Goldsand was born in
Vienna,
Austria-Hungary, in 1911, the son of artisan Jakob Goldsand and his wife Helene. He began musical studies at age four on the violin, but discovery of his talent for the piano, and consequent concentration on that instrument, began within a year. A student of
Camella Horn,
Joseph Marx,
Emil von Sauer, and
Moriz Rosenthal, Goldsand launched his performing career at age 10, in November 1921, with a concert in Vienna. Thereafter, he engaged in European and South American tours. His US debut came in 1927 at
Town Hall in
New York City. His father Jakob died in 1929, and his mother Helene, who had accompanied Robert on several trips to the United States, died in 1937. Upon leaving Vienna to flee the Nazis — his parents were both
Jewish — he settled in the United States in 1939, where he gave concerts and took a teaching position at the
Cincinnati Conservatory. In 1949, at the invitation of the
Chopin Centennial Committee, he performed a complete cycle of that composer's recital repertoire in six concerts. In 1951, Goldsand joined the faculty at the
Manhattan School of Music [http://www.msmnyc.edu/ouralumni/archives/default.asp, where he continued to teach until 1990. His concert repertoire was vast and included music ranging from the Baroque period with
J.S. Bach's
Goldberg Variations through works of major 19th-century composers such as
Beethoven,
Liszt, Chopin,
Schumann, and
Schubert. He also performed music of virtuoso performer-composers like
Godowsky and
Schulz-Evler; and such 20th-century composers as
Hindemith. [https://web.archive.org/web/20101201085808/http://www.wyastone.co.uk/nrl/gpiano/8811c.html == Pedagogy ==