Tchaikovsky
www.tchaikovsky-research.net

Max Erdmannsdörfer

German conductor, pianist and composer, born on 14 June 1848 at Nuremburg, Germany.

After studying at the Leipzig Conservatory, Erdmannsdörfer became concertmaster at Sonderhausen. In 1882 he became the principle conductor of the Russian Musical Society concerts in Moscow, and professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Tchaikovsky considered him to be "a very skilful, experienced and expert conductor", although he was "inclined to indulge the public's taste of exaggerated nuances" and "offhanded in his attitude to Russian music (except my own)" (letter 2173 to Nadezhda Von Meck, 24-25 (12-13) December 1882).

The list of Tchaikovsky's works premiered by Erdmannsdörfer includes the Symphony No. 1 (revised version, 1883), Suite No. 2 (1884), Concert Fantasia (1885), and the symphony Manfred (1886), The composer valued Erdmannsdörfer's arrangement of his Chant sans paroles (No. 3 from the Souvenir de Hapsal, Op. 2) so highly that Tchaikovsky conducted it himself in 1892.

Tchaikovsky's Suite No. 3 is also dedicated to Erdmannsdörfer.

Max Erdmannsdörfer died on 14 February 1905 at Munich, Germany, aged 56.