Selmar Janson (27 May 188119 November 1960Ancestry.com
/ref>) was a German-born American pianist and teacher, whose most prominent student was

Earl Wild Earl Wild (November 26, 1915January 23, 2010) was an American pianist known for his transcriptions of jazz and classical music. Biography Royland Earl Wild was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1915. Wild was a musically precocious child and ...

. His surname is also seen as Jansen.

Biography

Selmar Janson was born in eastern

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Brownville Daily Herald, 28 November 1908
/ref> in 1881, the son of Herman Janson. He began to play the piano at age 4, and gave his first concert in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

at age 8.The Music Trade Review, c. 1907
/ref> His teachers included Sally Liebling,

Eugen d'Albert Eugen (originally Eugène) Francis Charles d'Albert (10 April 1864 – 3 March 1932) was a Scottish-born pianist and composer who immigrated to Germany. Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, h ...

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 ...

Hans Pfitzner Hans Erich Pfitzner (5 May 1869 – 22 May 1949) was a German composer, conductor and polemicist who was a self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera ''Palestrina'' (1917), loosely based on the life of the ...

and Philipp Rüfer (1844–1919). He toured Germany with great success, and repeated this in many concerts after coming to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. In a notice in the '' Brownsville Daily Herald'' (

Brownsville, Texas Brownsville ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Cameron County, Texas, Cameron County, located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border, border with Matamoros, Tamaulipas ...

) of 21 November 1908, Janson, whose visit there was under negotiation, was described (perhaps somewhat hyperbolically) as "one of the most famous pianists and composers in the world today, being classed in the same rank with

Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (; r 1859– 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 and foreign minister during which time he signed the Tre ...

and Joseph Hoffmann". At that time he was described as a German pianist. That same year he became the head of a music school in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, at age 26. He took up residence in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

in early 1911, and made a favourable impression there. In December 1912 he recorded several

piano rolls A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. Piano rolls, like other music rolls, are continuous rolls of paper with holes punched into them. These perforations represent note control d ...

for the QRS Company. In 1914 he appeared as soloist under the baton of

Walter Damrosch Walter Johannes Damrosch (January 30, 1862December 22, 1950) was a Prussian-born American conductor and composer. He was the director of the New York Symphony Orchestra and conducted the world premiere performances of various works, including Aa ...

in Pittsburgh. Selmar Janson taught at the

Carnegie Institute of Technology Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...

in Pittsburgh for many years. By far his most prominent and successful student there was

, who studied with him from the age of 12. Under Janson, Wild learned Xaver Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat minor, which Janson had studied directly with the composer, his own teacher. When, over 40 years later,

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 ...

asked Wild to record the concerto, he was able to say "I've been waiting by the phone for forty years for someone to ask me to play this". Other students of Janson's included Louis Crowder (1907–1998), Paul Scherr, Leonard Sharrow, Ruth Scott Clark (1912–2009), and Annette Roussel-Pesche (1914–1997; whose other teachers included

Alfred Cortot Alfred Denis Cortot ( , ; 26 September 187715 June 1962) was a French pianist, conductor, and teacher who was one of the most renowned classical musicians of the 20th century. A pianist of massive repertory, he was especially valued for his po ...

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher, conductor and composer. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organis ...

Pierre Fournier Pierre Léon Marie Fournier (24 June 19068 January 1986) was a French cellist who was called the "aristocrat of cellists" on account of his elegant musicianship and majestic sound. Biography Pierre Fournier was born in Paris, the son of a F ...

and Georges Dandelot). Margaret H. Leisering (1911–1996) In around 1935, Janson offered the seven-year-old

Byron Janis Byron Janis (né Yanks; March 24, 1928 – March 14, 2024) was an American classical pianist. He made numerous recordings for RCA Victor and Mercury Records, and occupies two volumes of the Philips series ''Great Pianists of the 20th Century''. ...

a scholarship, but Janis's mother insisted, over the objections of the rest of the family, many of whom lived in Pittsburgh, that he be sent to New York to study with

Adele Marcus Adele Marcus (February 22, 1906 May 3, 1995) was an American pianist and instructor whose career was based at the Juilliard School in New York City. Life and career Marcus was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the youngest of 13 children of a rabbi ...

and the Lhévinnes. In addition to teaching, he also participated in chamber music concerts in a piano trio known as the Brahms Trio. Janson married Julia A. Elliot (1907–1975) and they had a child. He died in 1960, aged 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janson, Selmar 1881 births 1960 deaths German classical pianists American classical pianists American male pianists 20th-century male pianists American piano educators Carnegie Mellon University faculty 20th-century American male musicians Emigrants from the German Empire to the United States