Harold Bauer
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Harold Victor Bauer (28 April 1873 – 12 March 1951) was an English-born
pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...
of Jewish heritage who began his musical career as a
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
ist.


Biography

Harold Bauer was born in
Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...
; his father was a German violinist and his mother was English. He took up the study of the
violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...
under the direction of his father and Adolf Pollitzer. He made his debut as a violinist in London in 1883, and for nine years toured England. In 1892, however, he went to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
and studied the
piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...
under
Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (;  
r 1859 R, or r, is the eighteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ar'' (pronounced ), plural ''ars''. The lette ...
– 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist, composer and statesman who was a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the nation's Prime Minister of Poland, prime minister and foreign minister durin ...
for a year, though still maintaining his interest in the violin. An anecdote reports that Paderewski jokingly told Bauer to concentrate on the piano because "You have such beautiful hair". In 1893, in Paris, he and
Achille Rivarde Achille Rivarde (31 October 186531 March 1940) was an American-born British violinist and teacher, who worked mainly in Europe and London. Biography Serge Achille Rivarde was born in New York City to a Spanish father and an American mother. He ...
premiered
Frederick Delius file:Fritz Delius (1907).jpg, Delius, photographed in 1907 Frederick Theodore Albert Delius (born Fritz Theodor Albert Delius; ; 29 January 1862 – 10 June 1934) was an English composer. Born in Bradford in the north of England to a prospero ...
's Violin Sonata in B major.The Delius Society Journal, Number 87, Autumn 1985
/ref> During 1893-94 he travelled all through Russia accompanying the noted soprano Mademoiselle Nikita and giving piano recitals and concerts, after which he returned to Paris. Further recitals in the French capital brought him renown, and he almost immediately received engagements in France, Germany and Spain. His reputation was rapidly enhanced by these performances, and his field of operation extended through the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Scandinavia and the United States. In 1900, Harold Bauer made his debut in America with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, performing the U.S. premiere 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 ...
' Piano Concerto No.1 in D minor. On 18 December 1908, he gave the world premiere performance of
Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...
's piano suite ''
Children's Corner ''Children's Corner'', L. 113, is a six-movement suite for solo piano by Claude Debussy. It was published by Durand in 1908, and was first performed by Harold Bauer in Paris on 18 December that year. In 1911, an orchestration by André Caple ...
'' in Paris. After that he settled in the United States, and was a founder of the
Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
Association. Between 1915 and 1929 he recorded over 100 pieces for the
Duo-Art Duo-Art was one of the leading reproducing piano technologies of the early 20th century, the others being American Piano Company (Ampico), introduced in 1913 too, and Welte-Mignon in 1905. These technologies flourished at that time because of ...
and
Ampico American Piano Company (Ampico) was an American piano manufacturer formed in 1908 through the merger of Wm. Knabe & Co., Chickering & Sons, Marshall & Wendell, and Foster-Armstrong. They later purchased the Mason & Hamlin piano company as their ...
reproducing pianos, one of the most prolific virtuoso pianists in this medium of his era. Harold Bauer was also an influential teacher and editor, heading the Piano Department at the well known
Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...
. Starting in 1941, Bauer taught winter master classes at the
University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...
and served as a visiting professor at the
University of Hartford Hartt School The Hartt School is the performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford, a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Founded in 1920 by Julius Hartt and Moshe Paranov, Hartt has been part of the University of Hartford since it ...
of Music with Maestro and Founder - Moshe Paranov and head of the Piano Department - Raymond Hanson, from 1946 until his death in
Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
, in 1951. He published ''Harold Bauer, His Book'' (New York, 1948).


Family

Harold's sister Ethel Bauer was also a concert pianist active in London. Harold was married twice. He first married the divorcée Maria Knapp (1861–1940) in 1906 until her death. In January 1941, he married again, the concert pianist, colleague, and his former student, Wynne Pyle. He had no children by either marriage.


Students

Students of Harold Bauer included George Copeland, Winifred Christie, Vera Franceschi, Robert Schrade, Frank Sheridan, Abbey Simon, Bruce Simonds, Eleanor Spencer, and Dora Zaslavsky. Harold Bauer taught many other prominent pianists in his day, including composer Viola Cole-Audet, John Elvin, who was a piano professor at Oberlin College in Ohio and Consuelo Elsa Clark, a piano teacher at the New York College of Music from 1918 to 1968 and the teacher of the composer Michael Jeffrey Shapiro.


Recordings


A Review of the Complete Acoustic Solo Recordings of Harold BauerHarold Bauer plays Bach - Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue in Dm - Phillips/Duo-Art Rolls 7316/7317, issued Apr-1929


References

General references Inline citations


External links

*
Finding aid to Harold Bauer papers at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Harold 1873 births 1951 deaths British classical pianists English male classical pianists Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists British people of German descent Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society British expatriates in the United States People from Kingston upon Thames