Sauer, Emil von

▪ Austrian composer

born October 8, 1862, Hamburg

died April 27, 1942, Vienna

      German pianist in the style of Liszt, teacher, and composer noted especially for his long and successful concert career.

      He was a student of Nikolay Rubinstein at the Moscow Conservatory from 1879 to 1881 and of Franz Liszt in Weimar from 1884 to 1885. He made numerous concert tours from 1882 to 1936, including two to America (1898–99 and 1908). He was appointed head of the Meisterschule für Klavierspiel at the Vienna Academy in 1901, moved to Dresden in 1908, and returned to Vienna and the Academy in 1915, remaining there until he returned to Dresden in 1922. He wrote two piano concertos, two piano sonatas, and many studies for piano; he also edited the complete piano music of Johannes Brahms and the pedagogical works of Louis Plaidy and Theodor Kullak, among others. His autobiography, Meine Welt, was published in 1901. His reputation was as a virtuoso with a refined and accomplished technique rather than as a composer.

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