Alfred Nieman (1914 – 7 March 1997) was a British pianist and composer. Born in the East End of London in 1914 to Polish immigrant parents, Alfred Nieman was playing piano for the silent cinema by the age of fourteen. His talent as a pianist was spotted and the result was that he won a piano scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. In the 1930s he edited a six penny magazine "The Student". Before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, he had a very successful piano duo with his contemporary Cimbro Martin called "Merlin and Martyn". During the war the duo replaced

Rawicz and Landauer Rawicz and Landauer were an immensely popular piano duo team that performed from 1932 to 1970. They were initially based in Vienna, Austria, but moved to the United Kingdom in the early part of their career. They were known for their arrangemen ...

at their engagements when this much admired duo was interned. While their success was interrupted by the war, and, as

conscientious objectors A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

the duo became firemen throughout the London Blitz, Merlin and Martyn was a regular act at The Dorchester Hotel in London. After the war he picked up the threads of his career by becoming a BBC "house" pianist and was assigned tasks which required him on one occasion to accompany Noël Coward and on another to stand in for the soloist and broadcast a piano concerto at very short notice. Alfred composed extensively and across the whole spectrum of musical idioms, protecting the then perceived respectability of his reputation as a serious composer by writing under at least six pseudonyms. He ghost wrote music on occasions including some film music which was credited to

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

. He married in 1938 and with new family responsibilities (sons Julian, born 1946, and Paul, born 1950) he took up a professorship (1947) for piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music where he introduced and pioneered the use of improvisation, largely atonal, as a means of teaching composition. This was revolutionary for its time and the GSM was the only place where such a teaching idea could be found. He remained loyal to the Guildhall School of Music until his retirement. He also gave evening classes in improvisation notably at Chiswick and Hampstead. Those who attended his classes included Sam Richards, Barry Guy, Paul Rutherford, Fred Turner, Frank Denyer, Louis Foreman, Fiachre Trench and many others. His interests involved him with

music therapy Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...

, The Society for Gifted Children, Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation and The Society for Psychic & Psychological Research. Alfred Nieman died in Hampstead, London on 7 March 1997.

Works

Sources

www.alfrednieman.co.uk further information
* http://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/alfred-nieman

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nieman, Alfred 1914 births 1997 deaths British classical pianists Male classical pianists Classical piano duos 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century British composers 20th-century British male musicians