Moriz Rosenthal

He was an outstanding pupil of Franz Liszt[1] and a friend and colleague of some of the greatest musicians of his age, including Johannes Brahms, Johann Strauss, Anton Rubinstein, Hans von Bülow, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jules Massenet and Isaac Albéniz.

Rosenthal was born in Lemberg, Austrian Empire into a Jewish family, where his father was professor at the chief academy.

Having the conviction that a well-rounded classical education was necessary in his work as an interpreter, he studied at the Staats Gymnasium in Vienna and at the University, where he was a pupil in philosophy under Von Zimmerman and Franz Brentano and in esthetics under Eduard Hanslick.

Six years later he resumed his career with the piano, achieving brilliant success in Leipzig, and in Boston, where he made his U.S. debut in 1888,[2] and subsequently in England in 1895.

Rosenthal recorded around three hours' worth of music between 1928 and 1942, for Columbia, Edison, Ultraphon, EMI, and RCA Victor.

When he heard Vladimir Horowitz blaze through the octave passages of Tchaikovsky's First Piano Concerto at his Vienna debut, he remarked: "He is an Octavian, but not Caesar."