Biography - Prodigy Years

Biography - Prodigy Years (1914-1940)

Ovation Years (1941-1968)

Immortal Years (1968-1995)

Born in Budapest in 1914, Annie Fischer, being a child prodigy, shown her gifted talent since early age and was able to play music melodies on the piano from memory. It was and still is a common mistake that she made her debut at age eight and her international debut at twelve. One can find such faulty references everywhere even on her official recording and concert programs. The truth was that she made her debut at almost age of ten (in late 1923) by performing the last two movements of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.1 in C major. It was an exciting performance and also an important discovery to the 15-year-older music critic Aladar Toth, who heard this talented child prodigy for the first time, who wrote a very positive review of it and also who became her husband in the future. Annie’s first international appearance was made at age 14 in Zurich in 1928, where she gave a recital of works by Chopin, Debussy and Liszt, as well as concerts of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 in A major and Schumann’s A minor Piano Concerto. The Zurich tour was well received with such review: “her supreme technical ability or the depth and maturity of her musical understanding which is incomprehensible at this age.”

Annie Fischer was accepted as a student of Arnold Szekely in the Liszt Academy of Music in 1925 and subsequently studied with the great composer-pianist Erno Dohnanyi since 1929. Her classmates included Edward Kilenyi and Andor Foldes. She quickly developed a masterful technique and mature musical sensitivity during the study and her exceptional understanding in music at such young age was rarely comparable. Since her graduation in 1932 with great success, she remained as one of the most memorable alumni of the Liszt Academy of Music and was later appointed as an honorary professor in 1965.

In 1933, the 19-year-old girl, also the youngest contestant among all, won the inaugural International Liszt Piano Competition in Budapest and received invitations of concert tour abroad. Chaired by Erno Dohnanyi, the jury panel included big names like Alfred Cortot, Leonid Kreutzer, Isidor Philipp, Emil von Sauer, Arnold Szekely, Jozef Turczynski, Paul Weingartner and other authorities. The final result was actually controversial as Annie Fischer did not give an impressive performance of the Liszt E flat major Concerto in the final round. It was probably true since Annie Fischer was not planning to participate in this competition and only learned the concerto in a rush. On the other hand, the barely twenty-year-old second prize winner, Ukrainian pianist Taras Mykyscha got much higher expectation from the audience and public press to win and received the most enthusiastic greeting during the prize winner’s gala concert. Taras might really have given an outstanding rendition in the concerto round but it is also worth to point out that seven out of the eight finalists played the E flat major Concert while only Taras chose the other one in A major. Meanwhile, Annie Fischer’s brilliant delivery in the previous stages gave the jury the deepest impression of her well-rounded technique and profound musicianship, especially in her spectacular performance of the Liszt B minor Sonata from the semi-final round. Competitions do not always have a "right" result no matter whether or not the out-come is consistent with the audiences. But what does “A Right Result” mean anyway? A prize winner that could continuously demonstrate a profound musicianship and high quality of performances is the answer. Annie Fischer's lifetime achievement certainly proved she was "A Right Result". In fact even though the public was arguing about the scoring system of the competition and questioning the greater success of the Hungarian contestants than the foreign contestants, yet among all the finalists, only probably three carried on with a successful career and are still remembered nowadays: Annie Fischer, Louis Kentner (3rd Prize) and Andor Foldes (Finalist), all Hungarians.

Despite the noise from the competition, Annie Fischer soon received concert invitations from many European countries, including Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Poland and Switzerland etc. Concerts were praised by the critics that further proved her being the right winner and a promising artist. Besides concert tours, it was more important that she had opportunities to work with conductors like Ansermet, Boult, Busch, Klemperer and Mengelberg. In 1937, she married the eminent musicology and influential critic Aladar Toth. The marriage was like a fairy tale as Aladar had been observing Annie’s musical development since her debut at age 10 and attended virtually all of her concerts whenever possible. Although Aladar never again wrote reviews on her after their marriage, his inspiration and life-time support played an important role in Annie Fischer's career.

Yuan Huang
Nov.26, 2014

(Revised Mar.6, 2016)

1933, Budapest Liszt Piano Competition Poster

Annie Fischer's 1933 Liszt Competition Diploma

1933 Liszt Competition Prize Winners' Gala Concert

ADDITIONAL READING

The Sauer scandal in this competition was another embarrassing story while he, the world-renowned pianist and the great student of Liszt, resigned from the jury panel before the final round. He was blaming that the competition system was biased and was not following the spirit of Liszt. Sauer did not leave the competition alone but also took away his student Angelica Morales. However Sauer’s motive was described in the press as being unpleasant that his student was not given a better position. They were also suspected more than just teacher-student relationship and it might be a valid statement as Angelica Morales became Sauer’s second wife few years later.

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