Ossip Gabrilowitsch

Ossip Salomonowitsch Gabrilowitsch (Russian Осип Саломонович Габрилович; * 26 Januarjul / February 7 1878greg in Saint Petersburg, .. † September 14, 1936 in Detroit ) was a Russian- American pianist, conductor and composer.

Life

He studied piano and composition at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Anton Rubinstein, Anatoly Ljadow, Alexander Glazunov and Nikolai Medtner. After graduating in 1894 he went to Vienna, where he studied with Theodor Leschetitzky another two years. He then worked as a freelance pianist active, acquired very soon a great reputation and was a sought-after artist. In July 1905 he was invited as one of the first pianists of M. Welte & Sons in their Leipzig recording studio, where he recorded ten pieces for Welte - Mignon ( see Sample ).

On October 6, 1909 he married in Redding (Connecticut) Mark Twain's daughter Clara Clemens ( 1874-1962 ), a contralto who he had met in Vienna in 1899 at Leschetitzky. Gabrilowitsch composed few works, mostly piano pieces for his own use.

From 1910 to 1914 he was conductor of the Munich Concert Association, the Munich Philharmonic today. He then went to the USA, where he had as a pianist of world renown many successful performances.

1918 Gabrilowitsch founding conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Stipulated he had to build a new concert hall, which was realized as Orchestra Hall (Detroit ). Even after the First World War, he undertook numerous tours of the U.S. and Europe.

He died at age 58 and was like his father in the Woodlawn Cemetery ( Elmira, New York) buried.

Works (selection)

• Five Piano Pieces Op. 1 No. 3 Valse lente (ca. 1897)

• Caprice Burlesque Op. 3, 1 (ca. 1901)
• Mazurka Mélancolique. Op. 3, 2

• No. 1 Good - bye ( Christina Rossetti )
• No. 2 I love her gentle forehead ( Richard Watson Gilder )
• No. 3 The new day (R. W. Gilder, about 1917)

• Elegy No.1