Florence May (1845 – 1923) was an English pianist who was the student and biographer of

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

. She was born 6 February 1845 in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

, London, daughter of music educator

Edward Collett May Edward Collett May (October 29, 1806-Jan. 2, 1887) was an English music educator. Life He was born in Greenwich, where his father was a shipbuilder. His first teacher was his brother Henry, an amateur musician and composer of considerable ability ...

and his wife, Mary. Initially trained by her father and uncle, she studied music with

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

in Lichtental, Vienna in 1871. While Schumann was on holiday, Brahms took over her training as a favour to Schumann, and May and her fellow pupil Nathalie Janotha remained with him after Schumann’s return. Returning to England in 1873, she studied composition with

George Macfarren George Macfarren (1788–1843) was a playwright and the father of composer George Alexander Macfarren. Life He was born in London 5 September 1788. He was the son of George Macfarren. He was educated chiefly at Archbishop Tenison's school in Cas ...

and Woldemar Bargiel. She performed concert tours in Berlin in 1887 and Vienna in 1890 and 1896, as well as numerous concerts in England. In 1900 she was noted as 'a pianoforte player of considerable cultivation and power.' She was viewed as an authority on Brahms, giving lectures on his compositions in London in March 1908, and writing a two-volume ''Life of Brahms'' (1905; 1948), which incorporates anecdotes of her own training with him and has had a long afterlife in Brahms scholarship. She also wrote a biographical work about Clara Schumann. She died in London on 29 June 1923.

Works

* (ed.) ''Pieces by old Masters, from Works written for the Harpsicord, selected, edited, and figured for the Pianoforte by Florence May'' (1878) * ''Life of Brahms'' (1905; 1948) * ''The Girlhood of Clara Schumann'' (1912)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Florence 1845 births 1923 deaths People from Deptford 19th-century English women musicians 19th-century English pianists 19th-century British women pianists 20th-century English biographers English women biographers Brahms scholars