Egon Petri (23 March 188127 May 1962) was a Dutch pianist.

Life and career

Petri's family was Dutch. He was born a Dutch citizen but in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, and grew up in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, where he attended the

Kreuzschule The ''Kreuzschule'' (German for "School of the Cross") in Dresden (also known by its Latin name, ''schola crucis'') is the oldest surviving school in Dresden and one of the oldest in Germany. As early as 1300, a schoolmaster (''Cunradus puerorum r ...

. His father, a professional

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

ist, taught him to play the violin. While still a teenager, Petri played with the Dresden Court Orchestra and with his father's string quartet. He studied composition and theory with

Hermann Kretzschmar August Ferdinand Hermann Kretzschmar (19 January 1848 – 10 May 1924) was a German musicologist and writer, and is considered a founder of hermeneutics in musical interpretation and study. Life and career Born in Olbernhau, Saxony, Kretz ...

and

Felix Draeseke Felix August Bernhard Draeseke (7 October 1835 – 26 February 1913) was a composer of the "New German School" admiring Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. He wrote compositions in most forms including eight operas and stage works, four symphonies, ...

at the

Dresden Conservatory Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. From an early age Petri had also taken

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

lessons and eventually, with strong encouragement from

Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...

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 ...

, he concentrated on piano. He studied with Busoni, who greatly influenced him, and Petri considered himself more a disciple than a student of his. Following his example, Petri focused on the works of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

and

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

, who, along with Busoni himself, were at the centre of his repertoire. During World War I, Petri moved with Busoni to Switzerland, where he assisted him in editing Bach's keyboard works. In the 1920s, Petri taught in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

; his students included

Victor Borge Børge Rosenbaum (3 January 1909 – 23 December 2000), known professionally as Victor Borge ( ), was a Danish-American comedian, conductor, and pianist who achieved great popularity in radio and television in the North America and Europe. His ...

Stanley Gardner Stanley Gardner (13 December 1890 in Sherbrooke – 17 August 1945 in Montreal) was a Canadian pianist and music educator. As a performer he was best known as one half of a piano duo with Rose Goldblatt with whom he performed in concerts thro ...

, Jan Hoffman,

Gunnar Johansen Gunnar Johansen (January 21, 1906, Copenhagen – May 25, 1991, Blue Mounds, Wisconsin) was a Danish-born pianist and composer. He was one of the chief proponents of the music of Ferruccio Busoni, whose mature keyboard works he recorded in their ...

, Hazel Harrison, Dimitar Nenov, and Vitya Vronsky. In 1923 he became the first non-Soviet soloist to play in the Soviet Union. In 1927 he moved to

Zakopane Zakopane ( Podhale Goral: ''Zokopane'') is a town in the extreme south of Poland, in the southern part of the Podhale region at the foot of the Tatra Mountains. From 1975 to 1998, it was part of Nowy Sącz Voivodeship; since 1999, it has been ...

, Poland, where, until the outbreak of World War II in 1939, he conducted summer and early-fall sessions and piano master classes. Beginning with 1929 he made recordings for several labels, including

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. It was founded on January 15, 1889, evolving from the A ...

. Petri escaped from Poland the day before the German invasion in September 1939, but he had to leave behind all his books, music and letters, including his correspondence with Busoni (these papers survived and were recovered). He moved to the United States, working first at

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to tea ...

and later at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it w ...

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the ...

. He refused ever to play in Germany again. In 1955 he became a naturalised American citizen. Though a Dutch citizen until he was 74, he never lived in the Netherlands and was not at ease with the Dutch language. On one occasion when he performed for

Queen Wilhelmina Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...

, they spoke German. He was fluent in German, English, French, Italian, Polish, and Russian. Petri's students included Earl Wild,

Ozan Marsh Ozan Marsh (June 25, 1920 in Pasadena, California – March 15, 1992) was a pianist active in concert performances throughout the world as well as across the United States. A disciple of Rachmaninoff, Horowitz, Petri, Casadesus and von Saue ...

John Ogdon John Andrew Howard Ogdon (27 January 1937 – 1 August 1989) was an English pianist and composer. Biography Career Ogdon was born in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire, and attended the Manchester Grammar School, before studying at the ...

, Dimitar Nenov and

Xenia Boodberg Lee Xenia Boodberg Lee (November 28, 1927 – September 27, 2004) was an American concert pianist, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Early life Xenia Boodberg was born in Oakland, California, the only child of Peter A. Boodberg (1903-1972) and Ele ...

. Petri had a superb technique and a powerful sonority and was a superlative exponent of the larger works of

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 classic ...

, Liszt and

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...

.Schonberg, Harold C. (1987). ''The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present'', Second Edition, New York: Simon & Schuster. . Petri died on 27 May 1962 in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

Students

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Petri, Egon 1881 births 1962 deaths Dutch classical pianists American classical pianists Male classical pianists American male pianists Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber alumni People who emigrated to escape Nazism People educated at the Kreuzschule Pupils of Ferruccio Busoni Musicians from Hanover 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American male musicians Dutch emigrants to the United States

Life and career

Students

See also

References