Richard Buhlig

Richard Buhlig (21 December, 1880 – 30 January, 1952) was an American pianist.

Buhlig was born in Chicago, where he received his early training. In 1897 he moved to Vienna to study under Teodor Leszetycki. Upon completing his studies in 1900, he gave his first public concert in 1901 in Berlin, and toured extensively in Europe until late 1906. The next year Buhlig made his first mature American debut, with the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York City. In 1918 Buhlig joined the staff of the Juilliard School (then called "Institute of Musical Art") in New York as a piano teacher: he gave recitals of Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Schubert and Schumann (with emphasis on Beethoven). [Olmstead 1999, 50.] However, he soon left the position and went to Europe again. Some years later he returned to the US and settled in Los Angeles, dividing his time between teaching and performing. He died in Los Angeles.

As a pianist, Buhlig was highly regarded for his performances of Bach (particularly the two piano transcription of "The Art of Fugue" he made and performed), late Beethoven and Brahms. [Hopkins, Grove.] However, much of his repertoire was contemporary or near-contemporary music. He gave the American premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Op. 11 and performed pieces by other European modernists such as Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Claude Debussy. He also played music by new composers: Ruth Crawford and Adolf Weiss among others. [Tick 1997, 63.] In the 1920s he began playing Henry Cowell (whom he also taught) and his circle. In early 1930s Buhlig tutored John Cage: it was he who advised Cage to study with Schoenberg. The German pianist Grete Sultan, mentor to Christian Wolff and friend to Cage, studied under Buhlig in early 1900s.

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References

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* Olmstead, Andrea. 1999. "Juilliard: A History". University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252071069
* Tick, Judith. 1997. "Ruth Crawford Seeger: A Composer's Search for American Music". Oxford University Press US. ISBN 0195137922