Life
Sauer was born in Hamburg, Germany on October 8, 1862 as Emil Georg Conrad Sauer. He studied with Nikolai Rubinstein at the Moscow Conservatory between 1879 and 1881. On an 1884 visit to Italy he met the Countess von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who recommended him to her former paramour, Franz Liszt. He went on to study with Liszt for two years, but did not for some time consider himself a Liszt pupil. In an 1895 interview, he even denied it: "It is not correct to regard me as a pupil of Liszt, though I stayed with him for a few months. He was then very old, and could not teach me much. My chief teacher has been, undoubtedly, Nicholas Rubinstein." In his later years, however, Sauer realized the influence of Liszt on himself and on music in general.
From 1882 Sauer made frequent and successful tours as a virtuoso pianist; his performing career lasted until 1940. In 1901 he was appointed head of the Meisterschule für Klavierspiel at the Vienna Academy. Sauer left this post in April 1907 but returned to it in 1915. Some of his pupils continued on to successful concert or other significant music careers, including Paul Weingarten, Webster Aitken, Stefan Askenase, Robert Goldsand, Ignace Hilsberg, Edward Goll, Maryla Jonas, Lubka Kolessa, Elly Ney, Ozan Marsh, Dario Raucea, Elfi von Dassanowsky, Isolde Ahlgrimm, Else Herold and Marie Aimée Varro.
In 1917, Sauer was raised to the peerage by the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy, which added the nobiliary particle "von" to his name. He was also awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society of London.
Emil von Sauer was married twice. Angelica Morales (Sauer), his second wife, carried on his legacy in teaching. Sauer had two sons with Morales — Julio and Franz.
He died in Vienna, Austria on April 27, 1942, aged 79.
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