Frits Hartvigson

Frits Hartvigson (sometimes Fritz) (31 May 1841 – 8 March 1919) was a Danish pianist and teacher, who spent many years in England and gave a number of important English concerto premieres.

Frits Seligmann Hartvigson was born in Grenå, Jutland in 1841. His first lessons were with his mother. He later studied under Niels Gade, Gebauer and Anton Rée in Copenhagen. He made his debut at age 14, and by 17 he was touring throughout Norway. He had further study in Berlin under Hans von Bülow in 1859-62. Bülow recommended he study under his then father-in-law Franz Liszt, but this did not occur. He did, however, meet Liszt, and it was apparently to Hartvigson that Liszt remarked that Charles-Valentin Alkan "possessed the finest technique he had ever known, but preferred the life of a recluse".

Among Hartvigson's concert successes at that time were Anton Rubinstein's Piano Concerto No. 3 in G in Leipzig in 1861, and Robert Schumann's Piano Concerto in A minor in Copenhagen under Gade's baton in 1863.

He settled in England in 1864. He was a frequent performer at the Crystal Palace Saturday concerts, at the Hans Richter and George Henschel orchestral concerts, and at the Royal Philharmonic Society concerts. At the Crystal Palace on 6 October 1866 he played for the first time in England Liszt's arrangement for piano and orchestra of Schubert's Wanderer Fantasy. On 23 May 1867, he and Walter Bache gave the first performance in England of Liszt's symphonic poem Die Ideale, in an arrangement for two pianos.

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