Ania Dorfmann

Ania Dorfmann (9 July 1899 – 21 April 1984) was a Russian-American pianist and teacher, who taught at the Juilliard School in New York for many years and was the first of only a very few women pianists to play or record under Arturo Toscanini.

Career

Ania Dorfmann was born in Odessa, Russia (now in Ukraine) in 1899, the daughter of a merchant. She gave her first concert at the age of 11. Around this time she accompanied the even younger Jascha Heifetz.^[1][2] In 1916-17 she studied in Paris with Isidor Philipp at the Conservatoire de Paris,^[3][4] then returned to Russia to find it in the midst of revolution. She returned to France in 1920, commenced her professional career in Belgium,^[3] and played throughout Europe and Britain for the next 15 years, under such conductors as Willem Mengelberg, Sir Thomas Beecham and Sir Henry Wood.^[5] She made her home in London during this time.^[4] Among the artists she appeared with in Britain were John McCormack^[6][7] and Heddle Nash.^[8]

She made her New York debut in 1936 at the Town Hall,^[1] and played there again in 1938 and 1939. She was the first female pianist ever engaged as a soloist by Arturo Toscanini,^[1][9] under whom she played Beethoven's Choral Fantasy with his NBC Symphony Orchestra on 2 December 1939, the only time Toscanini ever programmed that work.^[10] They later played all the Beethoven piano concertos,^[1][11] and recorded the First Concerto in 1945 (there is also a recording of a live performance from 1939).^[10] She settled in the United States in 1938,^[4] touring and recording. Her agent at that time was David Rubin.^[12] Her appearances included concerts under Serge Koussevitzky.^[13]

In 1947 Ania Dorfmann worked intensively with the actress Barbara Stanwyck, who was making the film The Other Love, in which she played a concert pianist.^[14] Although Ania Dorfmann played the piano music heard on screen, she had Stanwyck practise for three hours a day to make her actions match the music.^[15]

In 1956^[1] (some sources say 1966) she joined the piano faculty of the Juilliard School, where she remained for most of the rest of her life.^[4][5] Ania Dorfmann's students included Lev Natochenny,^[16] Alexander Peskanov,^[17][18] Solveig Funseth,^[19] Minuetta Kessler,^[20] Raymond Jackson,^[21] Suezenne Fordham,^[22] Roman Markowicz,^[23] Robert Shannon,^[24] and Marian Migdal.^[25]

She retired in June 1983 and died on 21 April 1984, aged 84.^[26]

Personal life

She was the wife of Vladimir Dorfmann, a Russian businessman she met in Paris. Their daughter, Natacha Ullman (1929-1986), was a writer who used the pen name Natacha Stewart; she was the author of "Evil Eye and Other Stories", and a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. Natacha had two sons, Nicolas and Alex Ullman.^[27]

Recordings

Ania Dorfmann made a number of recordings primarily for RCA Victor, some of the most notable of which were:

• Beethoven: Piano Sonata No. 8 (Pathétique), Piano Sonata No. 14 (Moonlight)^[28]
• Beethoven: Triple Concerto, Michel Piastro, violin and Joseph Schuster, cello, NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, live recording^[29][30]
• Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 1 in C major, NBC SO, Toscanini (2 recordings; one live recording from 1939 and a studio recording from 1945)^[30][31]
• Beethoven, Choral Fantasy, NBC SO, Toscanini, Carnegie Hall, December 1939, live recording^[30][32]
• Chopin: Tarantelle^[33]
• Chopin: Waltzes^[34]
• Grieg: Piano Concerto in A minor, Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf^[5]
• Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody No. 10^[5][33]
• Mendelssohn: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G minor
  • London Symphony Orchestra, Walter Goehr^[5][35]
  • Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Erich Leinsdorf^[5][35]
• Mendelssohn, Songs Without Words (complete)^[5][35]
• Menotti: Ricercare and Toccata^[35]
• Ravel: Sonatine^[5]
• Schumann: Carnaval, Op. 9^[5]
• Schumann: Fantasiestücke, Op. 12^[5]
• Schumann: Album for the Young, Op. 68, excerpts^[36]
• Johann Strauss II, arr Tausig: Valse-Caprice No. 2 "Man lebt nur einmal" (1938; only the second recording of this work, Sergei Rachmaninoff having first recorded it in 1927)^[37]
• Tchaikovsky: Album pour enfants, Op. 39, excerpts^[36]
• Tchaikovsky: The Seasons, excerpts^[36]