Emil Frey (composer)
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Emil Frey (8 April 188920 May 1946) was a Swiss composer, pianist and teacher.


Biography

He was born in
Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in southern Germany. In earlier times it was considered to be on both sides of the Upper Rhine, but since the Napoleonic Wars, it has been considered only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Ba ...
, near
Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...
,
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
in 1889. He studied with Otto Barblan, Willy Rehberg and Joseph Lauber at the
Geneva Conservatory Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...
1902–05,Grove's Dictionary, 5th ed, 1954, Vol. III, p. 496 then at the
Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or 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 Jean Ja ...
with
Louis Diémer Louis Joseph Diémer (14 February 1843 – 21 December 1919) was a French pianist and composer. He was the founder of the Société des Instruments Anciens in the 1890s, and also gave recitals on the harpsichord. His output as a composer was exten ...
(piano) and
Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. ...
and
Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the late Romantic era. As a composer he is known for his ten organ symphonies, especially the toccata of his fifth organ sympho ...
(composition). In 1906 he won the Premier prix de piano. He became a court pianist in
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...
after 1907. In 1908 he and
Xaver Scharwenka Theophil Franz Xaver Scharwenka (6 January 1850 – 8 December 1924) was a German pianist, composer and teacher of Polish descent. He was the brother of Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917), who was also a composer and teacher of music. Life ...
gave a private performance on two pianos of Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No. 4 in F minor to its dedicatee
Queen Elisabeth of Romania Elisabeth of Wied (Pauline Elisabeth Ottilie Luise; 29 December 18432 March 1916) was the first Queen of Romania as the wife of King Carol I from 15 March 1881 to 27 September 1914. She had been the princess consort of Romania since her marri ...
. The next day it was performed publicly with orchestra; the composer conducted and Frey was the soloist.
George Enescu George Enescu (; – 4 May 1955), known in France as Georges Enesco, was a Romanians, Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor, teacher and statesman. He is regarded as one of the greatest musicians in Romanian history. Biography En ...
dedicated his Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 24/1 to Emil Frey. In 1910 Frey entered the composition section of the
Anton Rubinstein Competition The Anton Rubinstein Competition is the name of a music competition that has existed in two incarnations. It was first staged in Russia and Western Europe between 1890 and 1910, and prizes were awarded for piano playing and composition. Since 200 ...
in St Petersburg, and won with his Piano Trio. This led to an engagement as Professor of the Virtuoso Class at the
Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...
1912–17. Back in Switzerland after the Russian Revolution, he taught at the ''
Zürcher Hochschule der Künste Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK, ) has approximately 2,500 students, which makes it the largest arts university in Switzerland. The university was established in 2007, following the merger between Zurich's School of Art and Design (HGKZ) and ...
'' until his death, directing the piano finishing class there from 1922. His students included Victor Fenigstein, Peter Mieg and Adrian Aeschbacher. Rudolf Am Bach studied with him privately. He also concertised in Berlin, and toured throughout Europe and South America. He was considered among the leading Swiss pianists, his playing being noted for its extreme delicacy of feeling combined with brilliance of execution. He often played piano duos with his brother Walter Frey. He died in Zurich on 20 May 1946, aged 57.


Compositions

Emile Frey was a prolific composer, whose opus numbers reached 102. He was influenced to some degree by
Alexander Scriabin Alexander Nikolayevich Scriabin, scientific transliteration: ''Aleksandr Nikolaevič Skrjabin''; also transliterated variously as Skriabin, Skryabin, and (in French) Scriabine. The composer himselused the French spelling "Scriabine" which was a ...
, whom he knew, by
Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
and by
Ferruccio Busoni Ferruccio Busoni (1 April 1866 – 27 July 1924) was an Italian composer, pianist, conductor, editor, writer, and teacher. His international career and reputation led him to work closely with many of the leading musicians, artists and literary ...
. His music includes: * 2 symphonies (the first has a choral finale) * ''Swiss Festival Overture'' * piano, violin and cello concertos * choral works to sacred texts * chamber music (Piano Quintet, String Quartet, Piano Trio, Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata) * piano music (sonatas, suites, sets of variations, and an instruction manual published in German and French) * organ music * other pieces He also transcribed some works of
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
for piano.


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Frey, Emil 1889 births 1946 deaths 20th-century Swiss classical composers 20th-century Swiss classical pianists 20th-century Swiss male musicians Anton Rubinstein Competition prize-winners Conservatoire de Paris alumni Swiss male classical pianists Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory People from Baden, Switzerland Piano educators Swiss classical pianists Swiss male classical composers Swiss music educators Academic staff of the Zurich University of the Arts