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Born: May 8, 1910 - Bremen, Germany
Died: November 26, 1983 - Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany |
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The German pianist, Carl Seemann, studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with, among others, The Thomas Chair organist, Günther Ramin as well as with Carl Adolf Martienssen, Franz Liszt's grandson.
After graduating, Carl Seemann was the organist at Flensburg's St. Nicholas Church and at the Cathedral in Verden. By 1935 he had already decided to devote himself to a piano career. He taught at the Nordmark Music School in Kiel and beginning in 1942 he led master-classes at the Strassbourg State Music School. In 1946 he was named Director of the State Institute for Music in Freiburg.
Although the education of the young musicians was very important to him, Carl Seemann intensified his involvement in his own concert performances. Innumerable recordings and wide-ranging concert tours resulted in Seemann becoming a very well-known and internationally celebrated pianist. He wen on Alberta tours as a soloist through South Africa, the USA, Canada, Latin America and East Asia. His enthusiastic efforts and espousal of the works of J.S. Bach, as well as the Vienna classics and Johannes Brahms, speak to the wide musical range of his contribution to music. The works of contemporary composers also enjoyed a prominent place in his programmes. An unmistakable trademark of his interpretive skills was his ability to present the works of past times with a purity of style while never forgetting the feeling and the spirit of the 20th century.
Carl Seemann also devoted a large part of his effort to piano chamber music. For many years he performed sonatas with the violinist Wolfgang Schneiderhan. Their appearances, among others, at the important music Festivals in Vienna, Salzburg, Edinburgh or Lucerne were considered by music lovers to be high points of the international music scene. Carl Seemann also performed orchestral works in concert with famous conductors such as Leopold Stokowski, Herbert von Karajan, Eugen Jochum, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, Carl Schuricht, Rosbaud, Joseph Keilberth, Rudolf Kempe, Rieger, Kertesz, Bour and Paul Hindemith. |
