Alfred Nieman

Alfred Nieman was born in the East End of London in 1914 to Polish and Russian immigrant parents. He started playing piano at the age of seven, and started composing when he was ten. He left school in 1928 at the age of fourteen and got a job playing piano for movies at the silent cinema in order to help support his family. A year later, he won a piano scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Music, and he remained there for six years. In the 1930s Nieman edited a six penny magazine called "The Student". Nieman married in 1938 and had two sons: Julian, born in 1946, and Paul, born in 1950. In addition to his work as a composer and professor, Nieman was interested in and involved with the National Association for Gifted Children, the Research Into Lost Knowledge Organisation, and the Society for Psychic & Psychological Research. Alfred Nieman died in Hampstead, London on March 7, 1997. == Career ==

Prior to World War II, Nieman joined in a piano duo with his contemporary Cimbro Martin, under the name "Merlin and Martyn". During the war the duo replaced Rawicz and Landauer at their engagements when they were interned. Merlin and Martyn was a regular act at The Dorchester Hotel in London. Together they joined the Auxiliary Fire Service during the London Blitz. Because his health was too poor to be a soldier, during WWII Nieman joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA), which led him to work for the BBC as a performer and arranger. Many of his works that he published under pseudonyms were more "commercial". Nieman contributed an essay titled "The Concertos" to Alan Walker's Robert Schumann: The Man and His Music. Another of his interests was music therapy, of which he said: == Works ==