Wührer, Friedrich (Anton Franz)

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Wührer, Friedrich (Anton Franz)

Wührer, Friedrich (Anton Franz), distinguished Austrian pianist and pedagogue; b. Vienna, June 29, 1900; d. Mannheim, Dec. 27, 1975. He studied piano with Franz Schmidt, theory and composition with Joseph Marx, and conducting with Ferdinand Löwe at the Vienna Academy of Music (1915-20); also studied law and musicology at the Univ. of Vienna. From 1923 he made regular tours of Europe. He taught at the Vienna Academy of Music (1922-32), at the Hochschule für Musik in Mannheim (1934-36), in Kiel (1936-39), in Vienna (1939-45), at the Salzburg Mozarteum (1948-51), in Mannheim (1952-57), and in Munich (1957-68). He publ. Meisterwerke der Klaviermusik (Wilhelmshaven, 1966). His performances of the Classical and Romantic repertoires were highly regarded. He also championed the cause of 20th -century composers, ranging from Schoenberg to Prokofiev.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire