Sergei Bortkiewicz

Sergei Bortkiewicz (Ukrainian: Сергі́й Едуа́рдович Бортке́вич, Russian: Серге́й Эдуа́рдович Бортке́вич; 28 February 1877 [O.S. 16 February] – 25 October 1952) was a Romantic composer and pianist.

Sergei Eduardovich Bortkiewicz was born in Kharkiv, Russian Empire (in present-day Ukraine) on 28 February 1877 in a Polish noble family (father, Edward Bortkiewicz; mother, Zofia Bortkiewicz née Uszyńska) and spent most of his childhood on the family estate of Artemivka, near Kharkiv. Bortkiewicz received his musical training from Anatoly Lyadov and Karl von Arek at the Imperial Conservatory of Music in Saint Petersburg.

In 1900 he left Saint Petersburg and traveled to Leipzig, where he became a student of Alfred Reisenauer and Salomon Jadassohn, both pupils of Franz Liszt. In July 1902, Bortkiewicz completed his studies at the Leipzig Conservatory and was awarded the Schumann Prize on graduation. On his return to Ukraine in 1904, he married Elisabeth Geraklitowa, a friend of his sister, and then returned to Germany, where he settled in Berlin. It was there that he started to compose seriously.

From 1904 until 1914, Bortkiewicz continued to live in Berlin but spent his summers visiting his family in Ukraine or travelling around Europe often on concert tours. For a year he also taught at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory, where he was to meet his lifelong friend, the Dutch pianist Hugo van Dalen (1888–1967). Van Dalen premiered Bortkiewicz's Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 16, in November 1913 in Berlin with the Blüthner Orchestra conducted by the composer.

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