 La label Acte Préalable nous offre à nouveau une première mondiale. Né à Varsovie, Juliusz Wertheim a grandi dans un milieu propice à une carrière musicale. Son père, banquier important, était le demi-frère du célèbre virtuose Carl Tausig et sa mère était une chanteuse et la fille de l'éditeur de la Gazeta Polska. Wertheim reçoit une excellente formation musicale, notamment des cours de Moszkowski et Noskowski, deux figures importantes de monde musical polonais. Sorti avec une médaille d'or du Conservatoire de Varsovie en 1901, Wertheim débute une brillante carrière de pianiste avec de nombreux concerts en Europe et en Amérique. Il devient lui-même professeur au Conservatoire de Varsovie de 1919 à 1921. Également compositeur, sa musique est dominée par la mélancolie et la tristesse. On y relève l'influence de Chopin bien sûr, mais aussi de Wagner et R. Strauss. Son Prélude op. 2 est caractéristique de sa manière de composer. Quant aux Préludes op. 5 et Pièces op. 3, ils rappellent Karol Szymanowski (1882-1937), un compositeur très respecté par Wertheim. Enfin, les Variations op. 4 démontrent qu'il maîtrisait aussi les formes plus développées. (Charles Romano) Juliusz Wertheim was born in Warsaw and was a composer, pianist, conductor, teacher and music critic. He came from a wealthy family; his father being a banker in Warsaw. Wertheim received a sound musical education: in Warsaw he was taught by R. Strobel, and then later after he had moved to Berlin, his teachers were M. Moszkowski, H. Barth and H. Urban. From 1897 he then studied with Zygmunt Noskowski, receiving his diploma with a golden medal. As a pianist he performed in numerous concerts across Europe and in America. He learned to play the piano at the Music Institute in Warsaw. He was also part of Warsaw’s Philharmonic Orchestra and during the 1915–1916 season, was its conductor. Between 1919 and 1921 he worked at the Music Conservatory in Warsaw. Amongst his students were Pawel Klecki and Roman Jasinski. Juliusz Wertheim was liked and valued around the artistic circles of Warsaw. He possessed his own residence where he often invited befriended musicians from Poland and Germany to perform in concerts. He died of a heart attack on May 6th 1928 while conducting a concert in Warsaw’s Philharmonic (overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). During his short life, Wertheim led a very intense, yet diverse, musical activity. Unfortunately, he did not have the time to take care of his own works and seek to have them published, and a large number of his manuscripts were burnt in Warsaw during the 2nd World War...
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