Emanuel Feuermann facts for kids
Emanuel Feuermann (born November 22, 1902 – died May 25, 1942) was a very famous cellist. He was known around the world in the early 1900s.
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Early Life and Musical Talent
Emanuel Feuermann was born in 1902 in a place called Kolomyja. This area was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, it is known as Kolomyia, Ukraine. His parents were Jewish and loved music, even though they were not professional musicians. His father played the violin and cello. He was Emanuel's first music teacher.
Emanuel had an older brother named Sigmund who was also very musical. Their younger sister, Sophie, born in 1908, was amazing at playing the piano. In 1907, their father decided to move the family to Vienna. He wanted Sigmund to start his music career there.
When Emanuel was nine years old, he began taking cello lessons. His teacher was Friedrich Buxbaum, who was the main cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. Later, Emanuel studied with Anton Walter at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In February 1914, when he was just eleven, Emanuel played his first big concert. He performed Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto in D major with the Vienna Philharmonic. Felix Weingartner conducted the orchestra.
Becoming a Professional Musician
In 1917, Feuermann moved to Leipzig to study with a famous cellist named Julius Klengel. In 1919, another cellist, Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Grützmacher, passed away. Klengel suggested that Feuermann take Grützmacher's place. So, Feuermann became a professor at the Gürzenich Conservatory in Cologne. He also became the main cellist for the Gürzenich Orchestra. The conductor, Hermann Abendroth, was also the director of the conservatory.
Feuermann joined a music group called the Bram Elderling Quartet. He also played in a piano trio for a short time. In this trio, he played with his brother and a pianist and conductor named Bruno Walter. In 1929, Feuermann became a professor at the Musikhochschule in Berlin. He taught there for four years. During this time, he played with many famous musicians. These included violinists Carl Flesch, Szymon Goldberg, and Joseph Wolfsthal. He also played with composer Paul Hindemith, who played the viola. They formed a string trio together. Feuermann also performed with Jascha Heifetz, William Primrose, and Arthur Rubinstein.
Moving Away from Nazi Germany
On April 3, 1933, the new Nazi government in Germany removed Feuermann from his teaching job. This happened because he was Jewish. He then moved to London with Goldberg and Hindemith. The trio recorded some music together for Columbia Records.
Feuermann traveled to Japan and the United States for concerts. Then he returned to London. In 1935, he married Eva Reifenberg. They had a daughter named Monica. After playing in the first performance of Arnold Schoenberg's Cello Concerto, he lived in Zürich for a while. But in 1938, he was in Vienna when the Anschluss happened. This was when Nazi Germany took over Austria.
A violinist named Bronisław Huberman helped Feuermann and his family escape. They went to British Palestine. Later that year, they moved to the United States.
Later Life and Legacy
In the United States, Feuermann taught cello privately. He also taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He worked with pianist Vladimir Sokoloff. Many of his students became well-known cellists. These included Bernard Greenhouse, Suzette Forgues Halasz, and David Soyer. He also made famous recordings with Heifetz and Rubinstein.
Feuermann passed away in New York City on May 25, 1942. He was only 39 years old. His death was due to problems during surgery.
What Others Said About Feuermann
Many famous musicians thought Emanuel Feuermann was an amazing talent. His teacher, Julius Klengel, said he had never seen such a gifted student. Jascha Heifetz, a legendary violinist, said that a talent like Feuermann's appears only once every hundred years. After Feuermann's death, it took Heifetz seven years to play with another cellist.
Artur Rubinstein, a great pianist, also praised Feuermann highly. He said Feuermann was the greatest cellist of all time, even better than Pablo Casals. Rubinstein felt that Feuermann had a deeper musical understanding. Critics also gave Feuermann great reviews. After a 1938 concert in London, a critic wrote that Feuermann was the greatest living cellist, except for Casals.
At Feuermann's funeral, many important musicians were honorary pallbearers. These included pianists Rudolf Serkin and Artur Schnabel, violinists Mischa Elman and Bronisław Huberman. Conductors George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, and Arturo Toscanini were also there. Toscanini was very sad and cried, saying, "This is murder!" In 1954, when asked about cellists he admired, Casals said, "What a great artist Feuermann was! His early death was a great loss to music."
Feuermann's Cellos
Emanuel Feuermann owned several special cellos during his life.
- In 1929, he bought a cello made by David Tecchler in Rome in 1741.
- From 1932, he also owned a cello made by Domenico Montagnana in Venice in 1735. This cello is known as the "Feuermann cello." It is now owned by a cellist and collector in Switzerland. This instrument was larger than the Tecchler cello.
- Feuermann later owned the De Munck Stradivarius cello from 1730. This cello has been loaned to other famous cellists over the years.
- He is also said to have owned a Goffriller cello. This cello was later owned by American cellist Joseph Schuster and then by Jascha Silberstein.
Recordings
You can hear Emanuel Feuermann play on several recordings. Some of these include:
- The Art of Emanuel Feuermann (released in 1969)
- The English Columbias, Vol. 1 (released in 1990)
- The English Columbias, Vol. 2 (released in 1990)
- The English Columbias, Vol. 3 (released in 1991)
- The Emanuel Feuermann Edition: The Complete English Columbia Recordings & Early German Parlophone Recordings (released in 2016)
See also
In Spanish: Emanuel Feuermann para niños
