Ingrid Haebler

Ingrid Haebler, an Austrian pianist celebrated for her distinctive readings of works by Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert, produced some of the first recordings to reflect historically informed practices. Her collaborations on disc with violinist Henryk Szeryng earned widespread critical praise. Born in Vienna in 1929, she relocated with her family to Poland while still an infant. Piano lessons with her mother began in childhood, leading to a public debut in Salzburg in 1940 after her parents had settled there at the outbreak of World War II. At the Salzburg Mozarteum she studied under Robert Scholz, later enrolling at the Vienna Academy where Paul Weingarten guided her from 1943 to 1947 and Richard Hauser instructed her in 1952. Additional coaching came from Nikita Magaloff at the Geneva Conservatory in 1950 and from Marguerite Long at the Paris Conservatory in 1953. During the 1950s she captured first prizes at major European contests, including those in Geneva and Munich, and embarked on concert tours across Japan, Australia, Europe, and Canada. The Harriet Cohen Beethoven Medal was conferred on her in 1957, followed by an American debut in 1959 as soloist with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. The ensuing decade brought solo recitals along with extensive tours and recordings alongside Henryk Szeryng; their accounts of the Beethoven and Mozart sonatas for violin and piano garnered particular esteem. Haebler also completed integral sets of Schubert’s and Mozart’s piano sonatas, while her performances of Mozart’s piano concertos—featuring her own cadenzas—remained favorites among aficionados. In 1969 she accepted a two-year post as piano professor at the Salzburg Mozarteum, around which time she taped the keyboard concertos of Johann Christian Bach with Eduard Melkus and the Capella Academia Wien. Her choice of fortepiano for these sessions placed her among the earliest exponents of historically informed performance. Touring and recording continued through the 1980s, and in 1986 Vienna presented her with its Medal of Honor. Philips reissued selected recordings in 1999 as Volume 42 of its Great Pianists of the 20th Century series and accompanying box set. Observers frequently characterize her playing as elegant yet expressive, distinguished by crystalline articulation. She died on May 15, 2023, five weeks before her ninety-fourth birthday. A comprehensive 58-disc collection issued by Decca in 2022, titled Ingrid Haebler: The Philips Legacy, preserves much of her discography.