The Tobias Matthay Tradition
Piano Traditions Through Their Genealogy Trees
© 2021, by Daniel Pereira
Doctor of Musical Arts | www.daniel-pereira.com
Bartlett, Ethel
English (Epping Forest, June 6, 1896 — Los Angeles, April 17, 1978)
Ethel Bartlett was a pianist. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Frederick Moore and Tobias Matthay. She also studied with Artur Schnabel in Berlin. In 1921, she married Scottish pianist Rae Robertson, with whom he formed a notable piano duo around 1926. Several major composers of their time wrote piano duo pieces for them such as Arnold Bax, Benjamin Britten and Bohuslav Martinu. She taught at the Matthay School of Music in England. Bartlett accompanied John Barbirolli in his cello recitals.
Beringer, Oscar
English (Furtwangen, Baden, July 14, 1844 — London, February 21, 1922)
Born in Germany, his family fled to London in 1849, where he found in 1873 the Academy for the Higher Development of Pianoforte Playing, which enjoyed a remarkable success until it closed its doors in 1897. Beringer premiered in England Brahms´s Second Piano Concerto and was appointed professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1885. He published pedagogical works such as Daily Technical Exercises and Pianoforte Tutor, as well as editions of piano classics.
[See the Oscar Beringer Tradition]
Bowen, York
English (London, February 22, 1884 — London, November 23, 1961)
York Bowen was a pianist and composer. He studied at the Blackheath Conservatoire and received a scholarship to study at the Royal Academy of Music. He taught at the Tobias Matthay Piano School and at the RAM since 1909. Bowen played a number of orchestral instruments. He composed 4 piano concertos and the 24 Preludes op. 102, among other works.
Bush, Alan
English (London, December 22, 1900 — Watford, October 31, 1995)
Alan Bush was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Tobias Matthay and privately with Moiseiwitsch, Mabel Lander and Schnabel. Bush also studied philosophy and musicology at the University of Berlin. In 1925, he got involved in the Communist Party and in the working-class movements of the time. Between 1941 and 1945, he served in the army. Bush wrote several works for piano and orchestra including the piano concerto, the Variations, Nocturne and Finale on an English Seasong op, 60 and the Song Poem and Dance Poem op. 109, and numerous solo piano pieces such as the 3 Pieces op. 1, Sonata op. 71 and the 24 Preludes op. 84.
Carlson, Jane
American (Hartford, Connecticut, November 19, 1918)
Jane Carlson is a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia and at the Juilliard School in New York. She also studied privately with Carl Friedberg and Dame Myra Hess. Carlson taught at the Preparatory Division of the Juilliard School, at the University of California at Berkeley and at Dartmouth College. She is a champion of the music of Paul Hindemith.
Cohen, Harriet
English (London, December 2, 1895 — London, November 13, 1967)
Harriet Cohen was a pianist. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Matthay School, where she later taught. In 1948, she injured her right hand and could only play left-hand works until 1951. She never fully recovered and retired from the concert platform in 1960. Cohen premiered Vaughan Williams´s Concerto in 1933, which the composer dedicated to her, and recorded for the first time numerous works by her close friend Bax. She published a collection of Bach transcriptions, her memories in A Bundle of Time, and a book on performance, Music´s Handmaid.
Conus, Leon
Russian (Moscow, April 26, 1871 — Cincinnati, January 18, 1944)
Lev Eduardovich Conus was a pianist, teacher and composer. He was the brother of composers Georgi Conus and Julius Conus. Sergei Rachmaninov was his classmate in Arensky´s composition class at the Moscow Conservatory, where he taught piano until 1918. Three years after, he and his wife, pianist Olga Kovalevskaya, fled to Paris, where he taught at the Russian Conservatory. Subsequently, in 1935, they settled in the United States, where he taught in Cincinnati. His wife posthumously published his Fundamentals of Piano Technique.
Corder, Frederick
English (London, January 26, 1852 — London, August 21, 1932)
Frederick Corder was a teacher, composer and conductor. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and with Ferdinand Hiller in Cologne. He taught composition at the RAM where his students included Bax, Bantock and Holbrooke. Corder was mainly known as an English translator, particularly of the works of Wagner.
