Harold Bauer

Bauer made his initial public appearance at nine years old, playing the violin. Paderewski later became his teacher and urged him toward a professional path at the keyboard. During 1893 he gave a recital in Paris before embarking on a Russian tour. Though already recognized as a distinguished soloist, he built a further name for himself as a chamber musician, regularly joining Thibaud and Casals in trio performances. Near the close of World War I he established himself in New York, where he quickly became a central figure in the city’s concert scene and, in 1918, created the Beethoven Association of New York. His programs featured the music of Brahms, Schumann, and Franck, yet he also programmed works by then-modern figures such as Debussy and Ravel. In 1948 he published the memoir Harold Bauer, His Book in New York.