Alexander Fiedemann

Alexander Fiedemann was born in Kyiv, Kiev Governorate, Russian Empire (today located in Ukraine) on 24 October 1878.{{cite book |last1=van der Straeten |first1=Edmund S. J. |title=The history of the violin; its ancestors and collateral instruments from earliest times |date=1933 |location=London |page=407}}{{cite book |last1=von Wasielewski |first1=Wilhelm Joseph |title=Die Violine und ihre Meister |date=1920 |publisher=Druck und Verlag von Breitkopf & Härtel |location=Leipzig |url=https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/wasielew/violine/chap010.html |language=de |chapter=10}} His birth name was Ruvim Peysakhovich Fidelman ({{langx|ru|Рувим Пéйсахович Фидельман}}). His father, Peysakh Fidelman, was a Klezmer and gave Alexander his first lessons starting at age 6.{{cite book |last1=Zylbercweig |first1=Zalmen |last2=Mestel |first2=Jacob |title=Leḳsiḳon fun Yidishn ṭeaṭer Vol. 2 |date=1931 |publisher=Elisheva |location=New York |page=904 |url=https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/collections/yiddish-books/spb-nybc201090 |language=yi}} At age 9, he began to study under Otakar Ševčík at the Kyiv Conservatory, and at 12 he went to Leipzig to study under Adolph Brodsky at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig.{{cite book |last1=Albrecht |first1=Bruno |title=Das Königliche Conservatorium der Musik zu Leipzig. 1843-1893. |date=1893 |publisher=Druck von Breitkopf & Härtel |location=Leipzig |page=80 |hdl=2027/uc1.c037324941?urlappend=%3Bseq=94 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.c037324941?urlappend=%3Bseq=94}}{{cite book |last1=von Wasielewski |first1=Wilhelm Joseph |title=Die Violine und ihre Meister |date=1920 |publisher=Druck und Verlag von Breitkopf & Härtel |location=Leipzig |url=https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/wasielew/violine/chap007.html |language=de |chapter=7}}{{cite book |last1=Skadovsky (Brodsky) |first1=Anna |title=Recollections of a Russian Home: A Musician's Experiences |date=1914 |publisher=Sherratt & Hughes |location=London |pages=144–5 |edition=2nd |url=https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofr00broduoft}} Among his public performances as a student in Leipzig was an 1890 performance of a Charles Auguste de Bériot piece which earned him great acclaim in the music press.{{cite journal |title=Foreign notes. |journal=The Musical World |date=1890-05-10 |volume=70 |issue=19 |page=372 |hdl=2027/hvd.32044043850221?urlappend=%3Bseq=376 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.32044043850221?urlappend=%3Bseq=376 |language=en}}{{cite journal |title=Leipzig. |journal=Neue Zeitschrift für Musik |date=1890 |volume=57 |issue=1 |page=208 |hdl=2027/ien.35556016028144?urlappend=%3Bseq=216 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/ien.35556016028144?urlappend=%3Bseq=216 |language=en}}

When Brodsky was offered a position with the New York Symphony Orchestra, he brought Alexander along with him to the United States, where he played some concerts, including at Carnegie Hall in December 1891, and some with Arthur Nikisch and his wife Amelie Heussner in 1892.{{cite news |title=SUNDAY CONCERTS. |work=The New York Evening Telegram |date=1891-11-23}}{{cite news |title=MUSICAL NOTES. |work=The New York Times |date=1892-01-17}}{{cite book |last1=Schickel |first1=Richard |title=Carnegie Hall, the first one hundred years |date=1987 |publisher=Abrams |location=New York |isbn=0810907739 |page=250}}{{cite web |last1=Куперштейн |first1=Григорий |title=Из серии Одесские ребята. Наум Блиндер. Часть 1 |url=https://www.chayka.org/node/7294 |website=Журнал "Чайка" |access-date=24 May 2021 |language=ru |date=2016-07-01}}{{cite news |title=The Nikisch Song Recital. |work=The New York Evening Post |date=1892-03-08}} Upon his return to Europe, starting in 1897, he became the first violin instructor at the newly founded music school ({{langx|ru|Музыкальное училище}}) in Odessa (which would later become the Odessa Conservatory, now known as the Odessa National A. V. Nezhdanova Academy of Music).{{cite journal |last1=Baley |first1=Virko |title=Odessa |journal=Oxford Music Online |date=2001 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.20250}} Among his students there were Mischa Elman, Naum Blinder, Alexander Schaichet, and Joseph Cherniavsky (who was his nephew).{{cite web |title=Alexander Schaichet |url=https://schaichet.ch/en/alexander-schaichet |website=Kammerorchester Zurich |access-date=24 May 2021}}{{cite journal |last1=Schwarz |first1=Boris |last2=Campbell |first2=Margaret |title=Elman, Mischa |journal=Oxford Music Online |date=2001 |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.08739}} His brother Max Fiedemann was also a violin instructor in Odessa, known mostly for teaching Toscha Seidel for a time.

