RICHARD STILGOE  

Eduard Schütt (1856-1933) is today a forgotten pianist and composer. Born in Russia, he studied at the St Petersburg Conservatory. In Germany he continued his studies with Richter, Jadassohn and Reinecke. Later he became a private pupil of the legendary Leschetizky. As a composer he published over a hundred works, including an opera, two piano concerti, two piano trios and a piano quartet, songs, and many piano pieces. He created very effective transcriptions and paraphrases of the music of Brahms, Wagner, Weber, Lanner and Strauss. His Concert Paraphrase on “Die Fledermaus” Waltzes is among his best known. The unusual performance from 1938 of Schütt’s transcription is by Adolf Wolff, who was active in Germany as both pianist and Wurlitzer organ virtuoso.