Bruce Hungerford
Encyclopedia
Bruce Hungerford was an Australia
n pianist.
Born in Korumburra, Victoria
, Bruce Hungerford was originally named Leonard Hungerford. In an undated manuscript he recounts "When it came to naming me my parents were torn between 'Bruce' and 'Leonard.' I think they really wanted Bruce, but I was such a puny specimen that they hardly felt I fitted the name of the Warrior King of Scotland. Then a day or two before I was to be christened, my grandfather journeyed down to see me. He was a Scotsman to the backbone and after taking one look at me said sadly, "This is no 'Bruce', and so the die was cast, at any rate for my first 35 years".
Hungerford studied piano with Ignaz Friedman
in Sydney
in 1944. His playing impressed the conductor Eugene Ormandy
who suggested he study with Olga Samaroff
in Philadelphia. He also received coaching and advice from Myra Hess
, who suggested he study with Carl Friedberg
, in whom he finally found a teacher who suited him. On the advice of Samaroff (who had died in 1948), he moved to Germany in 1958 with the intention of establishing himself on the concert scene in Europe. It was at this point that he changed his name to Bruce Hungerford.
In 1967, Hungerford was approached by Maynard and Seymour Solomon
, the founders and directors of the Vanguard Recording Society
, to record the complete piano works of Beethoven
. Hungerford moved to the United States, and combined a reduced concert schedule with a teaching appointment in Mannes College of Music.
The projected recording project was to remain incomplete. Hungerford was killed in a road accident on 26 January 1977 in New York City at the age of 54. He left a legacy of nine all-Beethoven records and one record each of works by Brahms
, Chopin
, and Schubert
on the Vanguard label.
In addition to his musical accomplishments, Hungerford was a keen palaeontologist, and studied vertebrate palaeontology at Columbia University
and at the Museum of Natural History
in New York
. He also had a passionate interest in Egyptology
. This, and his skill as a photographer, led to his making six research trips to Egypt, the first in 1961 as still photographer on the NBC River Nile Expedition.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n pianist.
Born in Korumburra, Victoria
Korumburra, Victoria
Korumburra is a town in the Australian state of Victoria. It is located on the South Gippsland Highway, kilometres south-east of Melbourne, in the South Gippsland Shire local government area....
, Bruce Hungerford was originally named Leonard Hungerford. In an undated manuscript he recounts "When it came to naming me my parents were torn between 'Bruce' and 'Leonard.' I think they really wanted Bruce, but I was such a puny specimen that they hardly felt I fitted the name of the Warrior King of Scotland. Then a day or two before I was to be christened, my grandfather journeyed down to see me. He was a Scotsman to the backbone and after taking one look at me said sadly, "This is no 'Bruce', and so the die was cast, at any rate for my first 35 years".
Hungerford studied piano with Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman
Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman Ignaz Friedman (also spelled by languages Ignace or Ignacy; exactly Solomon (Salomon) Isaac Freudman(n), (February 13, 1882January 26, 1948) was a Polish pianist and composer. Critics (e.g. Harold C. Schonberg) and colleagues (e.g...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
in 1944. His playing impressed the conductor Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy
Eugene Ormandy was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.-Early life:Born Jenő Blau in Budapest, Hungary, Ormandy began studying violin at the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five...
who suggested he study with Olga Samaroff
Olga Samaroff
Olga Samaroff was a pianist, music critic, and teacher. Her second husband was conductor Leopold Stokowski.Samaroff was born Lucy Mary Agnes Hickenlooper in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up in Galveston, where her family owned a business later wiped out in the Great 1900 Galveston hurricane...
in Philadelphia. He also received coaching and advice from Myra Hess
Myra Hess
Dame Myra Hess DBE was a British pianist.She was born in London as Julia Myra Hess, but was best known by her middle name. At the age of five she began to study the piano and two years later entered the Guildhall School of Music, where she graduated as winner of the Gold Medal...
, who suggested he study with Carl Friedberg
Carl Friedberg
Carl Rudolf Hermann Friedberg was a German pianist and teacher.Friedberg studied piano with James Kwast and with Clara Schumann at the Hoch Conservatory, Frankfurt. He later became a teacher there and later at the Cologne Conservatory...
, in whom he finally found a teacher who suited him. On the advice of Samaroff (who had died in 1948), he moved to Germany in 1958 with the intention of establishing himself on the concert scene in Europe. It was at this point that he changed his name to Bruce Hungerford.
In 1967, Hungerford was approached by Maynard and Seymour Solomon
Maynard Solomon
Maynard Solomon has carried out a multiple career: he was a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer, and later became a writer on music.-Career in the recording industry:...
, the founders and directors of the Vanguard Recording Society
Vanguard Records
Vanguard Records is a record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York. It started as a classical label, but is perhaps best known for its catalogue of recordings by a number of pivotal folk and blues artists from the 1960s; the Bach Guild was a subsidiary...
, to record the complete piano works of Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
. Hungerford moved to the United States, and combined a reduced concert schedule with a teaching appointment in Mannes College of Music.
The projected recording project was to remain incomplete. Hungerford was killed in a road accident on 26 January 1977 in New York City at the age of 54. He left a legacy of nine all-Beethoven records and one record each of works by Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
, and Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
on the Vanguard label.
In addition to his musical accomplishments, Hungerford was a keen palaeontologist, and studied vertebrate palaeontology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
and at the Museum of Natural History
American Museum of Natural History
The American Museum of Natural History , located on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, United States, is one of the largest and most celebrated museums in the world...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He also had a passionate interest in Egyptology
Egyptology
Egyptology is the study of ancient Egyptian history, language, literature, religion, and art from the 5th millennium BC until the end of its native religious practices in the AD 4th century. A practitioner of the discipline is an “Egyptologist”...
. This, and his skill as a photographer, led to his making six research trips to Egypt, the first in 1961 as still photographer on the NBC River Nile Expedition.