Eduard Steuermann on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892 in Sambor,
Photographs of Steuermann, his siblings, with Schönberg and others, and a concert program with Steuermann's and Schönberg's works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steuermann, Eduard 1892 births 1964 deaths People from Sambir Austrian classical pianists American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Austrian classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Jewish classical pianists Second Viennese School Lviv Conservatory alumni Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Pupils of Arnold Schoenberg 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians
Eduard Steuermann (June 18, 1892 in Sambor, Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
– November 11, 1964 in New York City) was an Austrian (and later American) pianist and composer.
Steuermann studied piano with Vilém Kurz
Vilém Kurz (23 December 1872 – 25 May 1945) was a Czechs, Czech pianist and renowned piano teacher.
Career
Kurz was born in Havlíčkův Brod, Německý Brod, Bohemia in 1872. He became a professor at the State Conservatory in Lviv and Vi ...
at the Lemberg Conservatory and Ferruccio Busoni
Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
in Berlin, and studied composition with Engelbert Humperdinck and Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...
. He played the piano part in the first performance of Schoenberg's ''Pierrot Lunaire
''Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds "Pierrot lunaire"'' ("Three times Seven Poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire), commonly known simply as ''Pierrot lunaire'', Op. 21 ("Moonstruck Pierrot" or "Pierrot in the Moonlight"), is a m ...
'' and premiered his Piano Concerto
A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showpiec ...
. He continued his association with Schoenberg as a pianist for the composer's Society for Private Musical Performances
The Society for Private Musical Performances (in German, the ) was an organization founded in Vienna in the Autumn of 1918 by Arnold Schoenberg with the intention of making carefully rehearsed and comprehensible performances of newly composed mus ...
in Vienna, and made an arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...
for piano trio of Schoenberg's ''Verklärte Nacht
''Verklärte Nacht'' (''Transfigured Night''), Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899. Composed in just three weeks, it is considered his earliest important work. It was inspired by Richard Dehmel's p ...
''. He performed in the radio premiere of Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte" with the New York Philharmonic
The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...
under Artur Rodziński
Artur Rodziński (2 January 1892 – 27 November 1958) was a Polish-American conductor of orchestral music and opera. He began his career after World War I in Poland, where he was discovered by Leopold Stokowski, who invited him to be his ass ...
on November 26, 1944. In 1952 he was awarded the Schoenberg Medal by the International Society for Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music (ISCM) is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.
The organization was established in Salzburg in 1922 as Internationale Gesellschaft für Neue Musik (IGNM) following th ...
. He taught at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik
"The Internationale" (french: "L'Internationale", italic=no, ) is an international anthem used by various communist and socialist groups; currently, it serves as the official anthem of the Communist Party of China. It has been a standard of th ...
at Darmstadt.
Steuermann, whose parents were non-practising Jews, emigrated to the United States in 1938 to escape the anti-Semitic
Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism.
Antis ...
policies of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
. He was famed for his Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
recitals of the 1950s and was a distinguished teacher, teaching at the Juilliard School
The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most el ...
from 1952 to 1964. In America he was known as Edward Steuermann. Among the prominent performers who studied with Steuermann are Alfred Brendel
Alfred Brendel KBE (born 5 January 1931) is an Austrian classical pianist, poet, author, composer, and lecturer who is known particularly for his performances of Mozart, Schubert, Schoenberg, and Beethoven.Stephen Plaistow"Brendel, Alfred" ''G ...
, Jakob Gimpel Jakob Gimpel (April 16, 1906March 12, 1989) was a Polish concert pianist and educator.
Jakob Gimpel was born in Lwów (then in Polish Galicia, part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, and now Lviv, Ukraine). Gimpel's younger brother, Bronislav Gimpe ...
, Moura Lympany
Dame Moura Lympany DBE (18 August 191628 March 2005) was an English concert pianist.
Biography
She was born as Mary Gertrude Johnstone at Saltash, Cornwall. Her father was an army officer who had served in World War I and her mother original ...
, Menahem Pressler
Menahem Pressler ( he, מנחם פרסלר; born 16 December 1923) is a German-born Israeli-American pianist.
Pressler is Jewish. Following Kristallnacht, he and his immediate family fled Nazi Germany in 1939,
, Stephen Pruslin, Avraham Sternklar, Russell Sherman, and Beatrice Witkin. He also taught philosopher Theodor W. Adorno
Theodor W. Adorno ( , ; born Theodor Ludwig Wiesengrund; 11 September 1903 – 6 August 1969) was a German philosopher, sociologist, psychologist, musicologist, and composer.
He was a leading member of the Frankfurt School of criti ...
, composer Gunther Schuller
Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician.
Biography and works
Early years
Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...
and theorists Edward T. Cone
Edward Toner Cone (May 4, 1917 – October 23, 2004) was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, and philanthropist.
Life and career
Cone was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He studied composition under Roger Sessions at Prince ...
and David Lewin
David Benjamin Lewin (July 2, 1933 – May 5, 2003) was an American music theorist, music critic and composer. Called "the most original and far-ranging theorist of his generation", he did his most influential theoretical work on the development ...
.
In 1964 he died of leukemia. In 1989, the University of Nebraska Press
The University of Nebraska Press, also known as UNP, was founded in 1941 and is an academic publisher of scholarly and general-interest books. The press is under the auspices of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, the main campus of the Univer ...
published a collection of Steuermann's writings entitled, ''The Not Quite Innocent Bystander: Writings of Edward Steuermann'' (). The book was co-edited by Clara Steuermann, David H. Porter and Gunther Schuller
Gunther Alexander Schuller (November 22, 1925June 21, 2015) was an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, educator, publisher, and jazz musician.
Biography and works
Early years
Schuller was born in Queens, New York City, ...
.
A major work by Steuermann, ''Variations for Orchestra'', is published (large score available) by Philharmusica Co., New York.
The actress and screenwriter Salka Viertel
Salka Viertel (15 June 1889 – 20 October 1978) was an Austrian Jewish actress and Hollywood screenwriter. While under contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1933 to 1937, Viertel co-wrote the scripts for many movies, particularly those starr ...
was his sister. The footballer Zygmunt Steuermann
Zygmunt Steuermann (5 February 1899 – December 1941) was a Polish footballer who played as a forward and is one of the most renowned members of the Hasmonea Lwów Football Club.
Life
Born in Sambor, then in Austro-Hungarian Galicia, Steuerm ...
was his younger brother. Steuermann married Clara Silvers, a pianist and noted music librarian, in 1949.Edward and Clara Steuermann collection, 1922-1981Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
Notes
Further reading
*External links
Photographs of Steuermann, his siblings, with Schönberg and others, and a concert program with Steuermann's and Schönberg's works
{{DEFAULTSORT:Steuermann, Eduard 1892 births 1964 deaths People from Sambir Austrian classical pianists American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Austrian classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Jewish classical pianists Second Viennese School Lviv Conservatory alumni Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Pupils of Arnold Schoenberg 20th-century classical composers 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American male musicians