44 Facts About Andre Previn

1.

Andre George Previn was a German-American pianist, composer, and conductor.

FactSnippet No. 932,500
2.

Andre Previn's career had three major genres: Hollywood films, jazz, and classical music.

FactSnippet No. 932,501
3.

Andre Previn would go on to be involved in the music of more than fifty films and would win four Academy Awards.

FactSnippet No. 932,502
4.

Andre Previn won ten Grammy Awards, for recordings in all three areas of his career, and then one more, for lifetime achievement.

FactSnippet No. 932,503
5.

Andre Previn served as music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, chief conductor of the Royal Philharmonic, and, after an avowed break from salaried posts, chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic .

FactSnippet No. 932,504
6.

Andre Previn enjoyed a warm relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic.

FactSnippet No. 932,505
7.

Andre Previn was born in Berlin to a Jewish family, the second son and last of three children of Charlotte and Jack Andre Previn, who was a lawyer, judge, and music teacher born in Graudenz, then in Germany but now in Poland.

FactSnippet No. 932,506
8.

All three children received piano lessons and Andre Previn was the one who enjoyed them from the start and displayed the most talent.

FactSnippet No. 932,507
9.

In 1938, Previn's father was told that his son was no longer welcome at the conservatory, despite Andre receiving a full scholarship in recognition of his abilities, on the grounds that he was Jewish.

FactSnippet No. 932,508
10.

Andre Previn learned English, his third language after German and French, through comic books and other reading materials with a dictionary, and watching films.

FactSnippet No. 932,509
11.

In 1946 he graduated from Beverly Hills High School and performed with Richard M Sherman at the ceremony; Previn played the piano, accompanying Sherman, who played the flute.

FactSnippet No. 932,510
12.

Andre Previn was involved in creating the music for over 50 films and won four Academy Awards for his work.

FactSnippet No. 932,511
13.

In 1953, Andre Previn returned to Hollywood and focused his attention on film scores and jazz.

FactSnippet No. 932,512
14.

Andre Previn stayed at MGM for 16 years, but despite the secure job and good pay, he had come to feel increasingly confined, and consequently desired to pursue classical music outside of film scores.

FactSnippet No. 932,513
15.

Andre Previn resigned from MGM at 32, wanting "to gamble with whatever talent I might have had".

FactSnippet No. 932,514
16.

Andre Previn described himself as a musician who played jazz, rather than a jazz musician.

FactSnippet No. 932,515
17.

Andre Previn separately worked as piano-accompanist to singers of jazz standards, from Ella Fitzgerald to Doris Day, recording prolifically.

FactSnippet No. 932,516
18.

Andre Previn memorably filmed TV shows with Peterson and Fitzgerald .

FactSnippet No. 932,517
19.

Long before his eventual retreat from his jazz work, Andre Previn had become something of a popularizer of jazz rather than a serious practitioner of the music.

FactSnippet No. 932,518
20.

Andre Previn has the flow, you know, which a lot of guys don't have and won't ever get.

FactSnippet No. 932,519
21.

Andre Previn was music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Oslo Philharmonic, as well as the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

FactSnippet No. 932,520
22.

In 1967, Andre Previn succeeded Sir John Barbirolli as music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

FactSnippet No. 932,521
23.

Andre Previn was then principal conductor of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra from 1985 to 1991.

FactSnippet No. 932,522
24.

Andre Previn clashed frequently with Ernest Fleischmann, including the dispute when Fleischmann failed to consult Andre Previn before naming Salonen as Principal Guest Conductor of the orchestra, complete with a tour of Japan.

FactSnippet No. 932,523
25.

Andre Previn was music director of the Oslo Philharmonic from 2002 to 2006, and in 2009 he was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of Tokyo's NHK Symphony Orchestra.

FactSnippet No. 932,524
26.

Andre Previn left two concert overtures, several tone poems, 14 concerti, a symphony for strings, incidental music to a British play; a rich trove of chamber music ; several works for solo piano; dozens of songs ; a monodrama for soprano, string quartet and piano ; a musical each for New York and London ; and two successful operas.

FactSnippet No. 932,525
27.

Andre Previn made appearances on Call My Bluff and participated in documentaries about popular music and jazz during the 1970s and 1980s.

FactSnippet No. 932,526
28.

Later in the sketch Andre Previn accuses Morecambe of playing "all the wrong notes"; Morecambe grits his teeth, grabs Andre Previn by the lapels, and retorts that he has been playing "all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order".

FactSnippet No. 932,527
29.

Andre Previn later appeared in the 1972 special as a bus conductor in a feature called "I worked with Morecambe and Wise and look what happened to me".

FactSnippet No. 932,528
30.

Andre Previn himself recalled in 2005 that people in Britain still remember the sketch years later: "Taxi drivers still call me Mr Preview".

FactSnippet No. 932,529
31.

Andre Previn later said he was happy that the sketch meant as much to everyone else as it did to him, and that several parts of it were improvised.

FactSnippet No. 932,530
32.

Andre Previn was host and narrator of the 13-part 1991 documentary series Mozart on Tour, which focused on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's travels and how his music developed through them.

FactSnippet No. 932,531
33.

Andre Previn performed and conducted Mozart's Piano Concerto No 24 in C minor, K 491, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in one episode of the series, and in another episode conducted the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance by Aleksandar Madzar of Mozart's Piano Concerto No 27 in B-flat major, K 595.

FactSnippet No. 932,532
34.

Andre Previn divorced Bennett in 1957, a few months before she gave birth to Alicia.

FactSnippet No. 932,533
35.

Andre Previn and Farrow had three biological children together — fraternal twins Matthew and Sascha, born before they were married, and Fletcher, born in 1974.

FactSnippet No. 932,534
36.

Andre Previn wrote a brief memoir of his early years in Hollywood, No Minor Chords, which was published in 1991, edited by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and dedicated to Heather.

FactSnippet No. 932,535
37.

Andre Previn is one of the few composers to have accomplished the feat of winning back-to-back Oscars, and one of only two to have done so on two occasions.

FactSnippet No. 932,536
38.

Andre Previn was the first person in the history of the Academy Awards to receive three nominations in one year .

FactSnippet No. 932,537
39.

Andre Previn was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1996.

FactSnippet No. 932,538
40.

Andre Previn's discography contains hundreds of recordings in film, jazz, classical music, theatre, and contemporary classical music.

FactSnippet No. 932,539
41.

Andre Previn made dozens of jazz recordings, as both leader and sideman, primarily during two periods: from 1945 to 1967, and from 1989 to 2001, with just a handful of recordings in between or afterward.

FactSnippet No. 932,540
42.

Andre Previn did crossover recordings with such classical singers as Eileen Farrell, Leontyne Price and Kiri Te Kanawa, as well as several easy-listening records with piano and orchestra in the 1960s .

FactSnippet No. 932,541
43.

Andre Previn's recorded repertory as a conductor focused on standards of the Classical, Romantic and Modern eras.

FactSnippet No. 932,542
44.

Andre Previn favored the symphonic music of Berlioz, Brahms and Strauss, and placed a special emphasis on violin and piano concertos and on ballets.

FactSnippet No. 932,543