Memoirs : Heida Hermanns Holde /

The author's mother Alice Goldschmidt was a gifted piano player, who studied with Carl Maria Breithaupt and became his most talented student. Childhood recollections. Early musical awakening. Outbreak of World War One. Recollections of air raids and scarceness of food. Inflation and political instability in post-war Germany. Piano lessons by her mother from an early age. Heida made her debut at age fourteen with the Wiesbaden Symphony under the conductor Carl Schuricht, who became a close mentor and friend. Close relationship to her mother, who had a great influence on her professional career. Heida had a number of outstanding teachers, among them Artur Schnabel, Karl Leimer and Egon Petri. Heida was accepted as a student of Petri at the "Hochschule fuer Musik" in Berlin, where she studied between 1922-1925. Salon at her aunt's house with guests such as the playwright Georg Kaiser and Siegfried Wagner. Her sister Elsie received her Ph.D. in economics and moved to Berlin as well. Heida graduated from the "Hochschule" in 1925. Soon after she won an international piano competition in Berlin. Engagements with various conductors such as Max Fiedler and Otto Klemperer. Private lessons with Arthur Schnabel and Carl Friedberg, the co-founder of Juilliard. Due to occasional experiences of antisemitism during her music career Heida decided to change her name from Goldschmidt to Hermanns. Position at the "Hoch Conservatory" in Frankfurt. Encounter with the music critic Artur Holde, Heida's future-husband. Engagement and wedding in 1932. Move to Berlin.Rise of Nazism. Start of the "Juedische Kulturbund", an organization providing a Jewish audience with concerts by Jewish musicians. Her husband's determination to leave the country after the Nazi takeover in 1933 eventually saved her and her family. They left Germany officially for a concert trip to the United States. Arrival in October 1936 in New York. Initial difficulties. Heida started with private piano lessons. Position at the Chatham Square Music School. Production of Paul Hindemith's "Let's Build a Town" in 1937. Arthur Holde became music editor of the German-language paper "Aufbau". Endeavors to bring her parents out of Germany. Studies with Pierre Luboschutz and Isabelle Vengerova. Piano recitals and concerts. Summer vacations in Westport, Connecticut. Ensemble with the violinist John Corigliano. Position at the Manhatten School of Music. Death of her husband in 1962. Work for an art council in Connecticut.The following individuals are mentioned in this memoir:Abendroth, Hermann, 1883-1956 ; Bernstein, Leonard, 1918-1990 ; Breithaupt, Carl Maria ; Copland, Aaron, 1900-1990 ; Corigliano, John ; Duke, Vernon (Dukelsky, Vladimir), 1903-1969 ; Eisner, Bruno ; Goldschmidt, Moritz ; Hindemith, Paul, 1895-1963 ; Hirsch, Paul ; Holde, Arthur, 1885-1962 ; Friedberg, Carl ; Jacobs, Monty ; Kaiser, Georg, 1878-1945 ; Kallir, Rudolf ; Klemperer, Otto, 1885-1973 ; Leimer, Karl ; Luboschutz, Pierre ; Manes, Alfred ; Mannes, David, 1866-1959 ; Melchior, Lauritz, 1890-1873 ; Petri, Egon, 1881-1962 ; Raabe, Peter ; Salzer, Felix ; Schiff, Paul ; Schuricht, Carl, 1890-1967 ; Sachs, Curt, 1881-1959 ; Seiber, Matyas, 1905-1960 ; Vengerova, Isabelle, 1877-1956 ; Wagner, Siegfried, 1869-1930 ; Walter, Bruno, 1876-1962 ; Warburg, Felix ; Weill, Kurt, 1900-1950 ; Wolff, Louise ; Zucker, Paul.The pianist Heida Hermanns Holde (Hedwig Goldschmidt) was born in an assimilated Jewish family in 1906 in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her father had a haberdashery business and her mother was a gifted piano player. Heida studied with a number of outstanding teachers, among them Artur Schnabel, Karl Leimer and Egon Petri. She married the music critic Arthur Holde. In 1937 they emigrated to the United States. Heida Holde lives in Westport, Connecticut.Synopsis in fileSee also: Heida Hermanns Collection AR 10183Hermanns Holde, Heida (Hedwig Goldschmidt), 1906-BochumCologneDuisburgEssenFrankfurt am MainThe HagueChildhoodMerchant