Menter, Sophie

PIANIST, COMPOSER (BAVARIA)
BORN 29 Jul 1846, München, Bayern - DIED 23 Feb 1918, Stockdorf, Bayern (near München)
GRAVE LOCATION München, Bayern: Alte Südfriedhof, Thalkirchnerstrasse 17 (05-02-35)

Daughter of the cello player Jozef Menter. She was a pupil of Sigmund Lebert (one of the founders of the Conservatory in Stuttgart). She was also taught by Carl Tausig and by Franz Liszt, who thought she was a very promising pupil. She and Liszt were close friends friends until his death.

She was beautiful and her fame grew rapidly. In 1868 she was engaged as court pianist by the Fürst von Hohenzollern in Löwenberg. In 1872 she married the cello player David Popper, but they divorced in 1886. She was the first woman to become a honourary member of the Philharmonic Society in London in 1883.

From 1883 to 1887 she was a teacher at the Conservatory in St. Peterburg, where she knew Tschaikowski, Rubinstein and Rimski-Korsakow. Her "Ungarische Zigeunerweisen für Klavier und Orchester" was first performed in Odessa in 1893. From 1887 onwards she lived at Schloss Itter near Kitzbühel and in Stockdorf near Munich, where she died in 1918.

Among her pupils were Fay Foster, Jean Micault and Wassily Lwowitsch Sapellnikoff. Her portait was painted by Ilya Repin.

Related persons
• was pupil of Liszt, Franz
• was a friend of Liszt, Franz
• was pupil of Tausig, Karl

Images

The grave of Sophie Menter at the Alte Südfriedhof, München.
Picture by Androom (22 Aug 2008)

 

Sources
Encyclopedie van de Muziek, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1959
• Hufnagel, Max Joseph, Berühmte Tote im Südlichen Friedhof zu München, Zeke Verlag, Würzburg, 1983
Sophie Menter – Wikipedia


Menzel, Adolf

Published: 13 Sep 2008
Last update: 15 Feb 2022