{{Short description|American-Hungarian musician}} '''Alexander Raab''' (14 March 1882{{spaced ndash}}2 October 1958)<ref>The piano in concert / Compiled and annotated by George Kehler. — Scarecrow Press, 1982. — Vol. II, p. 1011.</ref> was a Hungarian-American pianist and distinguished piano teacher.<ref>[http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2006/Oct06/Mozart_rolls_DSPRCD029.htm Music web international]</ref>
Alexander Raab was born in Győr (also known as Raab), Hungary. He studied at the Vienna Conservatory under Hans Schmitt (1835–1907), Robert Fuchs and Theodor Leschetizky and became acquainted with Johannes Brahms.<ref name=Heitman>[http://www.stevenheitman-ia.com/html/performance_arts_videos.html Steven Heitman website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107195140/http://www.stevenheitman-ia.com/html/performance_arts_videos.html |date=2009-01-07 }}</ref> He presented recitals with the violinist Jan Kubelík in England, Russia, Germany and France.
He immigrated to the US in 1915, and became Head of the Piano Department at Chicago Musical College, before moving to Berkeley, California, where he became esteemed as one of the best piano teachers on the West Coast.<ref name=Owens/>
He performed concertos with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Vienna, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra. Leopold Godowsky dedicated his 1931 transcription of Adolf von Henselt’s Etude in F-sharp major (''Si oiseau j'etais''), Op. 2, No. 6, to Raab.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.godowsky.com/Compose/transcriptions.html |title=Godowsky's Paraphrases and Transcriptions |access-date=2008-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081104053718/http://www.godowsky.com/Compose/transcriptions.html |archive-date=2008-11-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
Alexander Raab’s piano students included Ernst Bacon,<ref>[http://www.ernstbacon.org/about_ernst_bacon.htm About Ernst Bacon] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060206203534/http://www.ernstbacon.org/about_ernst_bacon.htm |date=2006-02-06 }}</ref> Vera Bradford,<ref name=Bradford>[http://www.womenshistory.com.au/image.asp?iID=222 Australian Women’s History Forum: Vera Bradford] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130305072851/http://www.womenshistory.com.au/image.asp?iID=222 |date=2013-03-05 }}</ref> George J. Buelow,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4nlSus0xpqMC&dq=alexander+raab&pg=PA489 Festa Musicologica]</ref> Muriel Kerr,<ref name=Kerr>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/muriel-kerr-emc Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: Muriel Kerr]</ref> Wanda Krasoff (who had been referred to Raab by Josef Hofmann),<ref name=Heitman/> Mortimer Markoff,<ref>[http://www.paloaltoonline.com/weekly/morgue/community_pulse/1995_Mar_15.OBITS15.html Palo Alto online: Mortimer Markoff]</ref> Sumner Marshall,<ref>[https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/marshall-sumner-emc Encyclopedia of Music in Canada: Sumner Marshall] </ref> Robert Owens,<ref name=Owens>[http://www.darryltaylor.com/alliance/owens.bio.html The African American Art Song Alliance – Robert Owens] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080529161300/http://www.darryltaylor.com/alliance/owens.bio.html |date=2008-05-29 }} </ref> and Allan Willman.<ref name=Willman>[http://www.uwyo.edu/news/showrelease.asp?id=13119 University of Wyoming News: Allan Willman]</ref> His pupils also studied under teachers such as Alfred Cortot,<ref name=Owens/> Nadia Boulanger,<ref name=Willman/> Rudolph Ganz, Percy Grainger,<ref name=Bradford/> Ernest Hutcheson,<ref name=Kerr/> and Paul Wells. {{See LMST|Alexander|Raab}}
He made a small number of early Duo-Art and Welte Mignon piano roll recordings, with music of Chopin (Piano Sonata No. 2 in B-flat minor ''Funeral March''), Liszt (Hungarian Rhapsody No. 5 in E minor), Mozart, Brahms, and some salon pieces by minor composers. These recordings appear on CD alongside such distinguished names as Alfred Cortot, Guiomar Novaes, Ignaz Friedman, Arthur Friedheim, Vladimir de Pachmann, Ferruccio Busoni, Josef Hofmann and Harold Bauer.<ref>[http://www.dal-segno.com/DSPRCD0033.html Dal Segno Records]</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== Sources == * [https://books.google.com/books?id=sMH0KcTB2jYC&dq=alexander+raab&pg=PA253 Music and Dance in California and the West, Richard Drake Sauners]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Raab, Alexander}} Category:1882 births Category:1958 deaths Category:Hungarian classical pianists Category:Hungarian male musicians Category:Hungarian music educators Category:American music educators Category:Male classical pianists Category:American piano educators Category:People from Győr Category:Hungarian emigrants to the United States Category:Pupils of Theodor Leschetizky Category:20th-century American male pianists Category:20th-century American classical pianists