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May 25, 1991 · Wilhelm Kempff, a German pianist esteemed for his lucid, searching interpretations of Romantic repertory, died on Thursday at his home in Positano, Italy. He was 95 years old.
May 25, 1991 · POSITANO, ITALY -- Wilhelm Kempff, 95, a German composer and pianist whose interpretation of romantic and classical works influenced a generation of pianists, died May 23 at his home here. He had ...
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Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895. He grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of church music at the University of Erlangen. Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at ...
In 1917, Kempff made his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethoven's Hammerklavier Sonata and Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini. Kempff toured very widely in Europe and much of the rest of the world. Between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times in Japan (a small Japanese island was named Kenpu-san in h...
As a performer he stressed lyricism, charm, and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality, occasionally slipping into a slight degree of affectation in his phrasing. He avoided extreme tempos and display for its own sake. He left recordings of most of his repertory, ...
In 1924–1929 Wilhelm Kempff took over the direction of the Stuttgart College of Music as a successor of Max Pauer. In 1931 he was co-founder of the Summer courses at Marmorpalais Potsdam. In 1957 Wilhelm Kempff founded “Fondazione Orfeo” (today: Kempff Kulturstiftung) in the south-italian city Positano and held his first Beethoven interpretation ma...
A lesser-known activity of Kempff was composing. He composed for almost every genre and used his own cadenzas for Beethoven's Piano Concertos 1-4. His student Idil Biret has recorded a CD of his piano works. His second symphony premiered in 1929 at the Leipzig Gewandhaus by Wilhelm Furtwängler. He also prepared a number of Bach transcriptions, incl...
Beethoven: Piano Sonatas Nos. 1, 12, 19, and 20 (DG LP 138 935; released 1965; recipient of Grand Prix du Disque)
May 24, 1991 · NAPLES, Italy -- German concert pianist Wilhelm Kempff has died in his villa in the Amalfi Coast village of Positano at the age of 95, friends said Friday.
Jan 5, 2016 · He toured widely throughout contintental Europe and much of the rest of the world, but did not make his first London appearance until 1951, and did not play in New York until 1964. He gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981 and died in Positano, Italy at the age of 95.
May 25, 1991 · Wilhelm Kempff, the German composer and pianist whose interpretation of romantic and classical works influenced a generation of pianists, has died at his home on Italy’s southern coast. He was...
1991 deaths. 20th-century German composers. German pianists.
