Frits Hartvigson
Danish pianist and composer (b. 31 May 1841 [N.S.] at Grenå, Jutland; d. 8 March 1919 in Copenhagen), born Frits Seligmann Hartvigson.
His first piano instructors were his mother and Anton Rée. In 1859 he went to Berlin, where he studied under Hans von Bülow. He moved to London in 1864, where he gave regular concerts at the Crystal Palace and the Philharmonic Society. On 17 March 1877 [N.S.], he performed Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 1 at the St. James's Hall in London, for the first time in its revised version.
From 1872 to 1875 he lived in Russia, and when he returned to London was appointed pianist to the Princess Alexandra of Wales. He was made a knight of the Order of Dannebrog by the King of Denmark. He was an honorary member and (from 1888) a professor at the Royal Academy of Music.
Correspondence with Tchaikovsky
4 letters from Tchaikovsky to Frits Hartvigson have survived, dating from 1877 to 1893, all of which have been translated into English on this website:
- Letter 548a – 13/25 April 1877, from Moscow
- Letter 4938 – 22 May/3 June 1893, from London
- Letter 4943 – 26 May/7 June 1893, from London
- Letter 4943a – 27 May/8 June 1893, from London
5 letters from Frits Hartvigson to Tchaikovsky, dating from 1877 and 1893, are preserved in the Tchaikovsky State Memorial Musical Museum-Reserve at Klin (a4, Nos. 517–521).
Bibliography
- Čajkovskijs Briefwechsel mit Dr. Friedrich Sieger (1998)
- Paris vaut bien une messe! Bisher unbekannte Briefe, Notenautographie und andere Čajkovskij-Funde (1998)
- I will not alter a single note. New information on the History of Čajkovskij's First Piano Concerto (2008)
