Alfred Richard Gotthilf Sormann (May 16, 1861 – September 17, 1913) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

.

Born in Danzig, Sormann studied at the Hochschule in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 under Ernst Rudorff

Ernst Rudorff

Ernst Friedrich Karl Rudorff was a German composer and music teacher.Born in Berlin, Rudorff studied piano under Woldemar Bargiel from 1852 to 1857, before enrolling at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1859, where he studied under Ignaz Moscheles, Louis Plaidy, and Julius Rietz. He was also a private...

, Karl Heinrich Barth

Karl Heinrich Barth

Karl Heinrich Barth was a noted German pianist and pedagogue.-Biography:He was born in Pillau, East Prussia . His teachers included Hans von Bülow, Hans von Bronsart and Carl Tausig. All three were leading musicians of the era and had close associations with Franz Liszt...

, Philipp Spitta

Philipp Spitta

Julius August Philipp Spitta was a German music historian and musicologist best known for his 1873 biography of Johann Sebastian Bach.-Biography:...

, and Woldemar Bargiel

Woldemar Bargiel

Woldemar Bargiel was a German composer of classical music.-Life:Bargiel was born in Berlin, and was the half brother of Clara Schumann. Bargiel’s father Adolph was a well-known piano and voice teacher while his mother Mariane had been unhappily married to Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck. Clara was...

; in 1885 he was a pupil of Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

. His debut performance was in 1886, and he gave successful concerts in chief German towns. In 1889 he became court pianist to Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Frederick William, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, KG was a German sovereign who ruled over the state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1860 until his death.-Biography:...

. He died in Berlin.

Among his works are the opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

s Die Sibylle von Tivoli (Berlin, 1902) and König Harald (Stettin, 1909); a piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...

 in E minor (opus 7); two string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

s; a piano trio

Piano trio

A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...

; concert étude

Étude

An étude , is an instrumental musical composition, most commonly of considerable difficulty, usually designed to provide practice material for perfecting a particular technical skill. The tradition of writing études emerged in the early 19th century with the rapidly growing popularity of the piano...

s; and other piano pieces.