Levitsky (Levitzki), Mischa

views updated

LEVITSKY (Levitzki), MISCHA

LEVITSKY (Levitzki), MISCHA (1898–1941), pianist and composer. Born in Kremenchug, Russia, Levitsky studied violin from the age of three and piano from the age of six. He studied piano in Warsaw (1905–6, with Michaïlowsky), at the Institute of Musical Art in New York (1907–11, with Stojowski), and at the Berlin Hochschule fuer Musik (1913–15, with Dohnányi. Settling in the United States he toured widely and excelled in the interpretation of Chopin and Liszt. Among his compositions are a ballet, songs, piano pieces, and a cadenza for Beethoven's piano concerto in c minor.

bibliography:

ngg2; H. Brower, Piano Mastery, 2nd ser. (1917), 224–32; Obituary, in: Musical America, lxi/1 (1941), 32; G. Kehler, The Piano in Concert, (1982), 738–41.

[Marina Rizarev (2nd ed.)]