Menter, Sophie

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Menter, Sophie

Menter, Sophie, esteemed German pianist and teacher, daughter of Joseph Menter; b. Munich, July 29, 1846; d. there, Feb. 23, 1918. She studied piano with Niest in Munich and with Lebert in Stuttgart, making her professional debut in 1867 at the Gewandhaus Concerts in Leipzig. She later took lessons with Tausig and Liszt. In 1872 she married David Popper (divorced, 1886). From 1883 to 1887 she taught piano at the St. Petersburg Cons., then lived mostly in the Tirol. She composed a number of attractive pieces. Tchaikovsky orchestrated her work Ungarische Zigeunerweisen for Piano and Orch., and she played it under his direction in Odessa, on Feb. 4, 1893.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire