Paul Baumgartner
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Paul Baumgartner (Born 21st July 1903, died 19th October 1976): Swiss pianist.
Born in Altstätten, he studied piano and composition with Walter Braunfels in the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in München and with Eduard Erdmann in Köln where he subsequently taught. Fleeing from the rise of the Nazis he took up residence in Basel in Switzerland, where he taught in the conservatory.
A fine pianist, he was one of the musicians who rallied around the cellist Casals and played in the first Casals festival.
However, he is nowadays mainly remembered as a teacher, numbering among his pupils Alfred Brendel, Karl Engel, Arie Vardi and the conductor Günter Wand.
In 1962 he was awarded the Kunstpreis der Stadt St. Gallen. He died, in 1976, in Locarno, Switzerland.