ROSENTHAL, MORIZ

ROSENTHAL, MORIZ (Maurycy , 1862–1946), pianist. Rosenthal was born in Lvov (Lemberg, Galicia), the son of a professor at the Lvov Academy of Music. He began playing the piano at the age of eight, and in 1872 entered the Academy, where he studied with its director, Karol Mikuli, from 1872 to 1874. In the following year, Rosenthal's family moved to Vienna, where he continued his studies with Joseffy and he gave his first recital in 1876. He then began to tour, finishing his studies with Liszt at Weimar, and in Rome. For six years, he abandoned the concert platform, dedicating himself to a study of philosophy. Returning to the concert platform in 1886, he appeared as an artist in whom maturity of feeling and thought was matched by a virtuoso technique of the highest order; his reputation spread rapidly all over Europe and America, and was equaled only by that of *Godowsky. In 1903, he published (with Schytte) the manual, Schule des hoeheren Klavierspiels. In 1938, he took up residence in New York City, where one of his last pupils was the American pianist Charles Rosen, to whom he bequeathed the legacy of Liszt's teaching.

[Max Loppert (2^nd ed.)]

Rosenthal, Moriz

Rosenthal, Moriz , famous Austrian pianist; b. Lemberg, Dec. 17, 1862; d. N.Y., Sept. 3, 1946. He studied piano at the Lemberg Cons. with Karol Mikuli, who was a pupil of Chopin; in 1872, when he was 10 years old, he played Chopin’s Rondo in C for 2 Pianos with his teacher in Lemberg. The family moved to Vienna in 1875, and Rosenthal became the pupil of Joseffy, who inculcated in him a passion for virtuoso piano playing, which he taught according to Tausig’s method. Liszt accepted Rosenthal as a student during his stay in Weimar and Rome (1876–78). After a hiatus of some years, during which Rosenthal studied philosophy at the Univ. of Vienna, he returned to his concert career in 1884, and established for himself a reputation as one of the world’s greatest virtuosos; was nicknamed (because of his small stature and great pianistic power) “little giant of the piano.” Beginning in 1888 he made 12 tours of the U.S., where he became a permanent resident in 1938. He publ. (with L. Schytte) a Schule des höheren Klavierspiels (Berlin, 1892). He was married to Hedwig Kanner-Rosenthal .

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

Rosenthal, Moriz (b Lemberg, 1862; d NY, 1946). Ukrainian pianist. Début Vienna 1876. Retired from concert platform to study philosophy, Vienna Univ. 1880–6. Began foreign tours 1887, making int. reputation as one of the great pianists ‘in the grand manner’. Toured USA 1888–9, partly with Kreisler. London début 1895. Taught at Curtis Inst. Settled in NY 1939.