The pianist Wilhelm Kempff died at the age of 95. Here is all you want to know and more!
Biography - A Short Wiki
Became known for his interpretations and recordings of the complete sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert.
His first major recital was in 1917 and featured Hammerklavier Sonata by Beethoven and Variations on a Theme of Paganini by Johannes Brahms.
He succeeded Max Pauer as director of the Stuttgart College of Music, a position he held from 1924 until 1929. He co-founded the summer courses at Marmorpalais Potsdam in 1931.
Personal Life
His father worked as a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His brother Georg was director of church music at the University of Erlangen.
He had a wide-ranging repertoire that covered Johann Sebastian Bach, Franz Liszt, Frederic Chopin, Brahms, and Robert Schumann.
How did Wilhelm Kempff die?
He gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981, and then retired for health reasons (Parkinson’s disease). He died in Positano, Italy, in 1991 at the age of 95, five years after his wife, whom he had married in 1926. They were survived by seven children.