Hedwig Maximiliane Stein (1907-1983) was a German-British concert pianist and teacher at the Royal Northern College of Music. She was born in Jena, Thuringia, Germany on 21 October 1907 and died in

Braintree, Essex Braintree is a town and former civil parish in Essex, England. The principal settlement of Braintree District, it is located northeast of Chelmsford and west of Colchester. According to the 2011 Census, the town had a population of 41,634, ...

, England on 11 June 1983 (aged 75).

Biography

Hedwig Stein was the daughter of

Fritz Stein Friedrich Wilhelm Stein (17 December 1879 – 14 November 1961) was a German theologian, conductor, musicologist and church musician. He found in an archive in Jena the score of the so-called '' Jena Symphony'', which he published as possibly a wo ...

, German conductor and musicologist, Generalmusikdirektor in Kiel and then Director of the Musikhochschule in Berlin from 1933 to 1945. Her main childhood teacher was her mother Margarethe Stein, daughter of the Heidelberg surgeon and oncologist

Vincenz Czerny Vincenz Czerny (19 November 1842 – 3 October 1916) was a German Bohemian surgeon whose main contributions were in the fields of oncological and gynecological surgery. Czerny was born in Trutnov, Bohemia, Austro-Hungarian Empire. He initially s ...

and granddaughter of the physician

Adolf Kussmaul Adolph Kußmaul (german: Carl Philipp Adolf Konrad Kußmaul; 22 February 1822 – 28 May 1902) was a German physician and a leading clinician of his time. He was born as the son and grandson of physicians at Graben near Karlsruhe and studied at He ...

. Stein's godfather was the composer

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Paulinerkirche, Leipzig, Leipzig University ...

. Hedwig Stein's first concerts as a teenager were in various cities in Germany, often under the baton of her father. In the early 1930s, Hedwig Stein embarked on her main piano studies at the Stern Conservatoire with

James Kwast James Kwast (23 November 185231 October 1927) was a Dutch-German pianist and renowned teacher of many other notable pianists. He was also a minor composer and editor. Biography Jacob James Kwast was born in Nijkerk, Netherlands, in 1852. After ...

and Frieda Kwast-Hodapp in Berlin where her debut in March 1933 was attended by

Edwin Fischer Edwin Fischer (6 October 1886 – 24 January 1960) was a Swiss classical pianist and conductor. He is regarded as one of the great interpreters of J.S. Bach and Mozart in the twentieth century. Biography Fischer was born in Basel and studied ...

and

Wilhelm Kempff Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well known for his interpretations ...

. Stein was also introduced to the Russian Jewish émigré pianist Iso Elinson. After a rushed wedding, the couple fled from Germany in August 1933, their destination London. During

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 opposin ...

, Stein gave around 700 lecture recitals together with Elinson, primarily in Sussex, before moving in 1946 to Manchester where they each held teaching posts at the

Royal Manchester College of Music The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893. In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Music a ...

(now incorporated in the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

). Described by Michael Kennedy as ‘a brilliant pianist’, Stein's

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadin ...

debut was on 5 January 1956. She performed in concert venues across the UK, in recitals, in a duo with

Martin Milner Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor and radio host. He is best known for his performances on two television series: ''Route 66'', which aired on CBS from 1960 to 1964, and ''Adam-12'', which ai ...

, and occasionally as a soloist, as well as for the

Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

and various charitable organisations. She also gave many BBC broadcasts. No recordings survive. Stein's pupils at the RNCM included the composer and conductor

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

and the musicologist Professor Nigel Simeone.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Hedwig German classical pianists British classical pianists German women pianists British women pianists Piano pedagogues 1907 births 1983 deaths German emigrants to the United Kingdom