Alfred Nieman
Encyclopedia
Alfred Nieman was a British pianist and composer.
Born in the East End of London
in 1914 to Polish immigrant parents, Alfred Nieman was playing piano for the silent cinema by the age of fourteen. His talent as a pianist was spotted and the result was that he won a piano scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
. In the 1930s he edited a six penny magazine "The Student".
Characteristically he attended few of his piano lessons but preferred to study by attending concerts given by his pianist heroes (such as Vladimir Horowitz
) and securing a seat from which he could watch and analyse the technique. He learned more from "observation in the field" than his teaching at the Academy was able to teach him.
Before World War II
, he had a very successful piano duo with his contemporary Cimbro Martin called "Merlin and Martyn". During the war the duo replaced Rawicz and Landau at their engagements when this much admired duo was interned. While their success was interrupted by the war and, and, as conscientious objectors the duo became firemen throughout the London Blitz, Merlin and Martyn was a regular act at The Dorchester Hotel in London.
After the war he picked up the threads of his career by becoming a BBC "house" pianist and was assigned tasks which required him on one occasion to accompany Noël Coward
and on another to stand in for the soloist and broadcast a piano concerto at very short notice.
Alfred composed extensively and across a the whole spectrum of musical idioms, protecting the then perceived respectability of his reputation as a serious composer by writing under at least six pseudonyms. He ghost wrote music on occasions including some film music which was credited to Benjamin Britten
.
He married in 1938 and with new family responsibilities (sons Julian, born 1946, and Paul, born 1950) he took up a professorship (1947) for piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music where he introduced and pioneered the use of improvisation, largely atonal, as a means of teaching composition. This was revolutionary for its time and the GSM was the only place where such a teaching idea could be found. He remained loyal to the Guildhall School of Music until his retirement.
He also gave evening classes in improvisation notably at Chiswick and Hampstead. Those who attended his classes included Sam Richards
, Barry Guy, Paul Rutherford, Fred Turner, Frank Denyer, Louis Foreman, Fiachre Trench and many others.
He was passionate in his teaching, he taught privately, lectured, ran Music Appreciation evening classes at the Workers Education Association and elsewhere in London.
His interests involved him with music therapy
, The Society for Gifted Children, Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation and The Society for Psychic & Psychological Research.
He had an appetite for knowledge and loved science though he was not good with technology.
Alfred was at once an intellectual and a child. When at breakfast one day he read in the newspaper of the invention by Dr. Barnes Wallace of the swing winged aircraft, he exclaimed
He counted among his friends not only people who inhabited the musical world but also scientists, artists and economists.
He joked that a large proportion of his students both at college and private went on to earn much more through music than he ever expected to.
Alfred Nieman died in Hampstead, London on 7 March 1997.
Born in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
in 1914 to Polish immigrant parents, Alfred Nieman was playing piano for the silent cinema by the age of fourteen. His talent as a pianist was spotted and the result was that he won a piano scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. In the 1930s he edited a six penny magazine "The Student".
Characteristically he attended few of his piano lessons but preferred to study by attending concerts given by his pianist heroes (such as Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Horowitz
Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz was a Russian-American classical virtuoso pianist and minor composer. His technique and use of tone color and the excitement of his playing were legendary. He is widely considered one of the greatest pianists of the 20th century.-Life and early...
) and securing a seat from which he could watch and analyse the technique. He learned more from "observation in the field" than his teaching at the Academy was able to teach him.
Before World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he had a very successful piano duo with his contemporary Cimbro Martin called "Merlin and Martyn". During the war the duo replaced Rawicz and Landau at their engagements when this much admired duo was interned. While their success was interrupted by the war and, and, as conscientious objectors the duo became firemen throughout the London Blitz, Merlin and Martyn was a regular act at The Dorchester Hotel in London.
After the war he picked up the threads of his career by becoming a BBC "house" pianist and was assigned tasks which required him on one occasion to accompany Noël Coward
Noël Coward
Sir Noël Peirce Coward was an English playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, known for his wit, flamboyance, and what Time magazine called "a sense of personal style, a combination of cheek and chic, pose and poise".Born in Teddington, a suburb of London, Coward attended a dance academy...
and on another to stand in for the soloist and broadcast a piano concerto at very short notice.
Alfred composed extensively and across a the whole spectrum of musical idioms, protecting the then perceived respectability of his reputation as a serious composer by writing under at least six pseudonyms. He ghost wrote music on occasions including some film music which was credited to Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
.
He married in 1938 and with new family responsibilities (sons Julian, born 1946, and Paul, born 1950) he took up a professorship (1947) for piano and composition at the Guildhall School of Music where he introduced and pioneered the use of improvisation, largely atonal, as a means of teaching composition. This was revolutionary for its time and the GSM was the only place where such a teaching idea could be found. He remained loyal to the Guildhall School of Music until his retirement.
He also gave evening classes in improvisation notably at Chiswick and Hampstead. Those who attended his classes included Sam Richards
Sam Richards
Sam Richards , is an English writer, composer, improviser, jazz pianist and former folk music collector and performer. For most of his life he has lived in south Devon....
, Barry Guy, Paul Rutherford, Fred Turner, Frank Denyer, Louis Foreman, Fiachre Trench and many others.
He was passionate in his teaching, he taught privately, lectured, ran Music Appreciation evening classes at the Workers Education Association and elsewhere in London.
His interests involved him with music therapy
Music therapy
Music therapy is an allied health profession and one of the expressive therapies, consisting of an interpersonal process in which a trained music therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their...
, The Society for Gifted Children, Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation and The Society for Psychic & Psychological Research.
He had an appetite for knowledge and loved science though he was not good with technology.
Alfred was at once an intellectual and a child. When at breakfast one day he read in the newspaper of the invention by Dr. Barnes Wallace of the swing winged aircraft, he exclaimed
“Why didn't I think of that?”
He counted among his friends not only people who inhabited the musical world but also scientists, artists and economists.
He joked that a large proportion of his students both at college and private went on to earn much more through music than he ever expected to.
Alfred Nieman died in Hampstead, London on 7 March 1997.
Further reading
- "Contributions" (Recollections of Alfred Nieman by some of his students). Paul Nieman. Retrieved 2011-01-28.