Lili Kraus

Lili Kraus ( born March 4, 1905 in Budapest, † November 6, 1986 in Asheville ) was a major English pianist of Hungarian descent

Youth and Education

Lili Kraus was born in a poor family, but learned the age of 6 playing the piano. Even as eight years, she was accepted at the Royal Conservatory of Budapest. Here she took lessons in theory with Zoltán Kodály and on piano by Béla Bartók. She graduated as a 17 -year-old with honors. In 1922, she then moved to the Vienna Academy of Music and perfected at Severin Eisenberger, students Leschetitzky, and studied contemporary music with Edward helmsman, one of the early students of Schoenberg's. The three-year master class she finished after only one year. She was then at the Vienna Music Academy itself professor, but this life position announced 1930.

In Vienna, she met Otto Mandl, a wealthy mining engineer and philosopher. They went to the Catholic faith and married on 31 October 1930. Mandl gave up his job and dedicated himself to Lili's career. So she could attend the master class of Artur Schnabel, they moved in the same year to Berlin. Here are her two children, Ruth and Michael, were born. 1932 the family moved to Lake Como, Tremezzo in Italy where they lived until 1938. In 1933, Artur Schnabel also after Termezzo, where he established a music school. This was led by Peter Diamand, who later became director of the Holland Festival. Artur Schnabel taught the pianist, his wife Therese, the singer and violinist Szymon Goldberg. These summer classes were attended by about fifty master students and beak remained there until 1939.

In the 1930s, she went on tour, both as a soloist and accompanist at the piano with violinist Szymon Goldberg. For the British record label Parlophone, they took in 1935 and 1937, the sonatas of Beethoven and Mozart. In addition, Chopin, Haydn, Schubert and Bartók was part of their repertoire. Before the coming of National Socialism fled to London, but only stayed there for a year before they moved on to Amsterdam. From here, Kraus went on a world tour in 1940, which started in San Francisco with her American debut in 1941.

In Japanese captivity 1943-45

In June 1943, she was - just like Szymon Goldberg - imprisoned with her family in Jakarta, under a pretext of the Japanese. They were separated and came in various prison camps, so long that they knew nothing of each other for over a year. They shared a cell with 12 other women and was sentenced to hard labor, which meant cleaning latrines for them. You had to carry water buckets and their hands came here with sharp soap and chemicals in contact. The daily ration consisted of 2 cups of rice and bitter herbal tea. Through the intervention of a Japanese conductor, who had heard it in 1936 in Tokyo, she came after one year to another camp and was reunited with her family. Also it was allowed to play the piano. After another two years they were released in August 1945. She had been greatly reduced and her body was covered with open sores and infections. Your personal property was lost. The captivity she held benefit later that they learned by heart many piano pieces. Through the hard work of their hands had become stronger and the fingers had lost their sensitivity. Now she had to be patient and learn new piano performance in hard work.

In Australia, she gained new powers. Within 1 ½ years she gave more than 120 concerts in Australia and New Zealand. In recognition of their contributions in helping those in need countries they became an honorary citizen of New Zealand with a pass that they journeyed from now on.

New beginning 1948

In 1948 she was ready for the second phase of her career. She returned to Europe and made her first recording session after the war. In 1949 she played successfully in New York. In the same year she moved with her family to South Africa, where she taught at the University of Cape Town from 1949-50. After that, she lived in Paris and Vienna until they settled in Nice, where her husband died in 1956.

In Germany it was hard to compete against the big late-Romantic piano titans such as Wilhelm Backhaus, Edwin Fischer and Wilhelm Kempff, who in the 1950s with a ( then usual ) played Beethoven's piano sonatas monumentality. Lili Kraus was of a very different style of interpretation: they led the works back to a human scale, without denying the brooding and heroic, combative moment. In France, it was different. The record company Les Disco Philes français was interested in Kraus and planned with her in the early 1950s, a complete recording of piano and chamber music works by Mozart and Haydn, but which was never made because very end. By Willi Geiger Boskowsky she recorded Mozart's violin sonatas, and in the trio Lili Kraus / Willi Boskowsky / Nikolaus Hübner, the piano trios were the mid-1950s recorded. A short time later, the Mozart Project then fizzled.

Was among the highlights of her performances of the Hochzeitsbanquett of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi on February 12, 1951 at Golestanpalast of Tehran. In the Canterbury Cathedral, she played the first female artist in a church concert. She played in the new capital Brasilia and performed with the Salzburg Chamber Orchestra at the Moroccan Mozart Festival in the historic palaces and courtyards.

She was many years a judge of the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in Texas

In the summer of 1965 she spent a few weeks with Albert Schweitzer in Lambarene and delighted him on his sick bed by her piano playing Beethoven from their repertoire.

In 1968, it appointed the Texas Christian University in Fort Worth for the Artist in Residence; She taught there continuously until 1983.

After that she lived with her daughter Ruth and son Fergus Pope in Asheville, North Carolina, where she died in 1986.

Importance

Lili Kraus was one of the most prominent Mozart performers of the 20th century. Your end of the 1960s recorded complete recording of Mozart's piano sonatas is still regarded as exemplary. She prefers unlike many pianists of her time not powerful tones, but works very close detail, without, however, neglecting the great line. Since she was apparently never more at a record company under contract, there are few shots. Commercially currently the 4th Piano Concerto of Beethoven with the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera under Victor Desarzens, some of Mozart's piano concertos under Enrique Jorda and Rudolf Moralt available. With the violinist Szymon Goldberg, one of their preferred chamber music partner, she played a violin sonatas by Mozart and Beethoven.

Swell

The pianist Lili Kraus Send manuscript for the Germany radio, Cologne. ( Broadcast: 1990 - " Historical Records " )

Eduard Steuermann Brasília Lambaréné Fort Worth, Texas Ludwig van Beethoven Integrated Authority File

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