Steuermann, Edward

Composed 1964. First performance New York, 11 November 1965, members of The Orchestra of America, Abraham Kaplan conductor.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Composed 1959-1961.--Cf. Fleisher Collection.

Edward Steuermann, pianist, composer, and teacher; born June 18, 1892, in Sambor, eastern Galicia, Poland (now in Ukraine), died in 1962.

Clara Steuermann, pianist, music theorist, and music librarian; born Feb. 10, 1922, in Los Angeles, died in Jan. 1982; from 1975 to 1976 she was president of the Music Library Association.

Edward Steuermann, pianist, composer, and teacher; born June 18, 1892, in Sambor, eastern Galicia, Poland (now in Ukraine), died in 1962.

Clara Steuermann, pianist, music theorist, and music librarian; born Feb. 10, 1922, in Los Angeles, died in Jan. 1982; from 1975 to 1976 she was president of the Music Library Association.

Biographical Sketch

Edward Steuermann was born June 18, 1892, in Sambor, a small Polish city in eastern Galicia (now part of the Ukraine). His study of the piano began in 1904 with the Czech pianist and teacher Vilem Kurz and continued, first in Basel in 1910 and then in Berlin, with Ferruccio Busoni. His first composition teacher of note was Engelbert Humperdinck, but Steuermann's inclinations towards the modern idiom made him seek instruction elsewhere. At Busoni's suggestion, Steuermann began studying with Arnold Schoenberg in 1912, thus initiating a professional association that was to figure prominently in Steuermann's career as both composer and pianist. Beginning with Pierrot lunaire, Steuermann performed in the premiere of almost every Schoenberg work for which a pianist was required. While in Vienna, he served as the pianist for the Verein für Musikalische Privataufführungen (Society for Private Musical Performances) founded by Schoenberg in 1918 to introduce newer works there. Concurrent with these activities, Steuermann began a distinguished teaching career that would continue through the remainder of his life.

Steuermann emigrated to the United States in 1938, where he continued to perform, to teach, and to compose. His recitals encompassed both the traditional repertory, particularly the music of Beethoven, and contemporary works more in keeping with the idiom of the Schoenberg school and his own compositions. After a brief association with the New School and several summer sessions at Juilliard, Steuermann joined the Juilliard faculty in 1952 and taught there until his death. His students included Theodor W. Adorno, Alfred Brendel, Jakob Gimpel, Lorin Hollander and Joseph Kalichstein. Although his performing was limited during this period, he did continue to compose, with a piano trio (1954), the string quartet, Diary (1961), his Variations for orchestra (1958), the cantata Auf der Galerie (1963-64), and a Suite for Chamber Orchestra (1964). Notable among his earlier composing activities are his piano pieces and songs and his arrangements and transcriptions, particularly those of Schoenberg and Webern.

Clara Silvers Steuermann was born on February 10, 1922, in Los Angeles. After studying piano and composition at the City College there, she began her studies in music theory with Arnold Schoenberg at UCLA, while maintaining her study of the piano with Jacob Gimpel. She became one of Schoenberg's teaching assistants in 1942, beginning a lifelong personal association with him. Upon receiving her master's degree in 1944, at Schoenberg's and Gimpel's suggestion she moved to New York to study piano with Edward Steuermann. They were married in 1949.

Between 1951 and Edward Steuermann's death from leukemia in 1964, Clara Steuermann served as an administrative assistant at the Juilliard Opera Theater and earned a Master of Library Science from the Columbia Library School. After holding a number of positions with the New York Philharmonic, the Kingsborough Community College, and the Juilliard library, she moved with her daughters Rebecca and Rachel to Cleveland to build a library at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Her next post was at the Schoenberg Institute at the University of Southern California, where she organized the Schoenberg collection and administered the archive. Throughout her career, Steuermann was active in the Music Library Association, of which she was president for the 1975-1976 term. Her involvement with the international music-library community was also reflected by her activities in the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), particularly from the mid-1970's to her death in January 1982.