# Performers who died too young



## Pip (Aug 16, 2013)

Along the lines of the composer thread, I thought that this might even go further.
Obvious ones spring to mind like Du Pré and William Kapell.
However I have lifted a stub from Wikipedia to post here. It's a shocker!

Karlrobert Kreiten (26 June 1916, Bonn, Rhine Province - 7 September 1943) was a German pianist, though holding Dutch citizenship his entire life due to his Dutch father.
He was seen by Wilhelm Furtwängler and others as one of the most talented young pianists in Germany. Born in Bonn, his German mother was the classical singer Emmy Kreiten, née Liebergesell, who sang under the stage name Emmy Kreiten-Barido. His Dutch father Theo Kreiten, was a composer, concert pianist, and writer. The Kreiten family originated in the area of the Lower Rhineland, along the current Dutch-German border.
He made his debut at the age of eleven with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto in A major in a live broadcast. He was educated in Berlin by Claudio Arrau.
Kreiten was reported to the Gestapo by Nazi neighbor Ellen Ott-Monecke about making negative remarks about Adolf Hitler and the war effort. He was indicted at the Volksgerichtshof, with Roland Freisler presiding, and condemned to death. Friends and family frantically tried to save his life, but to no avail. The family only accidentally learned that Karlrobert had been executed by hanging, with 185 other inmates, at Plötzensee prison.
His execution triggered a wave of articles in the German press about this "treacherous" artist. Prominent journalist Werner Höfer had to retire in 1987 when his articles about Kreiten became known to a wider public.
Today in Berlin, a memorial of the life and death of Kreiten exists along the "Topography of Terror" outdoor exhibit, which deals with the terror inflicted by the German SS and the Gestapo. The very prison cells that held him and others arrested by the Gestapo have been unearthed and remain laid bare for all to see. Streets in Düsseldorf, Bonn, and Cologne have been named in his honor. His only sister, Rosemarie von Studnitz, became a book publisher in the United States and died in 1975. In September 2003 the Dutch composer Rudi Martinus van Dijk had his work Kreitens Passion for baritone, full choir and symphony orchestra premiered in Düsseldorf by the Düsseldorf Sinfoniker in memoriam of Karlrobert Kreiten.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Kreiten was unknown to me, thank you. Apparently recordings by him are few and rare ... there is at least an old Thorofon LP ATH 259 called "Karlrobert Kreiten In Memoriam" (Chopin, Schoeck, Brahms, Kreiten), expensive on eBay.

There´s also a short you-tube clip with Arrau speaking in Spanish about Kreiten


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Robert Hagopian. Pianist. AIDS.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Noel Mewton - Wood ,pianist. Suicide.
Jorge Bolet. pianist. AIDS
Peter Anders. Tenor. Car accident.
Ataulfo Argenta. conductor. Suicide.
Simon Barere. Pianist. On stage.
Terence Judd. Pianist. Suicide.
Dennis Brain . Horn Player. Car accident.
Kathleen Ferrier. Contralto. cancer.
Conchita Supervia. Mezzo. Childbirth.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Glenn Gould... For me 50 was too young for such an amazing pianist


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

Istvan Kertesz, drowned (44)
Ferenc Fricsay, cancer (49)
Both way to Young!

/ptr


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## starry (Jun 2, 2009)

Guido Cantelli - plane crash 36


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## Guest (Sep 2, 2013)

Emanuel Feuermann - 'cellist - after a routine operation on his haemorrhoids (aged 39).


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Vitezslava Kapralova (1915-1940). Composer and conductor. lllness, probably tubercolosis. (http://www.kapralova.org/). A lot of her works are on you-t, including for instance the Piano Concerto 




Edouard Remoortel, conductor (1927-1977)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edouard_van_Remoortel).

Georg Kulenkampf, violinist (1898-1948). Paralysis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Kulenkampff)

Dino Ciani, pianist (1941-1976). Road accident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Ciani)

Ginette Neveu, violinist (1919-1949). Plane crash (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginette_Neveu)

Manuela Wiesler, flutist (1955-2006). Cancer (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuela_Wiesler)

Michael Rabin, violinist (1936-1972). Fall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Rabin_(violinist)


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

American conductor Thomas Schippers .(1930-1977 ). Youngest conductor ever to appear at Metropolitan opera, and conducted there frequentlly until his untimely death from cancer of the esophagus .
Conducted the historic opening night performance of the new Met in Lincoln center in 1966, world premiere of Samuel Barber's controversial opera "Antony & Cleopatra ". Close friend and associate of both 
Barber and Gian Carlo Menotti . Served as music director of the Cincinnati symphony orchestra .


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Tenor Fritz Wunderlich was only 35 IIRC when he fell down the stairs and died.


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Constantin Silvestri,brilliant conductor died from cancer at only 55.