Coviello, Ambrose
1887 — 1950
Ambrose Coviello was a pianist and teacher. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music and had Moura Lympany among his students. He published What Matthay Meant: His Musical and Technical Teachings Clearly Explained and Self-indexed and Foundations of pianoforte technique: coordination exercises.
Craxton, Harold
English (London, April 30, 185 — London, March 30, 1971)
Harold Craxton was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Matthay and Whitemore at the Matthay School, where he taught since 1914. He also taught at the Royal Academy of Music between 1919 and 1961. His students included Denis Matthews, Nina Milkina and Noel Mewton-Wood. He was highly regarded as an accompanist and performed frequently with Albani, Clara Butt and many others. Craxton made a number of recordings including Delius´s Cello Sonata.
Dean, Harry
English-Canadian (Yorkshire, February 22, 1879 — Halifax, October 30, 1955)
Harry Dean was a pianist, conductor, organist and teacher. He studied with Tobias Matthay in London and with Robert Teichmüller at the Leipzig Conservatory. He taught at the Halifax Conservatory and at the Dalhousie University. His students included Howard Brown, Harold Hamer and Marguerita Spencer. Dean founded the Maritime Academy of Music and the Nova Scotia Registered Music Teacher´s Association in Canada.
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]
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. 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.
Gerschefski, Edwin
American (Meriden, Connecticut, June 19, 1909 — Chattanooga, Tennessee, December 18, 1992)
Edwin Gerschefski was a pianist, teacher and composer. He studied composition at Yale University and piano at the Matthay School in London. He also studied with Schnabel. He taught composition, headed music departments and was the dean at different universities. Gerschefski composed piano the Preludes op. 6, the Second Sonatine, the Schillinger Nocturne and 100 Variations op. 38.
Hallis, Adolph
South African (Port Elizabeth, July 4, 1896 — South Africa, 1987)
Adolph Hallis was a pianist and composer. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Oscar Beringer and Tobias Matthay. He championed the works of his contemporaries and premiered numerous works including Rawsthrone´s Piano Concerto no. 1 and Chisholm´s Piano Concerto no. 2. Hallis became the first pianist in recording the complete Debussy Etudes. He composed a piano concerto among other works.
Haydn, Michael
Austrian (Rohrau, bap. September 14, 1737 — Salzburg, August 10, 1806)
Michael Haydn was a composer. He was the younger brother of Joseph Haydn. He held several positions including court Konzertmeister in Salzburg, where he met Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Haydn taught Carl Maria von Weber and Anton Diabelli.
Hess, Dame Myra
English (London, February 25, 1890 — London, November 25, 1965)
Dame Myra Hess was a pianist. She studied with Julian Pascal, Orlando Morgan and Tobias Matthay, who became her greatest influence. She frequently performed in piano duo with her cousin Irene Scharrer. In 1960, she suffered a heart attack and performed her last public concert. Hess made a number of piano transcriptions of Baroque music which became very popular. Ann Schein and Stephen Kovacevich were among her students.
Hiller, Ferdinand
German (Frankfurt, October 24, 1811 — Cologne, May 11, 1885)
Ferdinand Hiller was a composer, conductor, pianist and teacher. He became close friends with Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt, Schumann, Wagner and Mendelssohn, who Hiller succeeded as conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. Hiller composed the Piano Concerto op. 69, Konzertstück op. 113, Sonata op. 47, and Ghazèles, among other works.
Holmes, William Henry
English (Sudbury, January 8, 1812 — London, April 23, 1885)
William Henry Holmes was a pianist, composer and teacher. Upon the recommendation of King George IV, he entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1823, where he became a student of Cipriani Potter. He taught at RAM since 1826 and, towards the end of his life, at the Guildhall School of Music. Holmes cofounded the Bach Society in 1849. He composed a number of small piano works and a piano concerto titled The Jubilee.
Hummel, Johann Nepomuk
Austrian (Pressburg, now Bratislava, November 14, 1778 — Weimar, October 17, 1837)
One of the most famous pianists and composers of his time, he 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. He 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]
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 also 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.
Hutchens, Frank
Australian (Christchurch, New Zealand, January 15, 1892 — Sydney, October 18, 1965)
Frank Hutchens was a pianist, composer and teacher. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Tobias Matthay and Frederick Corder. In 1915, he was appointed professor of piano at the NSW State Conservatorium. He published over 60 pedagogical pieces and three piano concertos among other works and became widely known for his radio programmes.
