Franz Rupp (Arranger)

Born: February 24, 1901 - Schongau, Germany
Died: May 27, 1992 - New York, New York, USA

The German-American pianist and teacher, Franz Rupp, received his training at the Munich Akadernie der Tonkunst.

In 1920 Franz Rupp made his first tour of the USA with Willy Burmester, and subsequently acquired a distinguished reputation as an accompanist to Fritz Kreisler. He established himself as an important figure in the international music world, playing for such stellar artists as Lotte Lehmann, Maria Stader and Beniamino Gigli, and appearing as soloist with several German orchestras under such conductors as Wilhelm Furtwängler. In 1938 he settled in the USA. He was active also as chamber musician.

By 1940, Franz Rupp was chosen to be Marian Anderson's accompanist. He brought a broad and varied expertise to this partnership. At first she found that he played "much more as a pianist than as accompanist," but it was owing to his encouragement, particularly with German repertory, that she rethought her renditions of some of the Lieder she had previously studied. With Schubert in particular, he helped her "to achieve a better understanding and performance." This extraordinary musical partnership lasted 25 years, until Marian Anderson's retirement from the stage in 1965. He continued to perform regularly until his farewell appearance at the Lockenhaus Festival in Austria in 1985.

Franz Rupp was also active as a teacher at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia for 7 years after settling in the USA.

Source: Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of 20^th Century Classical Musicians (1997); Penn Special Collections Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2007)

Franz Rupp: Short Biography | Piano Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Penn Special Collections: Franz Rupp, Accompanist

Bibliography