Grete Sultan

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Johanna Margarete "Grete" Sultan (born June 21, 1906 in Berlin , † June 26, 2005 in New York City ) was a German-American pianist and piano teacher.

Life

Grete Sultan came from an upper-class Jewish family in Berlin , her father was the liquor manufacturer Adolf Sultan. The mother Coba Sultan, née Lewino, came from a highly musical family from the Rhineland. She initially received lessons from her older sister Anni Victorius and two aunts, as well as from the American pianist Richard Buhlig . At the age of fifteen, Grete Sultan entered the Berlin Music Academy to study with Leonid Kreutzer . She then continued her studies privately with Edwin Fischer . Grete Sultan became an important concert pianist with many highly acclaimed appearances in Germany and Switzerland . What was unusual about their programs was the juxtaposition of works from the baroque , classical , romantic and contemporary piano literature. When Hitler came to power in January 1933, Grete Sultan was banned from public appearances and could only play in the Jüdischer Kulturbund . Several members of her family were able to go into exile in time, including her half-brother Herbert Sultan , while others fell victim to the Nazi regime.

After her flight to the USA in May 1941, which was made possible at the last minute , she initially gave private piano lessons there and later developed a lively activity as a teacher at several institutions, but especially as an exceptional pianist. It was not until the end of 1954 that Grete Sultan returned to Europe for the first time to appear in a number of piano recitals and radio broadcasts in Germany, Switzerland and Norway .

Her encounter with the American composer John Cage in early 1946 resulted in a long artistic collaboration and deep personal friendship. In 1956, Cage wrote sixteen pieces from his 85-part Music for Piano cycle for Grete Sultan. Cage also dedicated his monumental Etudes Australes , written in 1974/75, to the pianist, who played the pianist all over the world into old age. Since her time in Berlin, Grete Sultan had further close friendships with Ruth and Claudio Arrau , with the cellist Eva Heinitz and the poet Vera Lachmann .

Grete Sultan gave her last piano recital in 1996: the ninety-year-old interpreted Bach's Goldberg Variations again in New York . She was able to witness the publication of some of her historical recordings by Heiner Stadler and until the end she taught several private students. Her former students include the composer Christian Wolff . A few days after her ninety-ninth birthday, Grete Sultan died in a New York hospital.

In March 2012, the comprehensive, richly illustrated biography Rebellische Pianistin by the Hamburg author Moritz von Bredow was published by Schott Music in Mainz, the second edition of which appeared two years later.

Honors

Discography

  • Grete Sultan - John Cage: Etudes Australes (Wergo 60152/55 (4 LP) and 61522 (3 CD), 1987, 1992)
  • Grete Sultan - The Legacy.
    • Vol. 1: Bach ( Goldberg Variations ), Debussy, Schönberg and Cage (Concord 42030, 1996)
    • Vol. 2: Beethoven ( Diabelli Variations ), Copland, Wolpe, Hovhaness, Cage a. a. (Labor 70382, 2002)
  • Grete Sultan - Piano Seasons (Wergo 40432, 4 CDs, 2013)
    • CD 1: Bach
    • CD 2: Beethoven
    • CD 3: Schubert, Schumann
    • CD 4: Schönberg, Copland, Weber, Wolpe, Hovhaness, Cage, Ichiyanagi

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alexander Smoltczyk: Escape and Fugue. Der Spiegel , No. 25, June 18, 2001.
  2. ^ A b Moritz von Bredow: Rebellious Queen. Der Tagesspiegel , June 29, 2005.
personal data
SURNAME Sultan, Grete
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sultan, Johanna Margarete
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-American pianist and piano teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 21, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH June 26, 2005
Place of death New York City