Heinrich Grünfeld


Heinrich Grünfeld was a Bohemian-Austrian cellist; a brother of Alfred Grünfeld.

Life

Grünfeld was born into an affluent family Jewish family, the fourth of ten children of the merchant Moses Grünfeld and his wife Regina, née Pick, in Prague - New Town. He was educated at the Prague Conservatory. In 1876 he went to Berlin and for eight years taught at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst. In conjunction with Xaver Scharwenka and Gustav Hollaender, he arranged trio soirées which became very popular. In 1886 Grünfeld was appointed court violoncellist to King William of Prussia.
Grünfeld can be heard in an arrangement of Mendelssohn's Song Without Words op. 53, no. 2, together with violinist Alfred Wittenberg and pianist Moritz Mayer-Mahr, on acoustic Parlophon P 1736-I. These three artists toured widely as members of an established piano trio.