Richard Robert

Richard Robert (25 March 1861 – Kaltenleutgeben, 1 February 1924) was an Austrian pianist, composer, music critic, and music administrator, but is most notable as a pedagogue in piano, composition and conducting. As a Viennese piano teacher, Richard Robert was discussed in the same breath as Emil von Sauer and Theodor Leschetizky. His notable students included Kurt Adler, Hans Gál, Clara Haskil, Rudolf Serkin and George Szell. See: List of music students by teacher: R to S#Richard Robert.

He was born in Vienna in 1861 as Robert Spitzer. (He apparently returned to his birth name in 1920.) He studied music at the Vienna Conservatory, under Julius Epstein (Gustav Mahler's teacher), Franz Krenn (teacher of Mahler and Leoš Janáček) and Anton Bruckner, then worked as a theatre conductor (Kapellmeister) and pianist. He was a friend of Johannes Brahms, with whom he once discussed Bruckner's String Quintet.

From 1885 to 1891 he edited the journal Neue Musikalische Rundschau. He also wrote music criticism for newspapers such as the Wiener Sonn-u. Montags-Zeitung and Illustriertes Wiener Extrablatt.

He taught at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium (New Vienna Conservatory), and in 1909 for a short time became its director. One of his students there was the 15-year-old Hans Gál, who gained his music-teaching certificate in 1909. It was through Robert that Gál found his ideal mentor Eusebius Mandyczewski.

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