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## Sid James (Feb 7, 2009)

*Dinu Lipatti, *Romanian pianist, died at 33 (Hodgkin's Lymphoma)
*Stuart Challender,* Australian conductor, died at 44 (AIDS)
*Julius Katchen,* American pianist, died at 42 (Cancer)
*Jacqueline du Pre,* British cellist, died at 42 (MS)
*Jussi Bjorling*, Swedish tenor, died at 49 (Cirrhosis)

This is getting depressing but despite their early deaths I often think musicians like this (including composers) gave us what they gave us, and that's it. They live on in their music, as much as we mourn their deaths (still?), we got to cherish what they actually did - which is a lot in such short time.


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## brianvds (May 1, 2013)

Carl Filtsch (1830 - 1845)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Filtsch

Julian Scriabin (1908 - 1919)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Scriabin


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Eduardo Mata,conductor. Air crash age 52.


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## Guest (Sep 5, 2013)

James Gandolfini, notable Soprano, at the age of 52 (or thereabouts) of a heart attack.


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## Machiavel (Apr 12, 2010)

André Mathieu. Composer and pianist. 39

Rachmaninov said that he was probably the only pianist of his time who could have reach horowitz and rubinstein or richter status.

To be compare to those three big performers tells you about his immense skills and the potential he left behind. He was an alcoholic and pretty much all his family used him for money and fame all his life. He finish the last year of his life playing in pianothon everything the public ask him.


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## WJM (Mar 25, 2013)

Alexei Sultanov, 1969-2005, pianist


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

This pianist, age 33:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Lucia Popp, Arleen Auger and Martti Talvela. All three singers died in their early 50s but still had much to give. Although it is probably wrong to single out one demise from the others, Talvela died suddenly at his daughter's wedding - surely fate doesn't get more tragically cruel than that?


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## moody (Nov 5, 2011)

Meta Seinemayer the German soprano,alread considered a great singer at the Met, Covent Garden,Teatro Colon and the Vienna State Opera. Age 33 from Leukemia.


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## Sudonim (Feb 28, 2013)

Nobody's mentioned Caruso yet? He was only 48 when he died of peritonitis. 

(I'll be 48 in December. Believe me, that's too young to die.)


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Christian Ferras--a remarkable violinist--died at 49. It's quite a sad story:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Ferras


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Scott Ross the harpsichordist died of AIDS aged 38. He was famous for his monumental recordings of the 555 Scarlatti sonatas.

[video]http://m.youtube.com/index?&desktop_uri=%2F[/video]


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> Lucia Popp, Arleen Auger and Martti Talvela. All three singers died in their early 50s but still had much to give. Although it is probably wrong to single out one demise from the others, Talvela died suddenly at his daughter's wedding - surely fate doesn't get more tragically cruel than that?


Lucia Popp's passing was in particular immensely sad (and still is as I'm thinking about it).


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## Winterreisender (Jul 13, 2013)

Winterreisender said:


> Scott Ross the harpsichordist died of AIDS aged 38. He was famous for his monumental recordings of the 555 Scarlatti sonatas.


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## kv466 (May 18, 2011)

Sure, he's still breathing, but...I think, to most of us, Lang Lang died at 17


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## DavidA (Dec 14, 2012)

It is interesting how whole generation of American pianists seem to be afflicted by some tragedy.
Those who died young included Kapell and Katchen.
But also Fleisher and Graffman both suffered hand injuries.
Janis was put out of court by arthritis.
van Cliburn suffered a reported burn out.


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

DavidA said:


> It is interesting how whole generation of American pianists seem to be afflicted by some tragedy.
> Those who died young included Kapell and Katchen.
> But also Fleisher and Graffman both suffered hand injuries.
> Janis was put out of court by arthritis.
> van Cliburn suffered a reported burn out.


War takes its toll. During a cold war the toll is in athletes, artists and spies.


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## StevenOBrien (Jun 27, 2011)

Apart from the obvious Mozart, Schubert, Chopin:

Jacqueline du Pré
Dinu Lipatti
Glenn Gould


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## GodNickSatan (Feb 28, 2013)

Winterreisender said:


> Oops, just noticed that the above link doesn't work. Here it is again (better late than never).


I like the sound of the harpsichord, but I'd go crazy if I had to listen to all 555 sonatas...


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Pantheon said:


> Glenn Gould... For me 50 was too young for such an amazing pianist


I think he died too old...


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## waldvogel (Jul 10, 2011)

This one goes back a long time, but the original Tristan, Ludwig Schnorr von Carolsfeld, died at age 29. He sang the first four performances of the role in Munich in 1865, then went off to Dresden where he died after a brief illness six weeks later. Naturally, the press said that his death occurred due to the immense strain of singing the impossible role of Tristan. In actual fact, the cause of death was most likely from a stroke.


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## Blake (Nov 6, 2013)

Edit: Wrong Topic


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## mikey (Nov 26, 2013)

Definitely repeat Noel Mewton Wood - best Beethoven 4 slow movt I've ever heard!
Katchen
Solomon - the stroke killed his career although he lived for quite a while afterwards.


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