Ania Dorfmann (9 July 189921 April 1984) was a Russian-American pianist and teacher, who taught at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

in New York for many years and was the first of only a very few women pianists to play or record under Arturo Toscanini.

Career

Ania Dorfmann was born in Odessa,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

(now in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) in 1899, the daughter of a merchant. She gave her first concert at the age of 11. Around this time she accompanied the even younger

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-born American violinist. Born in Vilnius, he moved while still a teenager to the United States, where his Carnegie Hall debut was rapturously received. He was a virtuoso since childhood. Fritz ...

.holdridgerecords.com
/ref> In 1916-17 she studied in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

with

Isidor Philipp Isidor Edmond Philipp (first name sometimes spelled Isidore) (2 September 1863 – 20 February 1958) was a French pianist, composer, and pedagogue of Jewish Hungarian descent. He was born in Budapest and died in Paris. Biography Isidor Philipp ...

at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

,Juilliard School
/ref> then returned to Russia to find it in the midst of

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

. She returned to France in 1920, commenced her professional career in Belgium,''The News and Courier'', 23 October 1953
/ref> and played throughout Europe and Britain for the next 15 years, under such conductors as

Willem Mengelberg Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest s ...

, Sir

Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...

and Sir

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

.Naxos
/ref> She made her home in London during this time. Among the artists she appeared with in Britain were John McCormack and

Heddle Nash William Heddle Nash (14 June 189414 August 1961) was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio. He made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues. Nash's voice was of the light tenor class known as "tenore di g ...

. She made her New York debut in 1936 at the Town Hall, and played there again in 1938 and 1939. She was the first female pianist ever engaged as a soloist by Arturo Toscanini, under whom she played

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's '' Choral Fantasy'' with his NBC Symphony Orchestra on 2 December 1939, the only time Toscanini ever programmed that work.Mortimer H Frank, ''Arturo Toscanini: The NBC Years'', pp. 122-123 They later played all the Beethoven piano concertos, and recorded the First Concerto in 1945 (there is also a recording of a live performance from 1939). She settled in the United States in 1938, touring and recording. Her agent at that time was David Rubin. Her appearances included concerts under Serge Koussevitzky. In 1947 Ania Dorfmann worked intensively with the actress Barbara Stanwyck, who was making the film '' The Other Love'', in which she played a concert pianist. Although Ania Dorfmann played the piano music heard on screen, she had Stanwyck practise for three hours a day to make her actions match the music. In 1956 (some sources say 1966) she joined the piano faculty of the

, where she remained for most of the rest of her life. Ania Dorfmann's students included

Lev Natochenny Lev Natochenny (Russian: Лев Наточенный) (born January 26, 1950) is a Russian-American classical pianist and professor of piano. Born in Moscow, Natochenny graduated from the Moscow "Tchaikovsky" Conservatoire, where he was taught by ...

, Alexander Peskanov, Solveig Funseth,

Minuetta Kessler Minuetta Shumiatcher Borek Kessler (September 5, 1914 – November 30, 2002) was a Russian-born Canadian and later American concert pianist, classical music composer, and educator. A child prodigy, she performed her first composition at a recital ...

, Raymond Jackson, Suezenne Fordham, Roman Markowicz, Robert Shannon, and Marian Migdal. She retired in June 1983 and died on 21 April 1984, aged 84.

Personal life

She was the wife of Vladimir Dorfmann, a Russian businessman she met in Paris. Their daughter, Natacha Ullman (1929-1986), was a writer who used the pen name Natacha Stewart; she was the author of "Evil Eye and Other Stories", and a frequent contributor to ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

''. Natacha had two sons, Nicolas and Alex Ullman.

Recordings

Ania Dorfmann made a number of recordings primarily for RCA Victor, some of the most notable of which were: *

: Piano Sonata No. 8 (''Pathétique''), Piano Sonata No. 14 (''Moonlight'') * Beethoven:

Triple Concerto A triple concerto (Italian: ''Concerto triplo'', German: ''Tripelkonzert'') is a concerto with three soloists. Such concertos have been composed from the Baroque period, including works by Corelli, Vivaldi, Bach and Telemann, to the 21st century ...

, Michel Piastro, violin and

Joseph Schuster Joseph Schuster may refer to: * Joseph Schuster (cellist) (1903–1969), Constantinople-born American cellist * Joseph Schuster (composer) (1748–1812), German classical composer * Joe Shuster (1914–1992), Canadian-born comic book writer who cre ...

, cello, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, live recordingUniversity of Maryland
/ref> * Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, NBC SO, Toscanini (2 recordings; one live recording from 1939 and a studio recording from 1945) * Beethoven, '' Choral Fantasy'', NBC SO, Toscanini, Carnegie Hall, December 1939, live recording * Chopin: '' Tarantelle''cd universe
/ref> * Chopin:

Waltzes The waltz ( ), meaning "to roll or revolve") is a ballroom and folk dance, normally in triple ( time), performed primarily in closed position. History There are many references to a sliding or gliding dance that would evolve into the wal ...

* Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Robin Hood Dell Orchestra,

Erich Leinsdorf Erich Leinsdorf (born Erich Landauer; February 4, 1912 – September 11, 1993) was an Austrian-born American conductor. He performed and recorded with leading orchestras and opera companies throughout the United States and Europe, earning a ...

Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10 *

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor **

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's Hall Orc ...

Walter Goehr Walter Goehr (; 28 May 19034 December 1960) was a German composer and conductor. Biography Goehr was born in Berlin, where he studied with Arnold Schoenberg and embarked on a conducting career, before being forced as a Jew to seek employment outs ...

audiophile audition
/ref> ** Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf * Mendelssohn, ''

Songs Without Words ''Songs Without Words'' (') is a series of short lyrical piano works by the Romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn written between 1829 and 1845. His sister, Fanny Mendelssohn, and other composers also wrote pieces in the same genre. Music The ...

'' (complete) * Menotti: ''Ricercare and Toccata'' *

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

: Sonatine *

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

: '' Carnaval'', Op. 9 * Schumann: ''Fantasiestücke'', Op. 12 * Schumann: ''

Album for the Young ''Album for the Young'' ('), Op. 68, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1848 for his three daughters. The album consists of a collection of 43 short works. Unlike the ', they are suitable to be played by children or beginners. The second part, st ...

'', Op. 68, excerptsMiami University Libraries
/ref> * Johann Strauss II, arr Tausig: ''Valse-Caprice No. 2 "Man lebt nur einmal"'' (1938; only the second recording of this work, Sergei Rachmaninoff having first recorded it in 1927)Classics Online
*

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...

: ''Album pour enfants'', Op. 39, excerpts * Tchaikovsky: '' The Seasons'', excerpts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorfmann, Ania 1899 births 1984 deaths Russian classical pianists Russian women pianists American classical pianists American women classical pianists Conservatoire de Paris alumni Juilliard School faculty Piano pedagogues Odesa Jews Pupils of Isidor Philipp 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century classical pianists Jewish classical pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists Women music educators Musicians from Odesa Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States