Jones, Martin
English (Witney, February 4, 1940)
Martin Jones is a pianist. He studied with Guy Jonson, Gordon Green and Guido Agosti. From 1971 to 1988, he was pianist-in-residence at Cardiff University. Jones made numerous recordings including the complete solo works of Brahms, Mendelssohn, Debussy, Grainger, Stravinsky and Granados. He was the pianist who performed Grainger´s Bridal Lullaby in the soundtrack of the film Howards End.
Jonson, Guy
English (Finchley, November 5, 1913 — March 10, 2009)
Guy Jonson was a pianist and teacher. When still very young, he became a student of Sir Thomas Beecham´s wife, Betty Humby. Subsequently, he studied with Tobias Matthay and Alfred Cortot. He taught at the Royal Academy of Music and his students included Dmitris Sgouros, Martin Jones, Angela Lear and Julian Saphir.
Joyce, Eileen
Australian (Zeehan, Tasmania, January 1, 1908 — Limpsfield, Surrey, March 25, 1991)
Eileen Joyce was a pianist. She was a musically precocious child admired by Percy Grainger and Wilhelm Backhaus upon whose recommendation she went to study at the Leipzig Conservatory. She also studied in London. Joyce gave the first performance in Britain of Prokofiev´s Third Piano Concerto under Sir Henry Wood. She was known for changing the color of her dresses during the performances, according to her theory of associating colors and composers. Joyce recorded a number of solo pieces and the concertos of Ireland and Shostakovich. The film Wherever she goes, released in 1951, poorly portrays the aspects of her life.
Judd, Terence
English (Hammersmith, London, October 3, 1957 — Beachy Head, near Eastbourne, December 23, 1979)
Terence Judd was a pianist. He had a promising career, which was curtailed because of his premature death. At the age of ten, he won the National Junior Piano Competition and performed at the Royal Albert Hall at 11. He was a finalist at the Busoni, Casagrande and Tchaikovsky competitions, and winner of the British Liszt Competition. On December 16, 1979, after lunch, he left his family home to go for a walk and never returned. His body was found washed up on the beach a few days later. It is generally accepted that Judd took his own life.
Kennedy, Anne Gamble
American (Charleston, West Virginia, September 25, 1920 — June 11, 2001)
Anne Gamble Kennedy was a pianist and teacher. She was the accompanist for the Fisk Jubilee Singers. She studied at the Oberlin Conservatory, Juilliard School and George Peabody College and had Ray Lev among her teachers. She frequently performed in piano duo with her husband Matthew Kennedy.
Kovacevich, Stephen
American (San Pedro, California, October 17, 1940)
Stephen Kovacevich is a pianist and conductor born to a Croatian father and an American mother. He studied with Lev Schorr and with Myra Hess. He has regularly performed with Jacqueline du Pré, Steven Isserlis, Nigel Kennedy, Lynn Harrell and Martha Argerich, with whom he has a daughter. Kovacevich made numerous recordings, and his recording of the Diabelli Variations has been greatly acclaimed.
Kreutzer, Leonid
Russian (Saint Petersburg, March 13, 1884 — Tokyo, October 30, 1953)
Leonid Kreutzer was a pianist and teacher. He studied with Anna Essipova at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. He taught at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin where his students included Karl-Ulrich Schnabel and Wladyslaw Szpilman. In 1935, he settled in Japan where he taught and concertized. Kreutzer published Das normale Klavierpedal and edited works by Chopin and Liszt.
Lander, Mabel
British (1882 — London, May 19, 1955)
Mabel Lander was a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Berlin Hochschule, in Vienna with Theodor Leschetizky and with Benno Moiseiwitsch. Subsequently, she settled in Dublin and performed publicly until she contracted a rheumatic illness in her hands. She taught several members of the British Royal Family during the 1930s and 1940s and also Malcolm Sargent, Alan Bush and Geraldine Peppin.
Langrish, Vivian
English (Bristol, 1894 — May 21, 1980)
Vivian Langrish was a pianist and teacher. She studied with W.E. Fowler and Tobias Matthay. She taught at the Royal Academy of Music and at the Tobias Matthay Pianoforte School. Langrish performed under Sir Henry Wood and Sir Adrian Boult. She published several two piano arrangements.
