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First name: Heinrich R.
Last name: Willmers
Dates: 1821-1878
Category: Quartet
Nationality: German
Opus name: Opus 85 in g (1852)
Publisher: Schuberth
Peculiarities: in the possesion of Peter Lang
Information: Heinrich Rudolf Willmers German pianist and composer Berlin, 31.10.1821 - Vienna, 24.08.1878 He was pupil of F. Hummel and Fr. Schneider and became widely known as a brilliant player - the trill was his specialty - and composer for the piano . From 1864 to 1866 he was teacher at the Stern Conservatory n Berlin after which he settled in Vienna, where he died insane. Willmers was reputedly a brilliant chess player who played music and composed chess problems simultaneously. While playing Schumann's Carnival in a piano recital in Copenhagen, Willmers stopped suddenly, wrote something on his cuff, and then continued. He explained afterwards that he had been struggling for a week to solve a difficult problem (chess) when the solution came to him in a flash. I had to jot it down to get it out of my head and let me concentrate entirely on my playing. In fact many composers and musicians have played chess on very high levels - even winning tournaments. Here is a list of some: Prokofiev David Oistrakh, Schostakowitsch, Kiril Kondrashin, John Cage, Edison Denisow, Gregor Piatigorsky, Adolf Brodsky, Yehudi Menuhin, Richard Strauss, Robert Schumann, Chopin, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Rossini and Aram Katchaturian.