Portrait of Beveridge Webster LCCN2004663721

Beveridge Webster (May 13, 1908, in

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

– June 30, 1999, in

Hanover, New Hampshire Hanover is a New England town, town located along the Connecticut River in Grafton County, New Hampshire, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 11,870. The town is home to the Ivy League university ...

) was an American pianist and educator.

Biography

Beveridge Webster initially studied with his father, who was director of the Pittsburgh Conservatory of Music. In 1921, at the age of fourteen, he began five years of study in Europe, first at the American Academy at Fontainebleau as a pupil of

Robert Casadesus Robert Marcel Casadesus (; 7 April 1899 – 19 September 1972) was a renowned 20th-century France, French pianist and composer. He was the most prominent member of a Casadesus, distinguished musical family, being the nephew of Henri Casadesus an ...

, then at the Paris Conservatory with Isidor Philipp and Nadia Boulanger. He also studied in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

with

Artur Schnabel Artur Schnabel (17 April 1882 – 15 August 1951) was an Austrian-born classical pianist, composer and Pedagogy, pedagogue. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura. Among the 20th ...

. He made his New York debut in November 1934 with the New York Philharmonic performing Edward MacDowell's Piano Concerto No. 2. In 1937, he gave the New York Philharmonic premiere (on short notice, replacing Dushkin) of Stravinsky's Capriccio, under Stravinsky's baton. Webster was best known as an interpreter of French composers, especially Maurice Ravel (who he met in Paris as a student) and

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

. He premiered an early version of Ravel's Tzigane in 1924, and in 1975 he celebrated Ravel's centenary by performing the complete Ravel piano solo oeuvre at Juilliard. In 1968, over a three-concert series at The Town Hall, he commemorated the 50th anniversary of Debussy's death with the first complete survey of the composer's piano works in New York. Webster gave premieres or made first recordings of many contemporary works, including pieces by Louise Talma, Roger Sessions, Roy Harris, Aaron Copland and Elliott Carter. A ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine article from 1937 said of Webster, "Dark, well-knit, young Beveridge Webster is a good swimmer, takes pride in his tennis, likes to play poker or bridge with his great good friend

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

. He boasts of the little slam he once made against Sidney Lenz." In 1937, novelist Willa Cather attended a recital at New York’s Town Hall by Webster, and wrote him a brief letter praising his performance, "That was the third time I had heard you play the Schumann, and this week I thought there was a kind of larger freedom in your treatment and a careless care in shooting the rapids (a queer figure of speech, but if you’ve ever seen the Canadian canoe men shoot rapids, you will know that I mean something (not velocity) which I am unable to say in technical musical language)." He taught at New England Conservatory from 1940 to 1946 and at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

from 1946 to 1990. His students include Michel Block, Robert McDonald, Jahja Ling, Sylvia Glickman, Steven Graff and Hao Huang. He made a substantial series of recordings issued on LP by

Dover Publications Dover Publications, also known as Dover Books, is an American book publisher founded in 1941 by Hayward and Blanche Cirker. It primarily reissues books that are out of print from their original publishers. These are often, but not always, book ...

and at least one, billed as the first installment in a complete traversal of Schubert's piano sonatas, for MGM Records, released as E3711. Beveridge Webster had two children. One, Michael Webster, was formerly the principal

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

ist of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra. He played under the baton of Aaron Copland for a performance of Copland's

Clarinet Concerto A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...

. Michael Webster now teaches at the Shepherd School at

Rice University William Marsh Rice University, commonly referred to as Rice University, is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. Established in 1912, the university spans 300 acres. Rice University comp ...

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, Texas.

References

External links

David Dubal interview with Beveridge Webster
WNCN-FM, May 11, 1984
David Dubal interview with Beveridge Webster
WNCN-FM, May 18, 1984
Beveridge Webster's recording of Louise Talma's ''Six Etudes for Piano''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webster, Beveridge American male pianists Musicians from Pittsburgh American piano educators Conservatoire de Paris alumni 1908 births 1999 deaths Pupils of Isidor Philipp 20th-century American classical pianists Educators from Pennsylvania Classical musicians from Pennsylvania 20th-century American male musicians