Effective period / Period of releases: 1916

Concert pianist and piano teacher. Schendel made his debut in Steinway Hall in 1896. His career continued at least through the 1920s, frequently as an accompanist. He made a small handful of records for the Victor Talking Machine Co. and recorded numerous piano rolls for Duo-Art. Nathaniel Shilkret, in his autobiography Sixty Years in the Music Business, recalled Schendel as “a fine pianist, but he was a very strange man – almost a mystic. He was emaciated and very nervous.” He and Shilkret (clarinet) were playing in an ensemble, and Schendel proclaimed that as it was Brahms’ birthday, he would only play his music. “We (the ensemble) compromised: We would change some pieces to Brahms compositions, providing he would play some pieces by another composer. Schendel shut his eyes, went into sort of a trance, and finally said, ‘The Master will allow me to play other composers, if you will play four Brahms pieces this session.’ We agreed.”