A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Beringer, Oscar

by William Barclay Squire

BERINGER, Oscar, a distinguished pianist, was born in Baden in 1844. In 1849 his father was compelled to fly to England as a political refugee, where he lived in straitened circumstances. Owing to this reason the only musical education Mr. Oscar Beringer received, up to his 19th year, was from an elder sister. During the years 1859 and 1860 he gave several series of Pianoforte Recitals at the Crystal Palace, and in 1861 made his first appearance at the Saturday Concerts. Recognising the necessity of going through a course of systematic training, he studied at Leipzig under Moscheles, Richter, Reinecke, Plaidy, etc., from 1864 to 1866, and continued his studies at Berlin under Tausig, Ehlert, Weitzmann, etc. In 1869 he was appointed a professor at Tausig's 'Schule des Höheren Clavierspiels' at Berlin, but in 1871 he returned to England, where he has repeatedly played with great success at the Crystal Palace Saturday Concerts, Musical Union, etc. In Jan. 1872 he played at the Gewandhaus Concerts at Leipzig, and on his return to England in the following year he founded in London an 'Academy for the Higher Development of Pianoforte Playing,' an institution which has fully borne out the promise of its name. On Oct. 14, 1882, he played the pianoforte part in Brahms's 2nd Concerto on its first performance in England. Mr. Beringer's compositions include an Andante and Allegro for pianoforte and orchestra (performed, 1880, at the Saturday Concerts and at Mr. Cowen's Orchestral Concerts), Sonatinas for the piano, a number of small instructive pieces, and several songs.

[ W. B. S. ]