Harold Victor Bauer (28 April 1873 – 12 March 1951) was an English-born pianist of Jewish heritage who began his musical career as a violinist.
Early life, education and childhood career
Harold Victor Bauer was born in Kingston upon Thames in southwest London; his father was a German violinist and his mother was English. He took up the study of the violin under the direction of his father and Adolf Pollitzer. He made his debut as a violinist in London in 1883, and for nine years toured England.
In 1892, however, Bauer went to Paris and studied the piano under Ignacy Jan Paderewski for a year, though still maintaining his interest in the violin. An anecdote reports that Paderewski jokingly told Bauer to concentrate on the piano because "You have such beautiful hair".
During 1893–94, Bauer travelled all through Russia accompanying the noted soprano Mademoiselle Nikita and giving piano recitals and concerts, after which he returned to Paris. Further recitals in Paris brought him renown, and he almost immediately received engagements in France, Germany and Spain. His reputation was rapidly enhanced by these performances, and his field of operation extended through the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Scandinavia and the United States.
Between 1915 and 1929, he recorded over 100 pieces for the Duo-Art and Ampico reproducing pianos, one of the most prolific virtuoso pianists in this medium of his era.
Bauer was also an influential teacher and editor and was head of the piano department at the Manhattan School of Music. Starting in 1941, Bauer taught winter master classes in the University of Miami and served as a visiting professor in the University of Hartford Hartt School of Music with maestro and founder Moshe Paranov and the head of the piano department, Raymond Hanson, from 1946 until his death in Miami, Florida, in 1951.
He published Harold Bauer, His Book (New York, 1948).[ISBNmissing]
Harold's sister, Ethel Bauer, was also a concert pianist active in London.
Bauer was married twice. He first married the divorcée Maria Knapp (1861–1940) in 1906 until her death. In January 1941, he married a colleague and his former student, the concert pianist Wynne Pyle. He had no children by either marriage.
The Art of the Piano. Its performers, literature, and recordings. Third edition, by David Dubal. The Pianists section begins on page 11. Pompton Plains, NJ: Amadeus Press, 2004.
The ASCAP Biographical Dictionary. Third edition, New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, 1966
Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians
Sixth edition, revised by Nicolas Slonimsky, London: Collier Macmillan Publishers
Notable Twentieth-Century Pianists: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook, two volumes, by John Gillespie & Anna Gillespie, Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 1995
The Penguin Dictionary of Musical Performers: A Biographical Guide to Significant Interpreters of Classical Music — Singers, Solo Instrumentalists, Conductors, Orchestras and String Quartets — Ranging From the Seventeenth Century to the Present Day, by Arthur Jacobs, London: Viking Press, 1990
↑Robert Schrade (1924-2015), touring concert pianist (with critically acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall, Lincoln Center, Greece, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, etc.), co-founder of Sevenars Concerts in Massachusetts with wife, Rolande Maxwell Young (who also studied with Bauer), and teacher at several schools, including the Manhattan School of Music (and MSM Prep Division). Schrade was praised by leading critics, including Virgil Thomson and Harold Schonberg, and remastered recordings have been highly praised by the American Record Guide and others.
