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The Hungarian composer and pianist, Josef Weiss (also Weiß), was the son of Hungarian Jewish parents Emil and Charlotte Weiss. A child prodigy, he began his career as a concert pianist in 1877, at the age of 13. Like his brother, the composer Henri Berény, he was a pupil of Franz Liszt at the Budapest Conservatory, and was consudered as one of the more eccentric F. Liszt. His other teachers there included Ferenc Erkel and Robert Volkmann. He then studied music composition at the Vienna Conservatory where one of his classmates and friends was Leoš Janáček. After this he studied piano in Germany with Moritz Moszkowski.
Like many musician composers of his era, Josef Weiss divided his time between performing, composing, and teaching. After graduating from the Vienna Conservatory he joined the faculty of Theodor Kullak's music school, the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. His first success as a composer was his Piano Concerto, Op. 13 for which he was the piano soloist in its premiere with Berlin's Philharmonic Orchestra (precursor to the Berliner Philharmoniker) on December 30, 1890. He performed this work again in Weimar under the baton of Richard Strauss the following year.
In 1891 he was invited by Anton Rubinstein to join the faculty at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory where he taught through 1893. He gave a series of recitals in New York City at Mendelssohn Hall in 1898-1899 where he drew particular praise from critics for his playing of the works of Johannes Brahms. He returned periodically to New York, most notably serving as accompanist to Emma Nevada for performances at the Metropolitan Opera. He also gave a series of piano concerts in the USA sponsored by Steinway & Sons.
Joseph Weiss made his home in Germany, living in both Leipzig and Berlin. As a composer his works were written entirely for the piano. Several of his compositions were published by the Berlin music publisher Carl Simon, and he also made several recordings with the Berlin-based record company Anker-Record. He gained a reputation as a great interpreter of the works of Johannes Brahms, Frédéric Chopin, and Franz Liszt. His inventive interpretations of F. Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies recorded for Anker-Record in 1910 has been of particular interest to music historians and record collectors. He is best known for his highly individual recording of F. Liszt’s 12th Hungarian Rhapsody (Pearl). He made a number of other 78 rpm's for both Anker and German Parlophone (including a complete L.v. Beethoven Op.31 No. 3 Sonata), which have yet to reappear on CD. One of Weiss' Anker 78's features an abridged Adagio from L.v. Beethoven's Emperor Concerto, in which Weiss is accompanied by the asthmatic wheezings of Karl Stabernack on the harmonium.
In 1913 Josef Weiss wrote a piano score to accompany the silent film The Student of Prague (Der Student von Prag); a groundbreaking work regarded as the first German art film. It was the first score ever composed for a German film, and Weiss performed the music at its premiere. Weiss had intended to orchestrate the score, but this never occurred. At the centennial of the film, his piano score was presented in an arrangement for chamber orchestra that was orchestrated by Bernd Thewes which was recorded for presentations of the film at international film festivals in 2013.
In 1914 Josef Weiss joined the faculty of the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. From 1920 to 1924 he toured widely as a concert pianist, appearing in concerts in Paris, Chicago, London, Leipzig, Budapest, Vienna, and New York City among other locations while maintaining a residence in Berlin. Weiss' reputation as a pianist was marred by personal issues in relation to both nerves and his temper. Ernő Dohnányi lamented that Weiss's inability to control nervousness was a detriment to his playing. He considered Weiss the "greatest pianist in the world" when he was playing in low pressure concerts, but noted that in high pressure situations Weiss's nerves made his playing "exaggerated and distorted". At times, his behavior in concerts displayed eccentric and erratic behavior which historian Gregor Benko considered similar to, but more aggressive than, that of concert pianist Vladimir de Pachmann; another pianist of that period known for an odd demeanor in concerts.
In January 1910, Josef Weiss had a high-profile outburst in a rehearsal with Gustav Mahler and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Accounts vary, with some sources claiming the men merely shouted and exchanged rude words with one another which ended with Weiss slamming the piano shut and leaving the rehearsal. Other sources claim that Weiss threw and struck G. Mahler with his piano score for Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto and had to be forcibly restrained from physically attacking Mahler before leaving. Other accounts suggest that Weiss merely threw his score angrily on the ground, but not at G. Mahler. Regardless, Weiss's decision to leave the rehearsal required that the orchestra find a last minute soloist for their impending concert, and this event negatively impacted his reputation. In spite of this incident, G. Mahler considered Weiss to be the "greatest pianist he had ever heard" and the two men maintained a friendship.
Josef Weiss performed in concert halls internationally through 1924. With the rise of Nazi Germany Josef Weiss fled Berlin in 1936 and made his way to the city of Košice. Unable to take much with him beyond what he could carry in a suitcase, he had little resources and was homeless. He had a nomadic existence over the next few years, spending time first in Italy and then in Switzerland before returning to Hungary in 1939 where he settled in Budapest. Weiss was a victim of the Holocaust. He was involuntarily interned in the Budapest Ghetto and was one of the first 80 people placed in that Nazi ghetto in November 1944. He died in that ghetto in 1945 in unknown circumstances. It is possible that he may have died doing forced labor or participating in a death march. |
