Otto Voss (pianist)
Otto Voss (born January 13, 1875 in New York ; † October 15, 1946 in Heidelberg ) was a concert pianist , piano teacher and composer.
Life
Otto Voss grew up in New York, where he spent a strict ascetic youth and, like his four years older brother Fred, began studying the piano at an early age. His father Friedrich Voss was a musician (English horn) and after emigrating to the United States in 1866, a broker.
When Otto Voss was eleven years old, the family moved to Leipzig, where he became a student at the conservatory while still at school. His teachers were Carl Reinecke for piano and Gustav Schreck for music theory subjects. 1890-1893 he was a student of the piano teacher Theodor Leschetizky . In 1895 Leschetizky called him to Vienna as his assistant. In 1900 he played two concerts with the Philharmonic Orchestra and gave three piano recitals. Thereupon he was engaged for three years for the piano training class at the Stern Conservatory , where he later advanced to teach the master class.
From 1905 Voss made several concert tours in Germany and England, where he performed with the Henry Wood Orchestra , among others . In 1908 he was committed to Central America for 29 concerts, which became 37 because of the great success. He played under Arthur Nikisch in Berlin and with many German orchestras, including the Meininger Hofkapelle and the Palatinate Orchestra . In 1909 he founded the Heidelberg Music Academy with Philipp Wolfrum , which was affiliated with the university and which he headed as director for 13 years.
In 1925 he completed his Piano Concerto in B flat minor, which was premiered in Mannheim in 1927 under the direction of Ernst Boehe . Besides two years in Berlin (1928–1930) he lived and worked in Heidelberg.
Since December 1, 1931, he was a member of the NSDAP with membership number 729,565. On May 5, 1933, he was one of the signatories of a denunciating attack on Fritz Jöde . His affirmation of the Nazi regime can also be seen in the Ten Little Pieces for Piano from 1938, with titles such as: Im Marschtritt and The Funny Pimpf .
He was married twice. From his first marriage to Adele Engelmann, he had two daughters and a son Dieter, who died in the war in 1941. His second marriage was to Lotte Pehlke.
His game
His style of play is described as very powerful and rhythmically concise. In London he played the concerts of Saint-Saëns (C minor), Liszt (E flat major) and Tchaikovsky in one evening. The Times writes on May 16, 1904:
- "The muscles of his hands and arms are evidently finely developed, as regards both force and control, his technique is singularly finished and in the matter of tone and tone gradation he has nothing to learn."
A month later, on June 16, 1904, The Daily News reads:
- “Indeed it is a long while since I have heard a more satisfactory or more interesting interpretation of the Sonata“ Appassionata ”of Beethoven. It was restrained and yet emotional, and the reading was big and full of individual life. "
The repertoire
Otto Voss' repertoire included the classics and romantics Chopin , Schumann and Liszt, the essentials of Beethoven (all late sonatas, variations, concerts), Mozart (9 sonatas and concerts in D and C minor) Brahms (both concerts, intermezzi , Rhapsody in g, Variations Handel / Paganini), CM v. Weber, Mendelssohn, Schubert (Impromptus, Moment Musical, Wanderer Fantasy (also with orchestra) Erlkönig-Liszt), all concerts, by JS Bach: Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue, Italian Concert, Toccata and Fugue (Tausig), organ fugues in a ( Liszt) and D (Reger), Div. Preludes and fugues from the Well-Tempered Clavier, Debussy (Ministrels, Feu d'artifice, Childrens Corner), concerts by Grieg, Henselt, Tschaikowsky, Saint-Saëns, Anton Rubinstein and Richard Strauss (burlesque for piano and orch)
Compositions
- Concerto for large orchestra and piano in B flat minor,
- Concert etude in octaves,
- Rhapsody,
- Caprice,
- Two chansonets
- 9 small pieces,
- 3 concert pieces,
- Elegiac improvisation,
- 7 changes on a theme by Bach,
- Cello Concerto in E major,
- Songs
- Arrangements for piano
- Etude in F minor for the left hand (Chopin),
- Perpetual motion machine for the left hand (Weber),
- Variations (Bumblebee),
- Gigue (Handel),
- Etude, Si oiseau j'étais (Henselt)
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Fred K. Prieberg : Handbook of German Musicians 1933–1945 . CD-Rom-Lexikon, Kiel 2004, p. 7445.
- ^ Nekrolog Rev. Höfer, 1946, Archive Otto Voss (AOV), Aarau, Switzerland
- ^ Family chronicle Voss-Engelmann, ms. (AOV)
- ↑ Otto Voss, Brochure Concert Agency Hugo Görlitz, London, 1904 (AOV)
- ↑ a b Repertoire and catalog raisonné Otto Voss, ms. (AOV)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Voss, Otto |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Concert pianist, piano teacher and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 13, 1875 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | new York |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 15, 1946 |
| Place of death | Heidelberg |