Moór, Emanuel

Moór, Emanuel, Hungarian pianist, inventor, and composer; b. Kecskemet, Feb. 19, 1863; d. Mont Pèlerin, near Montreux, Switzerland, Oct. 20, 1931. He studied in Budapest and Vienna. He toured the U.S. from 1885 to 1887 as director of the Concerts Artistiques, for which he engaged Lilli Lehmann, Ovide Musin, and other celebrated artists, and also acted as their accompanist. He then lived in London, Lausanne, and Munich. He invented the Moór-Duplex piano, consisting of a double keyboard with a coupler between the two manuals (an octave apart). With the introduction of this piano, a new technique was made possible, facilitating the playing of octaves, tenths, and even chromatic glissandos. Some piano manufacturers (Steinway, Bechstein, Bösendorfer) put the Moór mechanism into their instruments. His 2^ndwife, Winifred Christie (b. Stirling, Feb. 26, 1882; d. London, Feb. 8, 1965), an English pianist, aided him in promoting the Moór keyboard, and gave many performances on it in Europe and the U.S. She publ, (in collaboration with her husband) a manual of technical exercises for the instrument.

Works

dramatic:Opera: La Pompadour (Cologne, Feb. 22, 1902); Andreas Hofer (Cologne, Nov. 9, 1902); Hochzeitsglocken (Kassel, Aug. 2, 1908; in London as Wedding Bells, Jan. 26, 1911); Der Goldschmied von Paris (n.d.); Hertha (unfinished). orch.: 3 piano concertos (1886, 1888, 1906); 8 syms. (1893–1910); 4 violin concertos (1905–07); 2 cello concertos (1905–06); Triple Concerto for Violin, Cello, Piano, and Orch. (1907); Harp Concerto (1913). Other: Requiem (1916); much chamber music; numerous songs.

Bibliography

M. Pirani, E. M. (London, 1959).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire