Adele Aus der Ohe (December 11, 1864 – December 7, 1937) was a German pianist and composer.
Aus der Ohe was born in Hanover. She initially studied with Theodor Kullak, where American pianist and chronicler Amy Fay heard her. Calling her "a little fairy of a scholar, ten years old," Fay wrote, "I heard her play a concerto of Beethoven the other day with orchestral accompaniment and a great cadenza by Moscheles, absolutely perfectly. She never missed a note all the way through."[1] She was one of the few child prodigies accepted as a pupil by Franz Liszt; she began studying with him at the age of 12 and stayed with him seven years (1877-84). Harold C. Schonberg writes that "Liszt liked her and said her touch was as soft as velvet and as strong as a man's."[1] Aus der Ohe promoted Liszt's music throughout her career; Richard Watson Gilder wrote a poem about such interpretations.
Adele Aus der Ohe was a friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, whose First Piano Concerto she performed under the composer's baton at the inaugural concert of Carnegie Hall in New York[2], as well as at his final concert in St. Petersburg, where the Pathétique Symphony was premiered. She subsequently settled in the United States, where she had debuted in December 1886 playing Liszt's First Piano Concerto, touring there 17 consecutive seasons.[1] She returned to Germany in 1906 and died in Berlin in 1937.
Aus der Ohe's repertory was large and included both Brahms concertos, the second of which she played as early as 1899 in Boston. She specialized in large-scale works; a typical program she played in Boston consisted of Beethoven's Waldstein Sonata, Chopin's Funeral March Sonata, Schumann's Fantasie in C and Liszt's Réminiscences de Don Juan.[3]
Her compositions, including a Suite (Op. 8), were published by G. Schirmer. She was married to Anton Seidl.[2]