Grete Sultan

Grete Sultan

Grete Sultan (born Johanna Margarete Sultan) (June 21, 1906 – June 26, 2005) was a German-American pianist.

Born in Berlin into a musical family, she studied piano from an early age with American pianist Richard Buhlig, and later with Leonid Kreutzer and Edwin Fischer. In 1933, after the National Socialists came to power, she was, as all Jews were, banned from playing in public and could only appear in concerts of the "Juedischer Kulturbund" (Jewish Culture Association).

With Buhlig's help, Sultan fled Germany in 1941 via Lisbon, from where she emigrated to the United States by ship. She settled in New York City and took up piano teaching, first at Vassar College and the 92nd Street Y, then at the Masters' School in Dobbs Ferry, NY. In early 1930s she met the composer John Cage and became good friends with him, [Revill, 41.] and it was through Sultan that Cage met one of her students, Christian Wolff, who gave Cage his first copy of the "I Ching"—a book that shaped Cage's composition methods during the subsequent decades.

Cage dedicated two pieces to Sultan. The first was part of his "Music for Piano" series, "Music for Piano 53–68". [Revill, 185.] In 1974, when Sultan started learning Cage's "Music of Changes", the composer offered to write some new music for her, and the result was a monumental piano cycle, "Etudes Australes". [Kostelanets 2003, 91.] Sultan made the premiere recording of the work and played it in concerts worldwide. She also performed the music of Alan Hovhaness and Tui St. George Tucker, but contemporary composers were not the only ones that interested her: in the 1940s she helped popularize Bach's "Goldberg Variations", and her concert programs included music from Schubert and Stravinsky to Earle Brown and Morton Feldman.

Sultan gave her last recital in 1996, aged 90, at New York's Merkin Concert Hall, performing the "Goldberg Variations". She died in a Manhattan hospital five days after her 99th birthday, of pneumonia complications.

Discography

* John Cage: Etudes Australes {Wergo B000025RQQ}
* "Grete Sultan - The Legacy, Vol. 1": Bach ("Goldberg-Variations"), Debussy, Schoenberg and Cage {Concord 42030}
* "Grete Sultan - The Legacy, Vol. 2": Beethoven ("Diabelli Variations"), Copland, Wolpe, Hovhaness, Cage u.a. {Labor 7038-2}
* "Grete Sultan - The Legacy, Vol. 3": Schumann (Fantasia C-Dur), Schubert (Sonata a-moll) (in preparation)
* "Grete Sultan - The Legacy, Vol. 4": Sonaten für Klavier und Violoncello von Beethoven with Eva Heinitz (in preparation)

References

*
*
* Kostelanetz, Richard. 2003. "Conversing with John Cage". New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93792-2
* Revill, David. 1993. "The Roaring Silence: John Cage – a Life". Arcade Publishing. ISBN-10: 1559702206, ISBN-13: 978-1559702201

Notes


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем сделать НИР

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Grete Sultan — (* 21. Juni 1906 in Berlin; † 26. Juni 2005 in New York City) war eine deutsch amerikanische Pianistin und Klavierpädagogin. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Ehrungen 3 Diskografie …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Grete — ist ein weiblicher Vorname. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Herkunft und Bedeutung 2 Varianten 3 Bekannte Namensträgerinnen 3.1 Vorname …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Sultan (Begriffsklärung) — Sultan steht für: einen Herrschertitel, siehe Sultan Sultan ist der Familienname folgender Personen: Cem Sultan (Fußballspieler) (* 1991), türkischer Fußballspieler David Sultan (* 1938), israelischer Diplomat Faris Al Sultan (* 1978), deutscher… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Herbert Sultan — (* 22. Juni 1894 in Thorn; † 26. Oktober 1954 in Heidelberg) war ein deutscher Wirtschafts und Sozialwissenschaftler. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben 2 Bedeutung für die Soziologie 3 Werke (Auswahl) …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Etudes Australes — is a set of etudes for piano solo by John Cage, composed in 1974 ndash;5 for Grete Sultan. It comprises 32 aleatoric pieces written using star charts as source material. The etudes, conceived as duets for two independent hands, are extremely… …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Biografien/Su — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Demetrio Stratos — Birth name Efstratios Demetriou Also known as Demetrio Stratos Born April 22, 1945(1945 04 22) Alexandria, Egypt Died June 13, 1979 …   Wikipedia

  • Christian Wolff (Komponist) — Christian Wolff mit präpariertem Klavier im Februar 2007 Christian Wolff (* 8. März 1934 in Nizza) ist ein US amerikanischer Komponist mit deutschen Eltern. Er studierte Altphilologie an der Harvard University …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Heiner Stadler (Musiker) — Heiner Stadler (* 4. September 1942 in Westpreußen) ist ein deutsch amerikanischer Komponist und Musikproduzent, der auch als Jazzpianist hervorgetreten ist. Stadler wuchs in Hamburg auf und zog 1965 nach New York City. Dort war er als… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Christian Wolff (composer) — Not to be confused with Hellmuth Christian Wolff or Christian Wolff (baroque composer). Christian Wolff at his prepared piano performance, 2007. Christian G. Wolff (born March 8, 1934) is an American composer of expe …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”