concerto at the Musical Festival of the Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein, of which he
was the honorary President, and which was held at Zurich between 8 and 14 July 1882.
Freund’s unpublished memoirs and letters detail his friendships with Brahms, Nietzsche,
Grieg, Rodin, d’Albert, Busoni, Joachim, Richard Strauss and Gottfried Keller. Freund
retired from teaching in Zurich in 1914 and returned to Budapest to live with his younger
sister Etelka and her family. Etelka was also an eminent pianist and teacher. Freund did
not make any rolls or discs. Source: Allan Evans (1996) ‘Etelka Freund’.
FRIEDHEIM
Arthur Friedheim was born in St Petersburg on 26 October 1859 and died in New York
on 19 October 1932. He first performed in public at the age of nine. He studied with
Anton Rubinstein for one year and was a pupil and amanuensis of Liszt from 1884 to
- He was a virtuoso of the first rank, especially as an interpreter of Liszt’s piano
music, was a gifted conductor and was one of Liszt’s most celebrated pupils.
Friedheim made his first American tour in 1891, meeting with pronounced success, and
was equally successful on several subsequent tours. He taught at the Chicago College of
Music in 1897. He lived for some years in New York, then in 1889 settled in London.
He often performed Liszt’s Sonata, including in the presence of the composer, and
performed it at the Liszt Festival which was held at the Liszt Academy of Music,
Budapest, from 21 to 25 October 1911. In addition to performing, he taught at the Royal
College of Music in Manchester. He conducted in Munich from 1908 to 1910 and after
1915 again in New York. In 1921 he moved to Canada to teach at the Canadian
Academy of Music in Toronto. He later taught in New York City where he encountered
prejudice because of his German surname.
Hugo Mansfeld wrote to Carl Lachmund in San Francisco on 6 March 1917: ‘That they
elected Friedheim honorary member [of the ‘Liszt Followers Club’] pleases me also
greatly. His character, of all those with whom I became intimate in Weimar, was most
sympathetic to me. He is generous to a fault, ready to help (like Liszt) aspiring pianists
in every way. I consider him the most interesting figure in the musical world at the
present day. He is the only one living who knew Liszt intimately, and should write a
‘Life of Liszt’.
Friedheim’s own compositions include operas, two piano concertos, several piano pieces
and some songs. His opera ‘Die Tänzerin’ was produced at Karlsruhe in 1897. He edited
Chopin’s Etudes. His pupils included Natalie Curtis, Colin McPhee and Julius Pruwer.
Friedheim made Liszt discs. He made numerous Liszt rolls, ten of which are on CD.
They are Harmonies du Soir, St Francis of Paola, Fountains of Villa d’Este, Ballade no. 2,
Hungarian Rhapsodies nos. 6, 9 and 12, On Lake Wallenstadt, Paganini Study no.1 and
Feux Follets.