Moritz Rosenthal and Alfred Reisenauer

Two Famous Concert Pianists of the Nineteenth Century

Oct 10, 2008

Rosenthal and Reisenauer were born a year apart and both had successful careers in the concert world. Each studied with the great Franz Liszt and toured extensively.

In the nineteenth century there were many famous concert pianists who were known far and wide. Moritz Rosenthal was one of them. Born in Lemberg (now known as Lviv, Ukraine) in 1863, he showed exceptional musical talent from an early age.

At age eight he studied under a teacher named Galath, and at the age of nine he became a pupil of Karl Mikuli, one of Chopin's favorite students. He played in public for the first time when he was ten.

After study with Mikuli, Rosenthal went to Vienna where he did further training under Raphael Joseffy (1852-1915), and in 1878 he became a pupil of Liszt . These two teachers had a profound influence on the young boy and he soon began a brilliant concert career. He appeared many times at the Liszt Society Concerts in Leipzig to enthusiastic audiences and toured Spain, France, Holland and England.

Rosenthal was said to have had 'a phenomenal technical equipment , especially in refinement of tone, dexterity and strength, but uniting with these originality and dignity of conception, so that he stands in the front rank of living players.' The eminent music critic Eduard Hanslick called Rosenthal "A musical conjurer."

He wrote several piano pieces and advanced studies (in collaboration with Ludwig Schytte (1850-1909). Moritz Rosenthal lived for many years in Vienna and died in New York City on September 3, 1946.

Alfred Reisenauer

This pianist was born on November 1,1863 (one year after the birth of Moritz Rosenthal), at Konigsberg, East Prussia, and was taught piano initially by his mother and later by Louis Kohler (1820-1886). From the time he was eleven he spent his summers in Weimar with Franz Liszt.

His first public appearance under Liszt's sponsorship was given at a charity concert in Rome in November of 1879 and he also played in public in 1881. He was now considered a graduate student of the great Hungarian and traveled to London, Berlin and Leipzig, where he scored a triumph at the Gewandhaus.

At this point he decided to give up music in favor of studying law...an idea Liszt soon talked him out of, steering him instead to the position of piano teacher at the Conservatoire at Sondershausen. Here he fell under the influence of pianist, conductor and composer Felix Weingartner, who proved to be an excellent mentor.

Reisenauer enjoyed a brilliant career as a pianist, touring the world at one point. He toured at various times with the famous 'cellist David Popper (1843-1913) and the tenor Heinrich Vogel and the Italian violinist Teresina Tua. Alfred Reisenauer died at Liebau in 1907.

Sources

Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present A.Ehrlich Theodore Presser Philadelphia 1894

The new Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians The Macmillan Company New York 1929

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