A pianist of international stature in her day, Eunice Norton will be most remembered in Pittsburgh as an ardent promoter of classical music.
WQED-FM will present a tribute to Eunice Norton's artistry, featuring her recordings, at 5 p.m. Jan. 22 and 8 p.m. Jan. 26.
A Squirrel Hill resident for 60 years, she founded a precursor to the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society and supported countless local students. Born in Minneapolis in 1908, Mrs. Norton died Dec. 9 in Vienna. She was 97.
"Her technical feats were astounding -- a natural piano talent," said Henry Spinelli, a former student. "When she was studying at Minneapolis, she was assigned a Czerny exercise and she came back the next week and had memorized the whole book, and played it at a very fast speed."
When Mrs. Norton was 15, her prodigious talent caught the attention of Dame Myra Hess, the famous British pianist. She coordinated Mrs. Norton's study with pedagogue Tobias Matthay in London, a fruitful relationship that lasted eight years.
In 1927, Mrs. Norton won the London Bach Prize, and her break came when Henry Wood booked her at Queen's Hall and took her on tour in England and internationally with his orchestra. She also performed at Wigmore Hall and with the BBC Symphony.
"She also made recordings in the '20s and '30s -- her fame was really [then]," said Jim Cunningham of WQED-FM. "We still play her recordings of Bach, Chopin and Beethoven. Her recording of [Arthur] Honegger's 'Concertino' with [Eugene] Ormandy in 1935 just blows me away."
Mrs. Norton spent the '30s studying with the eminent pianist Artur Schnabel, focusing primarily on Beethoven, and touring extensively as a soloist. It was at this time that she first performed with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Under music director Fritz Reiner she gave the Pittsburgh premiere of Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 1. She also performed with Mr. Ormandy, Leopold Stokowski and others.
Mrs. Norton was an avid supporter of new music, as well, premiering and performing works by Paul Hindemith, Honegger, Charles Ives and others. She performed with the Juilliard and Budapest string quartets, and once played at the White House for the Roosevelts.
In the '30s, Mrs. Norton married chemist Bernard Lewis and settled in Pittsburgh in 1942 to raise a family when he was hired by the U.S. Bureau of Mines. She continued to perform, soloing with the PSO under music director William Steinberg in 1954 and giving numerous local recitals. A penchant for robustness, like the complete Beethoven piano cycles, marked her programming.
"She was still playing in the '90s," said Mr. Cunningham.
She shifted her emphasis to teaching, with one year at Carnegie Mellon University, and behind-the-scenes work for classical music in Pittsburgh.
"She was extremely important to the pianists in town. A number of notable Pittsburgh pianists studied with her," he said.
"She was a human dynamo," said Mr. Spinelli. "When we first met her at CMU, we were blown away. And she was so generous."
Smitten by her poetic playing and teaching methods, Mr. Spinelli and other students joined her Concert Artists of Pittsburgh. This chamber ensemble of her students performed locally and toured, often to her festival in Vermont, the Peacham Music Festival.
In the '40s, Mrs. Norton and her husband founded the Pittsburgh New Friends of Music, which presented concerts at Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. She was an honorary member of the Tuesday Music Club.
In 1993, her husband died and in 2002, Mrs. Norton left Pittsburgh for good, eventually relocating to Vienna. She is survived by her son, Norton Lewis, three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
First Published: January 11, 2006, 5:00 a.m.
