Alfred Grünfeld

Alfred Grünfeld 1906.

Alfred Grünfeld (Prague, July 4, 1852 – January 4, 1924, Vienna) was an Austrian pianist and composer. He was the first pianist of note to make genuine commercial recordings, and a CD featuring many of his tracks is available. His brother was musician Heinrich Grünfeld. His Viennese house is at Getreidemarkt 10, and has a plaque above the door. His grave can be visited in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna.

Johann Strauss II's walz "Frühlingsstimmen" by Alfred Grünfeld.

Life

Alfred Grünfeld was born as the second of ten children in a family of a Jewish leather merchant Moses Grünfeld (*1817 Kolín nad Labem) and his wife Regina, born Pick (*1826 Osek), in Prague - New Town.^[1] He received his first music lessons at the age of four. Later he studied with Josef Krejčí at the Prague Conservatory and with Theodor Kullak and J.T. Hoyer at the New Academy of Music in Berlin. In 1873 he settled at Vienna, where he received the title of "Kammervirtuose", and held a concert tour throughout Europe and the United States. During a visit to Germany Grünfeld was appointed court pianist to Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany. For his concert performances he received many titles, medals and decorations. From 1897 he was a professor at the Vienna Conservatory.

Works

Of his works, the following are for the pianoforte:

• Octave-study, Op. 15
• Minuet, Op. 31
• Spanish Serenade, Op. 37
• Tanz-Arabeske, Op. 41
• Romanze, Op. 42
• Ungarische Fantasie: mit Benutzung von Nationalmotiven, Op. 55 (1912)
• Johann Strauss II: Transcriptions & Paraphrases for Solo Piano - Die Fledermaus, Op. 56
• Soirée de Vienne, Konzertparaphrase über Johann Straußsche
• Walzer-Paraphrase about Frühlingsstimmen, Op. 410 by Johann Strauss
• Kaiser-Walzer

Recordings

• Piano Rolls (The Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation)

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alfred Grünfeld.

• Free scores by Alfred Grünfeld at the International Music Score Library Project
• AEIOU
• Jewish Encyclopedia