Jaëll, Alfred

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Jaëll, Alfred

Jaëll, Alfred, Austrian pianist and composer; b. Trieste, March 5, 1832; d. Paris, Feb. 27, 1882. He studied with his father, Eduard Jaëll, and appeared as a child prodigy in Venice in 1843. He then continued his studies with Moscheles (1844). His subsequent concert tours earned him the nickname “le pianiste voyageur” After touring in the U.S. (1852–54), he was court pianist in Hannover (1856–66). He married Marie Jaëll (née Trautmann) in 1866. He wrote a number of effective virtuoso pieces for piano and also made piano transcriptions of the works of Wagner, Schumann, and Mendelssohn.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire