BARBEL ANDREAE

Bärbel Andreae was born in Berlin on 13 July 1909. She was born into an affluent and politically connected family—she was the niece of Walther Rathenau (1867–1922), a German Jewish industrialist, politician, writer, and statesman who served as the Foreign Minister of Germany during the Weimar Republic. Andreae graduated from the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin. In 1939 she moved permanently to Zürich where she performed and taught. After the war, she concertized in Germany, performing with the Berlin Philharmonic and the orchestras in Dresden and Munich. Bärbel Andreae was celebrated for her exceptional and sensitive performances of Mozart and Schubert. Equally important was her dedication to contemporary piano literature and her championing the works of René Armbruster, Max Kuhn, Paul Müller-Zürich, Othmar Schoeck and Wladimir Vogel. Andreae died in Zürich on 25 January 1996.