Alfred Nieman

Alfred Nieman was born on 4 December 1913 in London (Great Britain) to a Russian father and a Polish mother. Alfred Nieman was encouraged to music by his mother and showed much talent. He quit school at the age of 14 and start to earn money as a relief pianist in a silent film theatre. A characteristic of scores for silent movies is the improvisation and so Alfred Nieman had early exercises on this specific skill. A musician from the cinema orchestra heard his piano performing and suggested to study at the Royal Academy of Music. So he entered a competition and tied with Moura Lympany for the Ada Lewis Scholarship. That was the start for his studies in composition (under Benjamin Dale) and piano (under York Bowen and Claude Pollard). During his studies Alfred Nieman won several prizes and scholarships, among them the Corder Prize for composition and the MacFarren Gold Medal for piano.
During World War II Alfred Nieman was a conscientious objector and did not fight at the front, but worked as a fireman during the London Blitz and was part of the entertaining service for soldiers (ENSA) as an arranger and performer. This continued after the war for the BBC. In 1947 the pianist Irene Kohler performed his Piano sonata No.1 at the concert of the International Society for Contemporary Music. This was heard by Edric Cundell, the prinicipal of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama who - as a result - offered Alfred Nieman a position as piano and composition professor. Alfred Nieman accepted and remained in this position until his retirement. In his lectures Alfred Nieman pioneered the use of improvisation as a means of teaching composition. This approach did not only attract musicians but also music therapists and since the 1960s Alfred Nieman was also involved in the development of music therapy and the activities of the British Society for Music Therapy. Further interest of him were the National Association for Gifted Children and the Society for Psychic & Psychological Research.
Alfred Nieman died on 7 March 1997 in London (Great Britain).

The work catalogue of Alfred Nieman has a strong emphasis on chamber music. He composed two Piano sonatas, a Chamber sonata for piano, violin and cello, other piano music, Chromotempera for cello and piano, Tongs and Bones for trombone solo, a Rilke song cycle for voice and string quartet, other songs, as well as choir works.

In addition Alfred Nieman composed "light music", film music and works for other genres, using a lot of different pseudonyms for these compositions like Jonathan Davis, Robert Legray, Robert Lindsay, Carlos Lopez, Peter Merle, Alfred Merlin, Francois More, or Walter Steeper.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the song "Concerning adoration" for voice and piano by Alfred Nieman. The work sets a poem by Dilys Laing to music. The manuscript is not dated, therefore it is uncertain when the work was composed. I have no information about a performance of the work.