Abram Chasins (August 17, 1903 – June 21, 1987) was an American composer,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

piano teacher Piano pedagogy is the study of the teaching of piano playing. Whereas the professional field of music education pertains to the teaching of music in school classrooms or group settings, piano pedagogy focuses on the teaching of musical skills t ...

, lecturer,

musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some m ...

, music broadcaster, radio executive and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

. Born in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, New York, he attended the

Ethical Culture The Ethical movement, also referred to as the Ethical Culture movement, Ethical Humanism or simply Ethical Culture, is an ethical, educational, and religious movement that is usually traced back to Felix Adler (1851–1933).

schools and undertook additional studies through the

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Extension School. He studied piano with

Ernest Hutcheson Ernest Hutcheson (20 July 1871 – 9 February 1951) was an Australian pianist, composer and teacher. Biography Hutcheson was born in Melbourne, and toured there as a child prodigy at the age of five. He later travelled to Leipzig and entered ...

and

Bertha Tapper Bertha Johanne Feiring Maass Tapper (25 January 1859 - 2 September 1915) was a Norwegian composer, pianist, and teacher, best known for editing the piano works of Edvard Grieg for publication in America. She published under the name Bertha Feirin ...

, and composition with

Rubin Goldmark Rubin Goldmark (August 15, 1872 – March 6, 1936) was an American composer, pianist, and educator.Perlis, ''New Grove Dictionary of American Music'', v. II, p. 239 Although in his time he was an often-performed American nationalist composer, hi ...

at the Juilliard School of Music before proceeding to the Curtis Institute of Music in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

where he undertook further piano studies with

Józef Hofmann Josef Casimir Hofmann (originally Józef Kazimierz Hofmann; January 20, 1876February 16, 1957) was a Polish-American pianist, composer, music teacher, and inventor. Biography Josef Hofmann was born in Podgórze (a district of Kraków), in A ...

. In 1931 he studied

music analysis Musical analysis is the study of musical structure in either compositions or performances. According to music theorist Ian Bent, music analysis "is the means of answering directly the question 'How does it work?'". The method employed to answe ...

with Sir

Donald Tovey Sir Donald Francis Tovey (17 July 187510 July 1940) was a British musical analyst, musicologist, writer on music, composer, conductor and pianist. He had been best known for his '' Essays in Musical Analysis'' and his editions of works by Bach ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Chasins' career as a pianist lasted from 1927 until 1947. He gave many solo recitals and performed with major orchestras in the United States, Canada, South America and Europe. On January 1, 1929, he made his debut playing his Piano Concerto No 1 with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by

Ossip Gabrilowitsch Ossip Salomonovich Gabrilowitsch (Осип Сoломонович Габрилович, ''Osip Solomonovich Gabrilovich''; he used the German transliteration ''Gabrilowitsch'' in the West) (14 September 1936) was a Russian-born American pianist, ...

. He also gave the premiere performance of his Second Piano Concerto in March 1933, again with the Philadelphia Orchestra, this time conducted by

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra and his appear ...

. From 1926 to 1935 Chasins taught piano as a member of the faculty of the Curtis Institute. He was associated with the radio station WQXR from 1941 to 1965, becoming the music director in 1946. His own radio series, "Piano Pointers", ran from 1932 to 1939 and he used his E flat minor Prelude as the program's theme. In 1949 he married Constance Keene, a pianist and former student of his, with whom he performed and recorded piano duos. In 1972 he joined the

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

as musician-in-residence, and reorganized the student-run radio station

KUSC KUSC (91.5 FM) is a listener-supported classical music radio station broadcasting from downtown Los Angeles, California, United States. KUSC is owned and operated by the University of Southern California, which also operates student-run Internet s ...

into a channel for classical and modern music. He retired in 1977, and died of cancer at his home in Manhattan on June 21, 1987. Chasins wrote over 100 compositions, mostly for the piano. His ''Three Chinese Pieces'' (1920s) were performed by celebrated pianists including

Josef Lhévinne Josef Lhévinne (13 December 18742 December 1944) was a Russian pianist and piano teacher. Lhévinne wrote a short book in 1924 that is considered a classic: ''Basic Principles in Pianoforte Playing''. Asked how to say his name, he told ''The ...

, Józef Hofmann,

William Kapell William Kapell (September 20, 1922October 29, 1953) was an American pianist and recording artist, killed at the age of 31 in the crash of a commercial airliner returning from a concert tour in Australia. Biography William Kapell was born in New ...

and

Shura Cherkassky Shura Cherkassky (russian: Александр (Шура) Исаакович Черкасский; 7 October 190927 December 1995) was a Ukrainian-American concert pianist known for his performances of the romantic repertoire. His playing was c ...

, and in its orchestrated version was the first American work to be performed by Arturo Toscanini with the

New York Philharmonic The New York Philharmonic, officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York, Inc., globally known as New York Philharmonic Orchestra (NYPO) or New York Philharmonic-Symphony Orchestra, is a symphony orchestra based in New York City. It is ...

. The "Concert Paraphrase on Strauss's 'Artist's Life'" is among his best works for two pianos, four hands, and his 24 Preludes for Piano (1928) continue to be used as teaching pieces. He also wrote a number of books on music and musicians, including ''Speaking of Pianists'' (1958), ''The

Van Cliburn Harvey Lavan "Van" Cliburn Jr. (; July 12, 1934February 27, 2013) was an American pianist who, at the age of 23, achieved worldwide recognition when he won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1958 during the Cold W ...

Legend'' (1959), ''The Appreciation of Music'' (1966), ''Music at the Crossroads'' (1972) and ''Stoki, the Incredible Apollo'' (1978), a biography of

.Published outside the United States as 'Leopold Stokowski: A Profile by Abram Chasins" (1981).

Footnotes

Bibliography

* Anderson, E. Ruth. ''Contemporary American composers. A Biographical Dictionary'', 2nd edition, G. K. Hall, 1982. * * Cummings, David M.; McIntire, Dennis K. (Ed.). ''International who's who in music and musician's directory. In the classical and light classical fields'', 12th edition 1990/91, International Who's Who in Music 1991. * Kehler, George. ''The Piano in Concert'', Scarecrow Press, 1982. *Kroeger, Karl. ''Chasins, Abram'', in Sadie, Stanley. (Ed.) ''The

New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', Vol. 4, first edition, Macmillan Publishers Limited, 1980. * Lyman, Darryl. ''Great Jews in Music'', J. D. Publishers, 1986, p. 259f. * Press, Jaques Cattell (Ed.). ''Who's who in American Music. Classical'', first edition. R. R. Bowker, New York 1983. * Wilson, Lyle G. ''A dictionary of pianists'', Robert Hale, 1985.

External links

''Abram Chasins, WQXR Executive, Dies at 83''
obituary in

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

, June 23, 1987 (retrieved February 1, 2010). * *
Abram Chasins archival collection
at the University of Maryland Libraries {{DEFAULTSORT:Chasins, Abram 1903 births 1987 deaths American classical pianists American male classical pianists American male composers Classical music radio presenters Juilliard School alumni Columbia University alumni Curtis Institute of Music alumni People from Manhattan Musicians from New York City Curtis Institute of Music faculty American radio executives 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century American composers 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American pianists Classical musicians from New York (state) 20th-century American male musicians Jewish classical pianists