Lassimonne, Denise
English (Camberley, Surrey, 1903 — January 2, 1994)
Denise Lassimonne was a pianist and teacher of French descent. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and with Tobias Matthay whom, after the death of her father, adopted her into the family. Lassimonne taught at the Tobias Matthay School and at the Royal Academy of Music. She wrote a few books and composed a number of pieces.
Lear, Angela
English
Angela Lear is a pianist and teacher. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Guy Jonson and later with Nadia Boulanger and Louis Kentner. She made a few records with the music of Chopin.
Lev, Ray
Russian-American (Rostov-na-Donu, May 8, 1912 — New York, May 20, 1968)
Ray Lev was a pianist of Russian birth. Her family moved to the United States when she was one year old. She studied with Walter Ruel Cowles, Rebecca Davidson and Gaston Déthier. Subsequently, after winning the American Matthay Association Prize, she became a pupil of Matthay in London. She championed the works of her contemporaries and performed compositions by Riegger, William Mayer and Roy Travis. She made numerous recordings.
Long, Marguerite
French (Nîmes, November 13, 1874 — Paris, February 13, 1966)
Marguerite Long was a pianist and teacher. She studied with Henri Fissot at the Paris Conservatoire, where she won the Premier Prix in 1891, and also took private lessons with Antonin Marmontel. She premiered Ravel´s Le Tombeau de Couperin and Concerto in G. Between 1906 and 1940, Long taught at the Paris Conservatoire such eminent pianists as Samson François, Annie d´Arco and Jacques Février. In 1941, she founded a music school in Paris and, two years later, established a competition with Jacques Thibaud. She published Au piano avec Claude Debussy, Au piano avec Gabriel Fauré, Le piano and Le petite méthode de piano.
[See the Marguerite Long Tradition]
Lush, Ernest
English (Bournemouth, January 23, 1908 — Harrogate, May 12, 1988)
Ernest Lush was a pianist. He studied with Matthay and Friedberg. He was accompanist for the BBC in London and performed with many famous musicians including Pierre Fournier, Kathleen Ferrier and Jacqueline du Pré. Lush was also a fantastic improviser.
MacFarren, Walter
English (London, August 28, 1826 — London, September 2, 1905)
Walter MacFarren was a pianist and composer. He studied piano at the Royal Academy of Music with W.H. Holmes. He was appointed professor at the RAM in 1846. Tobias Matthay, Stewart Macpherson and Henry Wood were among his pupils. Macfarren composed numerous piano works including the Concertstück in E for piano and orchestra, sonatas, preludes and études. He also edited several compositions by Mozart and Beethoven.
Mannheimer, Frank
American (Dayton, Ohio, June 28, 1896 — Dayton, Ohio, May 18, 1972)
Frank Mannheimer was a pianist and teacher. He studied at the Chicago Academy of Music. He joined the Army at the end of the World War I and, subsequently, he studied with Leonid Kreutzer, Artur Schnabel and Tobias Matthay. John Perry was among his students.
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 also 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]
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 Tobias Matthay Tradition]
Milkina, Nina
Russian (Moscow, January 27, 1919 — London, November 29, 2006)
Nina Milkina was a pianist. In 1926, she left Russia and lived in Paris and finally settled in London. She studied with Leon Conus and Marguerite Long. She specialized in the music of Mozart and Chopin.
Moiseiwitsch, Benno
Russian-British (Odessa, February 22, 1890 — London, April 9, 1963)
Benno Moiseiwitsch was a pianist. He studied in Kiev at the Imperial Music Academy with Dmitry Klimov. He concertized extensively in Europe, USA, East Asia, Africa and South America. He taught at the Curtis Institute of Music. Moiseiwitsch married Australian violinist Daisy Kennedy.
Moore, Gerald
English (Watford, July 30, 1899 — Penn, United Kingdom, March 13, 1987)
Gerald Moore was a pianist. He received his first piano lessons from Wallis Bandey. In 1913, his family moved to Canada where he studied with Michael Hambourg and, upon his return to England in 1919, with his son Mark Hambourg. He became a much after-sought accompanist and performed with virtually all the major artists of his time. He published Singer and Accompanist, Am I Too Loud? Memoirs of an Accompanist and The Unashamed Accompanist. Moore made numerous recordings for HMV.
