Emil Frey (composer)

He was born in Baden, near Zurich, Switzerland in 1889. He studied with Otto Barblan, Willy Rehberg and Joseph Lauber at the Geneva Conservatory 1902–05,Grove's Dictionary, 5th ed, 1954, Vol. III, p. 496 then at the Conservatoire de Paris with Louis Diémer (piano) and Gabriel Fauré and Charles-Marie Widor (composition). In 1906 he won the Premier prix de piano.{{Cite web |url=http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Frey-Emil.htm |title=Bach Cantatas |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190303082310/http://bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Frey-Emil.htm |archive-date=2019-03-03 |url-status=live }}

He became a court pianist in Bucharest after 1907. In 1908 he and Xaver Scharwenka gave a private performance on two pianos of Scharwenka's Piano Concerto No. 4 in F minor to its dedicatee Queen Elisabeth of Romania. The next day it was performed publicly with orchestra; the composer conducted and Frey was the soloist.{{Cite web |url=http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66790 |title=Hyperion: The Romantic Piano Concerto, Vol. 11 – Sauer and Scharwenka |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141101045018/http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/al.asp?al=CDA66790 |archive-date=2014-11-01 |url-status=live }}

George Enescu dedicated his Piano Sonata No. 1 in F-sharp minor, Op. 24/1 to Emil Frey.{{Cite web |url=http://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=11L068 |title=Records International |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020104620/http://recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=11L068 |archive-date=2011-10-20 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |url=http://kasprecords.com/kasp57722.htm |title=Alternativa Online |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919104251/http://kasprecords.com/kasp57722.htm |archive-date=2013-09-19 |url-status=live }}

In 1910 Frey entered the composition section of the Anton Rubinstein Competition in St Petersburg, and won with his Piano Trio. This led to an engagement as Professor of the Virtuoso Class at the Moscow Conservatory 1912–17.

Back in Switzerland after the Russian Revolution, he taught at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste until his death, directing the piano finishing class there from 1922. His students included Victor Fenigstein, Peter Mieg{{Cite web |url=http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_personen&pers_id=248&setLanguage=en |title=MusicInfo – The Database of Swiss Music |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302072342/http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_personen&pers_id=248&setLanguage=en |archive-date=2014-03-02 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.petermieg.ch/Titelseite/Biografie/English/tabid/91/language/de-CH/Default.aspx |title=Peter Mieg website |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304025942/http://www.petermieg.ch/Titelseite/Biografie/English/tabid/91/language/de-CH/Default.aspx |archive-date=2014-03-04 |url-status=live }} and Adrian Aeschbacher.{{Cite web |url=http://kasprecords.com/kasp57722.htm |title=Kasp Records |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130919104251/http://kasprecords.com/kasp57722.htm |archive-date=2013-09-19 |url-status=live }} Rudolf Am Bach studied with him privately. He also concertised in Berlin, and toured throughout Europe and South America. He was considered among the leading Swiss pianists, his playing being noted for its extreme delicacy of feeling combined with brilliance of execution. He often played piano duos with his brother Walter Frey.

He died in Zurich on 20 May 1946, aged 57.

Emile Frey was a prolific composer, whose opus numbers reached 102. He was influenced to some degree by Alexander Scriabin, whom he knew, by Sergei Prokofiev{{Cite web |url=http://www.recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=03I056 |title=Records International |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111019132220/http://recordsinternational.com/cd.php?cd=03I056 |archive-date=2011-10-19 |url-status=live }} and by Ferruccio Busoni.{{Cite web |url=http://www.answers.com/topic/piano-music-from-zurich-1870-1930 |title=Answers.com |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303235356/http://www.answers.com/topic/piano-music-from-zurich-1870-1930 |archive-date=2016-03-03 |url-status=live }} His music includes:

• 2 symphonies (the first has a choral finale)
• Swiss Festival Overture
• piano, violin and cello concertos
• choral works to sacred texts
• chamber music (Piano Quintet, String Quartet, Piano Trio, Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata)
• piano music (sonatas, suites, sets of variations, and an instruction manual published in German and French)
• organ music
• other pieces

He also transcribed some works of Johann Sebastian Bach for piano.{{Cite web |url=http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_personen&pers_id=248&setLanguage=en |title=Bach Cantatas |access-date=2012-04-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140302072342/http://www.musinfo.ch/index.php?content=maske_personen&pers_id=248&setLanguage=en |archive-date=2014-03-02 |url-status=dead }}{{Failed verification|date=September 2017}}

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• {{IMSLP|id=Frey, Emil|cname=Emil Frey}}

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Category:1889 births

Category:1946 deaths

Category:20th-century Swiss classical composers

Category:20th-century Swiss classical pianists

Category:20th-century Swiss male musicians

Category:Anton Rubinstein Competition prize-winners

Category:Conservatoire de Paris alumni

Category:Swiss male classical pianists

Category:Academic staff of Moscow Conservatory

Category:People from Baden, Switzerland

Category:Piano educators

Category:Swiss classical pianists

Category:Swiss male classical composers

Category:Swiss music educators

Category:Academic staff of the Zurich University of the Arts