Wilhelm Kempff

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff entered the world in Jüterbog, Germany, on November 25, 1895. Coming from a family line of distinguished church organists, his father—who bore the same name—introduced the boy to music and keyboard skills at an early age. After private instruction with Ida Schmidt-Schlesike, the nine-year-old entered the Berlin Hochschule für Musik for composition lessons with Robert Kahn and piano studies under Heinrich Barth.

In 1914 Kempff enrolled at the Viktoriagymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin, where he resumed work at the Hochschule while also pursuing university courses in philosophy and music history. During 1916 he joined the Berlin Cathedral Choir on a tour of Germany and Scandinavia, serving as both pianist and organist. The following year he gave a recital at the Berlin Singakademie that centered on large-scale works, notably Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” Sonata and Brahms’ “Variations on a Theme of Paganini.” His first appearance as concerto soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra came in 1918, beginning a long-standing relationship with that ensemble.

Once World War I ended, Kempff took his performances onto an international platform. For decades he sustained a vigorous schedule of recitals and concerts across Europe, South America, and Japan, earning particular admiration for his authoritative readings of the core German Romantic repertoire from Beethoven through Brahms, as well as Chopin. His activity proceeded largely uninterrupted save for the span of World War II.

England and North America remained unvisited until comparatively late; his London debut recital occurred only in 1951, and his first New York appearance followed in 1964. By then the English-speaking public was discovering what audiences elsewhere had long known: Kempff ranked among the foremost exponents of the Austro-German piano tradition. He also maintained a significant teaching career, serving as director of the Stuttgart Hochschule für Musik from 1924 to 1929 and offering master classes there. In 1931, together with Edwin Fischer and Walter Gieseking, he established a summer course for advanced students at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam that continued until 1941. From 1957 onward he led Beethoven studies in Positano, Italy.

Onstage Kempff favored lyrical expression, natural charm, and spontaneous phrasing, qualities especially telling in smaller-scale or reflective passages. He cultivated a singing tone throughout his playing, though this occasionally shaded into mild affectation; extreme speeds and empty virtuosity held no appeal for him. Extensive recordings document his repertory, among them the complete sonata cycles of Beethoven and Schubert. Active well into later life, he continued to appear publicly past his eightieth birthday, performing as soloist with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1979—an event that underscored more than six decades of collaboration with the orchestra. Kempff died in Positano on May 23, 1991, at the age of 95.