Tchaikovsky
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Sophie Menter

Sophie Menter was a German pianist and composer, born in Munich on 29 July 1846.

She came from a musical background with a cellist father, Josef Menter, and a singer Wilhelmine (b. Diepold). Sophie learned the piano during her early years age, and gave her first public performance aged just 15, and then travelled widely across Europe, and in 1883 she became an honorary fellow of the London Philharmonic Society. From 1883 to 1886 she was professor of piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory, but left this position in 1886 following the breakdown of her 14-year marriage to the Bohemian cellist David Popper (1843–1913). She subsequently settled at Itter in Austria, but continued to compose and give recitals.

Tchaikovsky was well acquainted with Sophie Menter, and stayed with her in Austria in September 1892. During his visit he orchestrated Menter's Ungarische Zigeunerweisen for piano and orchestra, and conducted the author at its premiere in Odessa four months later. The full score of Tchaikovsky's Concert Fantasia, published in 1893, carries a dedication to Menter (although the earlier piano arrangement is inscribed to Anna Esipova).

Sophie Menter died at Stockdorf, near Munich, on 23 February 1918, aged 71.