Brahms: Paganini and Handel Variations (1937-1940)

The pianist Egon Petri was born in Hanover in 1881 and had his first violin lessons at the age of five from his father, the Dutch-born violinist Henri Petri, a favourite pupil of Joseph Joachim. Henri Petri had become Konzertmeister at the Royal Theatre in Hanover in 1881 and two years later took up a similar position with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, before moving in 1889 to lead the Royal Chapel Orchestra in Dresden Egon Petri started his study of the piano in 1888, going on to further work under Richard Buchmayer, a musician and scholar with a strong interest in earlier music, and with Teresa Carreno. He also studied the organ, the French horn and composition, while completing his general education at the Dresden Kreuzschule in 1899. His first employment was as second violin in his father's quartet and as a member of the Royal Orchestra in Dresden, but by 1901 it had become apparent to him that his true vocation was that of a pianist, a decision in which he was encouraged by Ferruccio Busoni, a friend of the family.