JOSEFFY, RAFAEL:
American piano virtuoso; born in 1852 in Hunfalu, Hungary. In the following year the family moved to Miskolcz, where he spent his childhood and received his first musical instruction. At the age of ten he made his first public appearance at a concert in Budapest; and such was its promise that in 1864 his father took him to the Conservatorium at Leipsic, where he studied under Wenzel and Moscheles. Thence he went in 1866 to the Berlin Conservatorium, where for three years he was taught by Carl Tausig. After two summers (1869-70) with Liszt in Weimar, and considerable practise and study, he made successful concert tours through Europe, making Vienna his home until 1879, when Herman Colell took him to America. His New York début at Chickering Hall was successful. He became domiciled in the United States, and in 1900 took the oath of citizenship.
Joseffy lives at Tarrytown-on-the-Hudson, and devotes himself to music, occasionally giving public concerts. He has written a "Schule des Höheren Clavierspieles" for advanced players, in addition to a great number of compositions for the piano. He is the head of the department of piano in the National Conservatory of Music in New York.
