Emil Frey (Composer, Arranger)

Born: April 8, 1889 - Baden (near Zürich), Switzerland
Died: May 20, 1946 - Zürich, Switzerland

The eminent Swiss pianist, teacher, and composer, Emil Frey (brother of the pianist Walter Frey), studied with Otto Barblan at the Geneva Conservatory. At the age of 15, he was accepted as a student of Diemer in piano, and studied with Gabriel Fauré and Charles-Marie Widor (composition) in Paris, where he won the ‘premier prix de piano’ in 1906.

In 1907 Emil Frey went to Berlin, and later to Bucharest, where he became a court pianist. In 1910 he won the Anton Rubinstein prize for his Piano Trio in St. Petersburg. On the strength of this success, he was engaged as Professor of the Virtuoso Class at the Moscow Conservatory from 1912 to 1917. Returning to Switzerland in 1917, after the Russian Revolution, he joined the faculty of the Zürich Conservatory, where he taught until his death. He continued his concert career throughout Europe and also in South America.

Emil Frey wrote 2 symphonies (the 1^st with a choral finale), Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, Cello Concerto, Swiss Festival Overture, Piano Quintet, String Quartet, Piano Trio, Violin Sonata, Cello Sonata, several piano sonatas, piano suites, and sets of piano variations. He published a piano instruction manual, Bewusst gewordenes Klavierspiel und seine technischen Grundlagen (Zürich, 1933).

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997); Guild Music Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2007)

Emil Frey: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Guild Music: The Eye of the Storm - Busoni

Bibliography