Dr. Sanna Pederson, University of Oklahoma
The centennial of Joachim’s birth in 1931 was observed in Berlin and elsewhere with tributes recalling the important part he had played in so many aspects of musical life. Only a few years later the Nazi re-writing of Germany history began, in which Jewish artists and intellectuals were purged from the German culture they helped … Read more
Do you know the story of the admirably accomplished Hofrat Dr. Alois Obrist? As a teenager in the 1880s, he studied at the conservatory in Weimar, where he fell under the spell of the Liszt circle, especially the composer Eduard Lassen. The serious Swiss excelled in many areas of music. He continued his composition lessons … Read more
The alto Iduna Walter-Choinanus is so well-known there is hardly anything left to say about her, a critic writes (and I can’t find anything about her!). She is singing the Brahms lieder with viola obligato (played by Fridolin Klingler of the Klingler Quartet). The pianist is Cornelia Rider-Possart, who will be playing “Carnaval Mignon” by … Read more
Even though it is Palm Sunday, the big stores are open, for the most part (Wertheim is one exception; they are never open on Sundays.) There are lots of sales advertised in the papers for marzipan Easter eggs, tennis rackets, etc. The Mozartsaal-Orchestra is trying to survive, but putting a concert opposite another exactly of … Read more
The end of two prominent opera singers In April the tenor Hans Buff-Giessen gave two concerts in Berlin. On 13 September Musical America reported that Buff-Giessen, “who was a great-grandson of Charlotte Buff, the friend Goethe immortalized as Lotte in his ‘Werther,’ and who, by an earlier coincidence, was the first German interpreter of the … Read more
My last post about the number of solo piano concerts included a list of names and the information I could find to determine whether they were “dilettantes” or professional musicians. I wanted to find evidence for the opinion expressed by some critics, who seemed to conflate women, the “proletariat” and mass-produced aspects of music (such … Read more
It seems that during Robert Hausmann’s lifetime, almost no one acknowledged that Georg had ever existed. He is not mentioned in Bernhard’s long, detailed memoirs that he published at the end of his life in 1873, his Erinnerungen aus dem 80 jährigen Leben eines hannoverschen Bürgers (Hannover, 1873). Nor does he come up in Hermann … Read more