Arthur Friedheim finally had his wish and began to study with Liszt in 1880, after years of trying. Part of the problem in being accepted by the great Hungarian pianist was the fact that Arthur had previously studied with Anton Rubinstein (1829-1894), who was not liked by LIszt.
Arthur Friedheim was born in St. Petersburg on October 29,1859, and the loss of his father when Arthur was young necessitated his mother going to wealthy relatives to ask for financial help in the education of her young son. He began his formal studies at the age of eight and the next year appeared in public as soloist in a performance of John Field's Piano Concerto in A-Flat. When he was ten he again appeared in public playing Carl Maria von Weber's Concertstueck.
Franz Liszt
By the time he was seventeen he began touring and played for Liszt at Pesth, where the Hungarian received him in a very unkind way. He played for Liszt on further occasions and finally Liszt relented, and welcomed Arthur into his inner circle, eventually making him his secretary. Friedheim so idolized his teacher that he began to take on many of Liszt's mannerisms, to the amusement of pianist Ferruccio Busoni who said, in part:
"Pose is the order of the day. When he plays he comes forward and bows in such a way that his hair covers his face: then he throws his head back to tidy his mane...thrusts his hands into his hair, and does other silly things."
Friedheim was recommended by Liszt to go to Paris, but being a German he was not accepted there. He was then induced by a musical manager to go to London, but he did not even have a hearing there. Thus the life of Friedheim was always beset by difficulties.
However he went to Vienna years later and found great success in that rarified musical atmosphere. He traveled to Germany and was deemed one of the best pianoforte players of the time in Berlin, and later, in Leipzig he conducted concerts with the Weimar Orchestra at the Crystal Palace.
New York Philharmonic Orchestra
Twice Friedheim was offered the conductorship of this orchestra, and twice he turned it down, wishing instead to concentrate on the piano. In 1915 he went to the United States where he remained for the rest of his life, dying there in 1932. Because he was German he was looked upon suspiciously during the First World War, and was reduced to playing background music in a New York movie theater. Such was the life of a virtuoso pianist who was said to have been a spectacular artist by many.
Two of Freidheim's students were the composer Colin McPhee and Rilda Bee, the mother of Van Cliburn, who became one of America's most famous pianists.
Sources
Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present A.Ehrlich Theodore Presser Philadelphia, 1894
The New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians The Macmillan Company 1929
Privately printed memoir by Mme.Maria Vegara, Toronto, 1966.
For further reading about famous pianists see Moritz Rosenthal
 |
