Music and with Artur Schnabel in Italy. He was a champion of the music of Weber, performed Busoni´s Piano Concerto, premiered in Britain Bliss Piano Concerto and performed Hindemith´s Ludus Tonalis with great admiration from the composer. Mewton-Wood composed a piano concerto, chamber music and several piano pieces. He committed suicide at the age of 31.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Austrian (Salzburg, January 27, 1756 — Vienna, December 5, 1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a composer, keyboard and violin player. He is regarded among the major exponents of the Viennese Classicism and one of the most astonishing music geniuses in history. He was baptized as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. He was the son of Leopold Mozart who took responsibility for the education of his son not only in music but in mathematics, reading, writing, literature, languages, dancing and moral and religious ideas. Wolfgang Amadeus composed his first works at the age of five. Mozart and his family travelled extensively all over Europe between 1762 and 1773. Subsequently, he lived in Salzburg and finally settled in Vienna. W.A. Mozart married Constanze Weber, a cousin of composer Carl Maria von Weber. Mozart excelled in all music genres. His piano output is large including 27 piano concertos for one, two and three pianos, 18 piano sonatas, fantasies, rondos, and variations such as Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman and other sets on themes by Fischer, Salieri, Grétry, Paisiello, Gluck and Sarti. He also produced a sonata for two pianos and works for piano duet. The first edition of the Köchel catalogue of Mozart´s works was completed in 1863 by Ludwig von Köchel.
[See the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Tradition]
Ney, Elly
German (Düsseldorf, September 27, 1882 — Tutzing, March 31, 1968)
Elly Ney was a pianist. She studied with Isidor Seiss in Cologne and with Leschetizky and Sauer in Vienna. She taught at the Cologne Conservatory and gave masterclasses at the Mozarteum in Salzburg for three years. Ney married Dutch conductor Willem van Hoogstraten whith whom she recorded the concertos numbers 3, 4 and 5 by Beethoven. She formed a trio with Max Stross and Ludwig Hoelscher. During the Third Reich, Ney was involved in a controversy after she joined the Nazi Party in 1937.
Sauer, Angélica Morales von
Mexican (Gurabo, Puerto Rico, February 22, 1911 — Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA, April 16, 1996)
Angélica Morales von Sauer was a pianist, composer and teacher. Her father was a Puerto Rican violinist, and her mother was Mexican. Her family moved to Mexico when she was 6 months old. When she was 12, she played for Josef Lhévinne, who interceded with the government to obtain her a scholarship. Morales studied in Philadelphia with Josef Hofmann and in New York with Rosina and Josef Lhévinne. Subsequently, she studied in Berlin with Egon Petri and in Vienna with Lisz´t pupil Emil von Sauer, whom she married. When Sauer died, Morales succeeded him at the Vienna Music Academy. After a period in Mexico between 1946 and 1955, when she taught at the Conservatorio Nacional, she held a teaching post at the University of Kansas until 1973.
Sauer, Emil [von]
German (Hamburg, October 8, 1862 — Vienna, April 27, 1942)
Emil von Sauer was a pianist, teacher and composer. He received his first instruction from his Scottish mother. He taught at the Vienna Conservatory and influenced many world-class pianists. In 1917, Sauer added the “von” to his name after the Austrian Emperor ennobled him. His compositions include two piano concertos, two sonatas and a number of other virtuoso pieces. He produced a few recordings including Liszt´s both piano concerti. Peters published a substantial amount of his editions. Sauer wrote an autobiography titled Meine Welt. His second wife was the Mexican pianist Angélica Morales.
[See the Emil von Sauer Tradition]
Schumacher, Thomas
American (Born in 1937)
He is active a recitalist, adjudicator and lecturer, and published study guides on Brahms, Albéniz and Rachmaninov as well as a critical edition of Albéniz´s Suite Iberia. He recorded for the Elan label.
Seidel, Waldemar Carl
Australian (St Kilda, Melbourne, Malvern, March 11, 1893 — 1980)
Waldemar Seidel was a pianist and teacher. His father, pianist and choral conductor Alfred Seidel, had migrated to Australia at the age of 19. Waldemar Seidel studied at Xavier College and took piano lessons from Alfred Johnstone, Benno Scherek and Edward Goll. He taught at the Albert Street Conservatorium and at the University Conservatorium, both in Melbourne.
Savelli, Jean-Marc
French (Mulhouse, Alsace, October 18, 1955)
Jean-Marc Savelli is a pianist. His mother came from a family of musicians who performed for the Imperial Court in Russia. He studied in his native city and later at the Basel Conservatory. Subsequently, he was a pupil of Pierre Sancan and entered the Paris Conservatoire. He is involved in music therapy and studied the effects of music on people who suffer. Savelli made a number of recordings of the music of Beethoven, Schumann, Chopin, Liszt and Rachmaninov. He appears on the book French Piano Legends by Catherine Lechner-Reydellet.
Seyfried, Ignaz Ritter von
Austrian (Vienna, August 15, 1776 — Vienna, August 27, 1841)
Ignaz von Seyfried was a composer, kapellmeister, teacher and writer on music. He studied composition with Albrechtsberger and piano with Kozeluch. He was a friend of Beethoven and conducted the premiere of Fidelio in 1805.
Tovey, Sir Francis Donald
English (Eton, July 17, 1875 — Edinburgh, July 10, 1940)
Sir Francis Donald Tovey was a pianist, scholar and composer. He studied with Sophie Weisse and received advice from Ludwig Deppe. He wrote his first compositions when he was 8. Tovey performed in duo with Joachim, Casals, and Röntgen, among others. His piano works include a Piano concerto, Bagatelles and Passacaglia. Tovey published Essays in Musical Analysis, A Companion to Beethoven Pianoforte Sonatas and also a completion of Bach´s The Art of the Fugue.
Uchida, Mitsuko
Japanese (Atami, near Tokyo, December 20, 1948)
Mitsuko Uchida is a pianist. She moved to Vienna at the age of 12. She studied with Richard Hauser, Wilhelm Kempff and Stefan Askenase. She was awarded at the Leeds International Piano Competition, Beethoven Competition and Chopin Competition. She is a major performer of the Classical composers and has offered complete cycles of the Mozart sonatas and concerti. In 2009, she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. She records exclusively for Decca.
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.
Votapek, Ralph
American (Milwaukee, Wisconsin, March 20, 1939)
Ralph Votapek is a pianist. He studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory, Northwestern University and Juilliard School. He was the winner of the first Van Cliburn competition in 1962 and signed immediately after contracts with RCA and Sol Hurok. Votapek taught at the Michigan State University College of Music
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.
Weingarten, Paul
Moravian (Brünn, Moravia, April 20, 1886 — Vienna, April 11, 1948)
Paul Weingarten was a pianist and teacher. He earned a Ph.D. in Music History from the University of Vienna and studied piano at the Vienna Conservatory with Emil von Sauer. He taught at the Vienna Music Academy and in Tokyo.
Weir, Nancy
Australian (Kew, Melbourne, July 13, 1915 — Amity, New Farm, Brisbane, October 14, 2008)
Nancy Weir was a pianist and teacher. She studied in Melbourne with Edward Goll and Ada Corder and, in Europe, with Edwin Fischer and Artur Schnabel. Subsequently, she studied with Harold Craxton at the Royal Academy of Music. During World War II, Weir joined the Women´s Auxiliary Force and later the RAF Intelligence. She taught at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music in Brisbane where his students included Piers Lane.
© 2022, by Daniel Pereira