Biography
Zeisler was born Fannie Blumenfeld on July 16, 1863, in Bielitz, Austrian Silesia. She emigrated to the United States with her family at the age of 4 in 1867. The family settled in Chicago, Illinois where they later changed their name to Bloomfield. She was the sister of Maurice Bloomfield and the aunt of Leonard Bloomfield.
At the age of six, before receiving any musical instruction, she began picking out tunes on the piano. Her first teachers were in Chicago; Bernard Ziehn and Carl Wolfsohn. In 1877, Annette Essipova, then on tour in the United States, heard her play and advised that she became a pupil of Theodor Leschetizky.
Blumenfeld (as she then was) made her debut at the age of 11 in February 1875. In 1878, she returned to Austria to study in Vienna, under Theodor Leschetizky. While in Austria, she changed her name from Blumenfeld to Bloomfield. She returned to Chicago in 1883.
Bloomfield performed in concert in Chicago in April 1884. In January 1885, she debuted in New York City. Around the turn of the century, Bloomfield made piano rolls of various piano compositions, Chopin's Waltz No. 11 in G minor being among them.
Bloomfeld married the attorney Sigmund Zeisler in 1885. In 1888, she returned to Vienna to study with Leschetizky. She also began to tour in Europe and the United States, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
The Zeislers had three sons: Leonard, Paul and Ernest.
Her last performance was in February 1925 in Chicago. She played the Beethoven Andante Favori and concertos by Chopin and Schumann. Zeisler died in Chicago on August 20, 1927.
Read more about this topic: Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler
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