Robert Goldsand (March 17, 1911September 16, 1991) was an

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

classical pianist.

Life

Goldsand was born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

, in 1911, the son of artisan Jakob Goldsand and his wife Helene. He began musical studies at age four on the violin, but discovery of his talent for the piano, and consequent concentration on that instrument, began within a year. A student of Camella Horn,

Joseph Marx Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx (11 May 1882 – 3 September 1964) was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic. Life and career Marx was born in Graz and pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earnin ...

Emil von Sauer Emil Georg Conrad von Sauer (8 October 186227 April 1942) was a German composer, pianist, score editor, and music (piano) teacher. He was a pupil of Franz Liszt and one of the most distinguished pianists of his generation. Josef Hofmann called von ...

, and

Moriz Rosenthal Moriz Rosenthal (17 December 18623 September 1946) was a Polish pianist and composer. He was an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt and a friend and colleague of some of the greatest musicians of his age, including Johannes Brahms, Johann Straus ...

, Goldsand launched his performing career at age 10, in November 1921, with a concert in Vienna. Thereafter, he engaged in European and South American tours.

His US debut came in 1927 at

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

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. His father Jakob died in 1929, and his mother Helene, who had accompanied Robert on several trips to the United States, died in 1937. Upon leaving Vienna to flee the Nazis — his parents were both

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

— he settled in the United States in 1939, where he gave concerts and took a teaching position at the

Cincinnati Conservatory The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music was a Music school, conservatory, part of a girls' finishing school, founded in 1867 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It merged with the College of Music of Cincinnati in 1955, forming the University of Cincinnati – Col ...

. In 1949, at the invitation of the Chopin Centennial Committee, he performed a complete cycle of that composer's recital repertoire in six concerts. In 1951, Goldsand joined the faculty at the

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 ...

br>
where he continued to teach until 1990.

His concert repertoire was vast and included music ranging from the Baroque period with Johann Sebastian Bach, J.S. Bach's ''

Goldberg Variations The ''Goldberg Variations'' (), BWV 988, is a musical composition for keyboard by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of thirty variations. First published in 1741, it is named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may ...

'' through works of major 19th-century composers such as

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 ...

Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic period. With a diverse body of work spanning more than six decades, he is considered to be one of the most pro ...

, Chopin,

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

, and

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

. He also performed music of virtuoso performer-composers like Godowsky and Schulz-Evler; and such 20th-century composers as

Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major ad ...

Pedagogy

Goldsand taught many students during his long tenure at the Manhattan School of Music, Manhattan School including Suezenne Fordhambr>
Neil Galanter, Harris Goldsmithbr>
Donald Isler,

Anne Koscielny Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie and Ana. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in th ...

br>
Thomas Schumacher (pianist), Thomas Schumacherbr>
and

Ralph Votapek Ralph James Votapek (born 20 March 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin) is an American pianist notable for winning the First Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1962; thinaugural competition's First Place prizewas $10,000. He is the Jury Ch ...

br>
According to Henry Edmundson, a student for one year not long before Goldsand's death, Goldsand was "a stickler for tradition" and demanded that the student adhere to Goldsand's way of playing a piece.

Harris Goldsmith recalls Goldsand as a "pianistic charmer" with "debonair technical ease," citing an instance when Goldsand demonstrated with his left hand how to obtain the desired legato in the coda of Chopin's fourth ballade

Recordings

Most of Goldsand's recordings appeared on the American

Concert Hall Society Concert Hall Society, Inc., was a New York City-based membership-subscription-oriented record production and distribution company founded in 1946 by Samuel Mulik Josefowitz (1921–2015) and David Josefowitz (1918–2015), brothers. The New York ...

label. Later, Goldsand recorded for the American Desto and

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

labels. Very few of these LP issues have reappeared on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

, although in recent years there have been some recordings which have bee
uploaded
to YouTube.

Death

He died of

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

in a

Danbury, Connecticut Danbury ( ) is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, located approximately northeast of New York City. Danbury's population as of 2020 was 86,518. It is the third-largest city in Western Connecticut, and the seventh-largest ...

nursing home, in 1991.

References

Sources

* Album notes to ''Franz Schubert: Sonata in A Major, opus 120; Moments Musicaux'', Concert Hall Society CHS 1148, 12" mono LP
Biographical sketch
at

International Piano Archives The University of Maryland Libraries is the largest university library system in the Washington D.C.–Baltimore area. The system includes eight libraries: six are located on the College Park campus, while the Severn Library, an off-site stor ...

at Maryland. Retrieved 26 Jul 2013. * Dubal, David, program notes for Nimbus Records
''The New Golden Era—Vladimir Horowitz, Shura Cherkassky, Abram Chasins, Robert Goldsand''
* Ivry, Benjamin, ''A Music Critic Performs, Practices What He Preaches'', published in ''The New York Observer'' on September 10, 2006 * Koscielny, Anne
recitalist biography for Matthay Festival 2002
at Columbus State University, Columbus, Georgia *

br>chronology

obituary published in ''The New York Times'' on September 17, 1991 * Schumacher, Thomas
faculty biography at Eastman School of Music
* Votapek, Ralph
artist biography for Ivory Classics CD-72007 ''Ralph Votapek: Fire and Passion''

External links

Robert Goldsand
(in German) from the

Österreichische Mediathek The Österreichische Mediathek ("Austrian Mediatheque") is the Austrian archive for sound recordings and videos on cultural and contemporary history. It was founded in 1960 as Österreichische Phonothek (Austrian Phonothek) by the Ministry of Educ ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goldsand, Robert 1911 births 1991 deaths 20th-century classical pianists 20th-century Austrian people Austrian classical pianists Austrian Jews American classical pianists American male classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Austrian emigrants to the United States American people of Austrian-Jewish descent Musicians from Vienna Pupils of Joseph Marx 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians