Alexander Fiedemann

Alexander Fiedemann ( Russian Александр Петрович Фидельман , Aleksandr Petrovich Fidelman; born October 12, ^jul. / 24. October  1878 ^greg. In Kiev , Russian Empire , now Ukraine ; † 28. January 1940 in Prague , Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia , now the Czech Republic ) was a Russian-German violin virtuoso and music teacher .

1878–1897: Kiev, Leipzig and New York

Alexander Fiedemann was born in Kiev on October 24, 1878. His original name was Ruwim Pejsachowitsch Fidelman (Руви́м Пéйсахович Фи́дельман), he had a sister and a brother who was 3 years younger than Max. Alexander received his first violin lessons from his father at the age of 6, and he performed for the first time in public at the age of 8. From 1887–1891 he was a student of Otakar Ševčík at the Music Academy of the Imperial Russian Music Society in Kiev and then moved to Adolph Brodsky at the Royal Conservatory in Leipzig . Brodsky was concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and first violinist in the then world-famous Brodsky string quartet. He and his wife Anna took in 12-year-old Alexander. In the same year Brodsky was appointed concertmaster of the New York Symphony Orchestra . The childless couple did not want to part with their foster son and moved to America with Alexander. After immigrating in October 1891, the young violinist changed his family name and from now on called himself Fidelman outside of Russia, but Fiedemann. As early as November 1891, at the age of just 13, he made his first appearance as a soloist in Carnegie Hall . In March 1892 a concert followed in Boston at the invitation of the conductor Arthur Nikisch . Alexander's foster father continued to be responsible for training as a violinist in America. In 1895 Brodsky, his wife and Alexander Fiedemann returned to Europe.

Fiedemann performed at Carnegie Hall, New York at the age of 13

1897–1907: Odessa

In 1897, at the age of 19, Fiedemann took up his first position as principal violin teacher at the Music Academy of the Imperial Russian Music Society in the southern Russian (now Ukrainian) city of Odessa . Here were u. a. Mischa Elman , Naoum Blinder and Alexander Schaichet are his students. Fiedemann has given concerts as a soloist and first violinist in the string quartet of the Music Academy. In this way he developed a broad chamber music repertoire.

Alexander Fiedemann (left) and his student Naoum Blinder, April 1906

1907–1940: Berlin and Prague

In the summer of 1907 Fiedemann left Odessa and moved to Berlin. Here he found a position as a violin teacher at the Stern Conservatory , which he held from September 1908 to August 1919. Toscha Seidel, Raphael Hillyer (1947–1969 member of the Juilliard String Quartet ), Joseph Roismann and Boris Kroyt (1927–1967 and 1936–1967 members of the Budapest Quartet, respectively ) were among his students in Berlin . In the years after the First World War, Fiedemann was very successful both as a music teacher and with his quartet, which he founded in 1916, in which he played 1st violin, Heinrich Drobatschewski 2nd violin, Boris Kroyt viola and Jacob Sakom cello. As a soloist, he appeared less often, but was counted in the renowned Neue Zeitschrift für Musik as "one of the first living violinists" due to his virtuoso violin playing. Fiedemann stayed in Berlin and taught. After the seizure of power by the Nazis living in Germany (born Ruden) for him and his wife Fanny from Vilna, whom he married in 1927, soon unbearable. When his students were threatened because of their Jewish teacher, the couple decided to emigrate to Prague on November 7, 1933. There Alexander Fiedemann withdrew completely from public life. He died on January 28, 1940 at the age of 61 and was buried in the New Jewish Cemetery. Fiedemann's penniless widow applied to emigrate, but was unable to finance the trip herself and stayed in Prague. Fanny Fiedemann was deported to Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1942 and to Auschwitz in 1944, where she was murdered.

Memories of a student

The following portrayal of Alexander Fiedemann's personality is based on conversations that the American journalist and writer Nat Brandt had with his father-in-law Boris Kroyt (1897–1969) in the 1960s and processed in a book about the Budapest Quartet. Kroyt knew Fiedemann because he had trained him for many years and later played the viola in the Fiedemann Quartet.

Boris Kroyt grew up in Odessa - the port city on the Black Sea that was joined by Elman , Milstein , Oistrach and others in the 20th century . a. m. probably as many important violinists as no other city has produced. Boris' parents wanted their son to be able to train with Alexander Fiedemann. They admired this music teacher, who had moved to Berlin shortly before they made the decision, because of his success at the Odessa Music Academy. The 10-year-old Boris followed Fiedemann by train to the German capital; his family followed years later. During this crucial time for his later career, the young Kroyt was looked after by his teacher very loosely, but at the same time intensively supported musically. Kroyt was irritated and fascinated by Fiedemann's unsteady way of life as a bachelor and as an artist. Fiedemann was remembered as an excellent teacher who stood up for his students. They particularly appreciated the fact that he gave them the freedom to develop their own style of interpretation when making music.

Fiedemann passed his passion for chamber music on to his other students. Joseph Roismann, Raphael Hillyer and Alexander Schaichet , who worked as instrumentalists or conductors in the USA, Germany and Switzerland, remained closely connected to chamber music throughout their lives .

Web links

Two photographs are published on the website of the von Mischa and Maria (Drobatschewsky) Borisoff family. Website .

• Portrait of Alexander Fiedemann, approx. 1918. Portrait . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
• Fiedemann Quartet, ca.1918 - v. l. To the right: Jacob Sakom (Vc), Alexander Fiedemann (Vl), Boris Kroyt (Va), Heinrich Drobatschewski (Vl). Fiedemann Quartet . Retrieved December 21, 2018.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski: The violin and its masters , Chapter 11. - P. 483 . Project Gutenberg-DE. Retrieved December 21, 2018.
2. ↑ Gregory Kuperstein: Iz serii Odesskie rebjata. Naoum blind man. ( ru ) July 2, 2016. Accessed December 21, 2018.
3. ^ Anna Brodsky: Recollections of a Russian Home . - pp. 144, 145, 181 ( en ) Accessed December 21, 2018.
4. ↑ Richard Schickel. Carnegie Hall: The First Hundred Years - Harry N. Abrams Incorporated, 1987. - p. 250.
5. ↑ Otchet Odesskago Otdeleniya Imperatorskago Russkago Muzykal'nago Obshchestva za 1903-1904 god. Odessa 1904 (ru) - The other annual reports of the Odessa Music Academy from 1897 to 1907 also provide detailed information about Fiedemann's work at the Music Academy. This educational institution was called in Russian "Музыкáльное Учи́лище Имперáторскаго Рýсскаго Музыкáльнаго Óбщества ИРМО, Одéсское Отеле". It was the forerunner of the Odessa Conservatory founded in 1913. In contrast to the conservatory, the music academy offered children and adolescents not only musical subjects but also school lessons.
6. ↑ List of teachers at the Stern Conservatory (1850–1936) . - p. 16 . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
7. ↑ Bruno Schrader in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , 1918, vol. 85 - p. 288 . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
8. ↑ request of Fany Fiedemannová for residence permit in Prague , 16 August 1935 ( cz ) Accessed December 21, 2018th
9. ↑ Jewish Community of Prague: In memoriam Prof. Alexander Fiedemann , Jewish News Gazette, Prague / Žydovské listy. - March 8, 1940, vol. II, no.10 - p. 3 bottom left . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
10. ^ Central Jewish Library - Jewish Historical Institute: Fanny Fiedemann files . Retrieved December 21, 2018.
11. ↑ acts Fany Fiedemannová in the Czech Holocaust database ( cz ) Accessed December 21, 2018th
12. ↑ ^{a b} Nat Brandt. Con Brio: Four Russians Called the Budapest String Quartet - iUniverse, 2001. - pp. 65-71. - ISBN 0-595-01011-3. ( en ) Retrieved December 21, 2018.