David Saperton (born 1889, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – died July 5 1970, Baltimore, Maryland) was an American concert pianist known especially for being the first pianist to play the entire original compositions as well as the complete transcriptions of his father-in-law, Leopold Godowsky. Saperton received his earliest training in music from his father and grandfather, both of whom were trained singers, and later received piano lessons from German-American pianist and composer August Spanuth (1857-1920). At the age of ten, Saperton made his debut in Pittsburgh performing a Felix Mendelssohn piano concerto, and at fifteen, he debuted in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House with Frédéric Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor.

In 1908, Saperton made his European debut in Berlin in a recital with American soprano Geraldine Farrar (1882-1967) and a year later he toured Europe and Russia as a soloist. During this time, he became associated with the circle of musicians in Berlin that included the noted Italian pianist and composer Ferruccio Busoni (1866-1924), whose piano transcriptions Saperton began performing in concerts. Saperton gave several piano recitals in New York City from 1914 to 1915 and in 1917 embarked on an extensive tour of the United States.

In 1924, Saperton married Vanita Godowsky, the eldest daughter of renowned pianist and composer Leopold Godowsky (1870-1938). Leopold Godowsky introduced Saperton to pianist Josef Hofmann, the head of the piano department and later the director of The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and Saperton became Hofmann’s assistant and a member of The Curtis Institute piano faculty in 1924. In the subsequent decades after becoming Godowsky’s son-in-law, Saperton specialized in performing and recording Godowsky’s piano works, particularly his notoriously difficult Studies on Chopin’s Études, a series of fifty-four transcriptions composed from 1893 to 1914.

Saperton taught at The Curtis Institute for seventeen years, during which time he taught many students who went on to become prominent concert pianists, including: Jorge Bolet, Abbey Simon, Jacques Abram and Sidney Foster. After Saperton left Curtis, he taught privately in New York, and his notable students included Julius Katchen and William Masselos. Saperton also composed several virtuoso works for piano, his most popular being Zephyr, published in 1936. Saperton died in New York in 1970 at the age of 80.

Paul Howard (1875 - 1953) was an Irish-Australian amateur pianist and devotee of Leopold Godowsky's music who carried on a correspondence with Godowsky from 1932 until Godowsky's death in 1938. Howard established the International Godowsky Society for the promotion of Godowsky's work in 1936, which lasted until Howard's death in 1953.



Bibliography

Cockburn, Andrew. "Paul Howard." The New International Godowsky Society, theartofthelefthand.com. Accessed October 17, 2023. https://www.theartofthelefthand.com/Society/PaulHoward.html.

“David Saperton Collection.” International Piano Archives at Maryland, University of Maryland. Last modified March 7, 2018. Accessed March 17, 2021. https://www.lib.umd.edu/ipam/collections/david-saperton.

“David Saperton, Concert Pianist.” New York Times, July 6, 1970. https://www.nytimes.com/1970/07/06/archives/david-saperton-concert-pianist-teacher-of-graffman-bolet-and-others.html.

Hopkins, Charles. “Saperton [Saperstein], David.” In Grove Music Online. Accessed March 17, 2021. https://doi-org.libproxy.newschool.edu/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.44554.

Library of Congress Copyright Office. “Zephyr: by David Saperton.” Catalog of Copyright Entries, Part 3: Musical Compositions. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1938).

Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. Baker’s Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, 5th Edition. New York: G. Schirmer, 1958. https://archive.org/details/bakersbiographic1958bake/page/1414/mode/2up?q=saperton.