File:Alexander Fiedemann and Naoum Blinder.jpg

In 1907 he relocated to Berlin and soon started teaching at the Stern Conservatory, where he taught as the advanced violin instructor from 1908 to 1919.{{cite web |title=Liste der Lehrenden des Stern'schen Konservatoriums (1850–1936) |url=https://www.udk-berlin.de/fileadmin/2_dezentral/FR_Musikwissenschaft/Dokumente/LehrendeSternKons.pdf |access-date=24 May 2021 |language=de}} Among his students there were Boris Kroyt, Josef Roisman and Toscha Seidel.{{cite book |last1=Baker |first1=Theodore |last2=Remy |first2=Alfred |title=Baker's biographical dictionary of musicians |date=1919 |publisher=G. Schirmer |location=New York |page=861}}{{cite book |last1=Gelatt |first1=Roland |title=Music makers, some outstanding musical performers of our day. |date=1972 |publisher=Da Capo Press |location=New York |isbn=0306705192 |pages=178–80}} He also established a permanent chamber quartet there, the Fiedemann-Quartett or Fiedemann String Quartet, which became very well known.{{cite journal |title=A New String Quartet. |journal=The Music Magazine-musical Courier. |date=1916 |volume=73 |issue=1 |page=7 |hdl=2027/chi.105755211?urlappend=%3Bseq=1231 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/chi.105755211?urlappend=%3Bseq=1231 |language=en}} And he regularly gave concerts, such as one in 1909 with Gustav Hollaender conducting an orchestra, where he played pieces by Spohr, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven.{{cite journal |title=Berlin |journal=The Violinist|date=December 1909 |volume=8 |issue=3 |page=36 |hdl=2027/nyp.33433082166459?urlappend=%3Bseq=138 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/nyp.33433082166459?urlappend=%3Bseq=138}}{{cite journal |last1=Frankenstein |first1=Ludwig |title=Konzerte - Berlin |journal=Musikalisches Wochenblatt |date=1909–1910 |volume=76 |issue=2 |page=479 |hdl=2027/uc1.l0066646043?urlappend=%3Bseq=114 |url=https://hdl.handle.net/2027/uc1.l0066646043?urlappend=%3Bseq=114 |language=en}}

In December 1927 Fiedemann married Fanny Ruden. After the rise to power of the Nazi Party, they relocated to Prague.{{cite web |title=Fany Fiedemannová |url=https://www.holocaust.cz/en/database-of-victims/victim/83824-fany-fiedemannova/ |website=Database of Victims - Holocaust |access-date=25 May 2021}} He lived his last years there in relative obscurity and died there on 28 January 1940.{{cite news |title=Prof. Alexander Fiedemann. In memoriam |url=https://archive.org/details/ju_dischesnachri11unse/page/n165/mode/1up?view=theater |work=Jüdisches Nachrichtenblatt |issue=10 |date=1940-03-08}}

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Category:1878 births

Category:1940 deaths

Category:Musicians from Kyiv

Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to Germany

Category:German classical violinists

Category:Violin educators

Category:Jews from the Russian Empire

Category:Kyiv Conservatory alumni