Lympany, Dame Moura
English (Saltash, August 18, 1916 — Menton, France, March 28, 2005)
Dame Moura Lympany was a pianist. She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone. She studied in Liège and at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Coviello. Subsequently, she became a pupil of Paul Weingarten, Mathilde Verne, Edward Steuermann and Tobias Matthay. She won second prize at the 1938 Ysaye Competition, after Giles and before Flier and Michelangeli. Lympany made the first complete recording of the Rachmaninov Preludes in 1945 and also recorded concertos by Khachaturian, Saint-Saëns and Rawsthorne. Her concerto repertoire consisted of about 60 works. In 1969, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After her death, her archive was deposited at the International Piano Archives at Maryland.
Mozart, Leopold
Austrian (Augsburg, November 14, 1719 — Salzburg, May 28, 1787)
Leopold Mozart was a composer and teacher. He was the son of a bookbinder and the father of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Leopold Mozart was an accomplished organist and violinist and also studied philosophy and jurisprudence. In 1763, he was appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Archbishop Leopold Anton Freiherr von Firmian. Mozart married Anna Maria Pertl in 1747. They had seven children of which only Maria Anna “Nannerl” and Wolfgang Amadeus survived. In 1756, Leopold Mozart published his influential Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing. When the precocious genius of Wolfgang Amadeus started to emerge, Leopold devoted most of his time and effort to educate his gifted child. The family went on extended journeys all over Europe for several years which had a decisive impact on W.A. Mozart´s artistic development. Leopold Mozart also acted as his son´s proofreader and editor as well as valet, impresario and travel organizer. Mozart composed a handful of keyboard works including several sonatas, Arietto and Scherzo and Fugue and Andante.
Norton, Eunice
American (Minneapolis, Minnesota, June 30, 1908 — Vienna, December 9, 2005)
Eunice Norton was a pianist and teacher. She studied at the University of Minnesota with William Lindsay, in London with Tobias Matthay and in Berlin and Italy with Artur Schnabel. She performed with many leading orchestras and conductors. Norton taught at the University of Pittsburgh, Catholic University of America, University of Minnesota and was a visiting professor at Carnegie-Mellon University.
Ogdon, John
English (Mansfield Woodhouse, England, January 27, 1937 — London, August 1, 1989)
A colossal pianist endowed with a phenomenal capacity for sight-reading music, he premiered works of Goehr and Maxwell Davies as well as his own compositions. In 1960 he received the Busoni Prize, and, in 1962, he won ex aequo with Ashkenazy the first prize at the Moscow Tchaikovsky Competition, and also the Liszt Prize in London. He played an extensive repertory covering most of the styles and including a substantial amount of 20th century music. Among his numerous recordings is the massive, four-hour long, Opus clavicembalisticum of Sorabji. He married pianist Brenda Lucas, with whom he frequently performed duets. Although many of his compositions remained unfinished, S. Atman published a compilation of his works in The Compositions of John Ogdon: A Catalogue. Since the 1970s, Ogdon suffered from schizophrenia and died at the age of 52.
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. He 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.
Potter, Cipriani
English (London, October 3, 1792 — London, September 26, 1871)
Cipriani Potter was a pianist, composer, conductor and teacher. The name Cipriani was taken from his godmother who claimed to be a sister of the painter Giovanni Baptista Cipriani, who belonged to the inner circle of J.C. Bach and C.F. Abel. Potter was a cultivated person, spoke four languages and was a mathematician. In Vienna, he met Beethoven, who advised Potter on his scores. Potter offered the first British performances of a number of Mozart concertos. He was an accomplished conductor, always appearing standing and without a baton. In 1822, Potter was appointed the first piano teacher at the Royal Academy of Music. His piano output includes 3 piano concertos, Sonata op. 3, Sonata op. 4, Enigma Variations op. 5, Three Toccatas op. 9, Studies in All the Major and Minor Keys op. 19 and a handful of other compositions. Potter produced score editions of various composers including the complete piano music of Mozart.
[See the Cipriani Potter Tradition]
Robertson, Rae
Scottish (Ardersier, Inverness, November 29, 1893 — Los Angeles, November 4, 1956)
Rae Robertson was a pianist. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and at the University of Edinburgh. He formed a piano duo with his wife Ethel Bartlett. They concertized extensively in Europe and America. Some of their arrangements for two pianos were published in the Oxford Two Piano series. They premiered Britten´s Scottish Ballad.
Sachs, Joel
American
Joel Sachs is a pianist and conductor. He is co-director of Continuum, with which he recorded for Naxos. He published Henry Cowell´s biography for Oxford University Press and teaches Music History at The Juilliard School.
Scharrer, Irene
English (London, February 2, 1888 — London, January 11, 1971)
Irene Scharrer was a pianist. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music with Tobias Matthay. She concertized in Europe and the USA and performed under such conductors as Richter and Nikisch. Scharrer made a number of recordings for HMV and Columbia. Her cousin was Myra Hess.
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.
Schumann [née Wieck], Clara
German (Leipzig, September 13, 1819 — Frankfurt, May 20, 1896)
One of the greatest and most influential concert pianists of all time and 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 herself. 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 lasting 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 a 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]
Sgouros, Dmitris
Greek (Athens, August 30, 1969)
Dmitris Sgouros is a pianist. He studied at the Athens Conservatory under Maria Herogiorgiou-Sigara, at the Royal Academy of Music in London and at the University of Maryland. At the age of 12, he performed Rachmaninov´s Third Piano Concerto at Carnegie Hall under Rostropovich´s baton. Sgouros made records for Dino Music and EMI, among others.
Sterndale Bennett, Sir William
English (Sheffield, April 13, 1816 — London, February 1, 1875)
William Sterndale Bennett was a composer. He entered the Royal Academy of Music at the age of ten and studied piano with Cipriani Potter as well as the violin and composition. He taught music at Cambridge University. His piano output includes piano concertos and a number of pieces.
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. He 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. Steuermann composed a number of works and made a piano transcription of Schoenberg´s Chamber Symphony op. 9.
Takahashi, Aki
Japanese (Kamakura, September 6, 1944)
Aki Takahashi is a pianist. She studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music. Her teachers included Yutaka Ito, Ray Lev and George Vásárhelyi. She made numerous recordings, particularly of 20th-century composers. Among others, John Cage, Morton Feldmann and Carl Stone wrote works for her. Takahashi was Artist-in-residence at the State University of New York at Buffalo and guest professor at the California Institute of the Arts.
Tausig, Carl
Polish (Warsaw, November 4, 1841 — Leipzig, July 17, 1871)
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. He 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.
Taylor, Franklin
English (Birmingham, February 5, 1843 — London, March 19, 1919)
Franklin Taylor was a pianist, organist and teacher. He studied piano with Charles Flavell and then at the Leipzig Conservatory with Louis Plaidy and Ignaz Moscheles. He also worked in Paris with Clara Schumann. In 1876, he was appointed professor at the National Training School of Music, later merged into the Royal College of Music. Taylor was president of Beringer´s Academy for the Higher Development of Pianoforte Playing and was director of the Philharmonic Society. He published a number of articles in the Grove´s Dictionary and published books on piano including Technique and Expression in Pianoforte Playing and Primer of Pianoforte Playing as well as a series of Progressive Studies for the Pianoforte.
Verne [née Wurm], Mathilde
English (Southampton, May 25, 1865 — London, June 4, 1936)
Mathilde Verne was a pianist and teacher of German ancestry. She changed her name in 1893 after the death of her father. She studied with Clara Schumann in Frankfurt and taught at the Royal College of Music in London for a short period. Her students included her sister Adela Verne, her nephew John Vallier, Solomon, Moura Lympany, Harold Samuel and Lady Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Elizabeth.
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.
Wölfl, Joseph
Austrian (Salzburg, December 24, 1773 — London, May 21, 1812)
Joseph Wölfl was a pianist and composer. His first musical studies were under Leopold Mozart and Michael Haydn. In 1790, he moved to Vienna where he possibly studied with W.A. Mozart. Wölfl was appointed composer to Count Ogiński in Warsaw. He was for a time considered the only rival of Beethoven. In 1805, he settled in London. He composed over 30 keyboard sonatas, Fantaisie op. 18, no. 3, variations, rondos, dances, marches and a Méthode de pianoforte.
© 2021, by Daniel Pereira