Theodor Kullak was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and teacher

Teacher

A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...

.

Background

Kullak was born in Krotoschin (Krotoszyn)

Krotoszyn

Krotoszyn is a town in central Poland with 30,010 inhabitants . It has been part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was within Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998....

 in the Grand Duchy of Posen, in Wielkopolska - western part of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 taken during the second partition of Poland

Partitions of Poland

The Partitions of Poland or Partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth took place in the second half of the 18th century and ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland for 123 years...

 by Kingdom of Prussia

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

. He began his piano studies as a pupil of Albrecht Agthe

Albrecht Agthe

Wilhelm Johann Albrecht Agthe was a German music teacher.Agthe was born in Ballenstedt to Karl Christian Agthe, a court organist and composer. He studied under Michael Gotthard Fischer in Erfurt, and in 1810 became a music teacher in Leipzig and a member of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra...

 in Posen (Poznań)

Poznan

Poznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...

. He progressed sufficiently to excite the interest of the artistic Prince Anton Radziwill in his eighth year. This early ability to attract noble patronage was an art he continued to deploy to advantage for many years to come. In 1829 the prince used his influence to secure a Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 court concert. He appeared with a co-artist called Henriette Sontag. The usually undemonstrative King Frederick William IV was so delighted that he presented young Kullak with thirty Friedrichs d'or. Six weeks in Berlin was a real adventure which was topped off with a concert in Breslau that was received with gratifying applause. The kindly Prince Radziwill then saw to a rounded education for Kullak, sponsoring his school fees in Sulechów

Sulechów

Sulechów is a town in Poland, in Lubusz Voivodeship, in Zielona Góra County. It is the administrative seat of the Gmina Sulechów.-History:The area by 990 had been conquered by Duke Mieszko I of Poland and from 1138 was part of the Duchy of Silesia....

 (now in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

).

Kullak eventually lost Radziwill's patronage and from the age of thirteen to eighteen had to use with just occasional access to a piano. At nineteen, at his father's behest, he opted for a sensible profession and went to study medicine

Medicine

Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....

 in Berlin. A new aristocratic friend, Ingenheim, provided a small stipend which allowed him music studies with Siegfried Dehn

Siegfried Dehn

Siegfried Dehn was a German music theorist, editor, teacher and librarian.Born in Altona, Hamburg, Dehn was the son of a banker and learned to play the cello as a boy. Intent on becoming a diplomat, he studied law in Leipzig but also took music lessons from J.A. Dröbs...

 and E. E. Taubert. Ingenheim was also instrumental in providing him with several pupils of rank. Medicine was not close to Kullak's heart. Music was a more pressing vocation and in 1842 a Frau von Massows interceded on his behalf in the right places, and Frederick William IV placed 400 thaler at Kullak's disposal, specifically for piano studies.

Musical career

The 24-year-old opted for a Viennese education. Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny

Carl Czerny was an Austrian pianist, composer and teacher. He is best remembered today for his books of études for the piano. Czerny's music was profoundly influenced by his teachers, Muzio Clementi, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Antonio Salieri and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Early life:Carl Czerny was born...

 happily took over his pianistic schooling, and Otto Nicolai and Simon Sechter

Simon Sechter

Simon Sechter was an Austrian music theorist, teacher, organist, conductor and composer.Sechter was born in Friedberg , Bohemia, then part of the Austrian Empire, and moved to Vienna in 1804, succeeding Jan Václav Voříšek as court organist there in 1824. In 1810 he began teaching piano and voice...

, the theoretical side of things. Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 and Adolf von Henselt

Adolf von Henselt

Adolf von Henselt was a German composer and pianist.-Life:Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Frau von Fladt...

 were also highly revered influences. Kullak played a little in Austria

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

 that year but in 1843 returned to Berlin where Fraulein von Hellwig secured him the post of pianoforte instructor to Princess Anna, the daughter of Prince Karl. This was just the beginning. Kullak seemed subsequently to make a speciality of teaching princes and princesses of the Royal house, as well as the offspring of many upper-class families who became aware of his excellent professorial qualifications, connections and, presumably, his unimpeachable manners.

In 1844 Kullak founded the Tonkünstler-Verein in Berlin and presided over it for many years. Two years later, at the age of twenty-eight, he was made Pianist to the Prussian Court, and four years after that founded the Berliner Musikschule (also known as the Kullak Institute) in partnership with Julius Stern

Julius Stern

Julius Stern was a German musician.Stern was born at Breslau. He received his elementary education in music from the violinist Peter Lüstner, and at the age of nine played at concerts...

 and Adolf Bernhard Marx

Adolf Bernhard Marx

Friedrich Heinrich Adolf Bernhard Marx was a German composer, musical theorist and critic.-Life:...

. However, during the ensuing five years, dissension reared its ugly head among them and Kullak retired from his institute which then became known as the Stern conservatory

Stern conservatory

The Stern Conservatory was a private music school in Berlin with many notable tutors and alumni.-History:It was originally founded in 1850 as the Berliner Musikschule by Julius Stern, Theodor Kullak and Adolf Bernhard Marx. Kullak withdrew from the conservatory in 1855 in order to create a new...

, with Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

 as a director.

In 1851 Kullak established a new school, the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, which proved a lasting success and was affectionately referred to as 'Kullak's Academy'. It specialised in the training of pianists and became the largest private music school in the whole of Germany. By the time of its twenty-fifth anniversary it boasted a hundred teachers and eleven hundred students. Kullak was made Professor in 1861 and was also elected to honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

. Many other distinctions were also accorded him. His son Franz (1844–1913) received his musical education at his father's Academy, completing his studies under Wehle and Litolff in Paris. After abandoning a concert career because of a nervous complaint, he taught at the Neue Akademie, succeeding his father as director when Theodor died in 1882.

Kullak wrote a large amount of instructional piano music, with Die Schule des Oktavenspiels (1848) being especially well known. His other music, including a piano concerto

Piano concerto

A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...

 and two sonatas, is very rarely played today.

Among Kullak's many pupils were Alfred Grünfeld

Alfred Grünfeld

Alfred Grünfeld was an Austrian pianist and composer.He studied under Höger, under Josef Krejčí at the Prague Conservatory, and under Theodor Kullak at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, Berlin. In 1873 he settled at Vienna, where he received the title of "Kammervirtuose"...

, Heinrich Hofmann

Heinrich Hofmann (composer)

Heinrich Karl Johann Hofmann was a German composer and pianist. He was a pupil of Theodor Kullak, Eduard Grell, Siegfried Dehn and Richard Wüerst...

, Alexander Ilyinsky

Alexander Ilyinsky

Alexander Alexandrovich Ilyinsky was a Russian music teacher and composer, best known for the Lullaby , Op. 13, No. 7, from his orchestral suite "Noure and Anitra", and for the opera The Fountain of Bakhchisaray set to Pushkin's poem of the same name.Alexander Ilyinsky was born in Tsarskoye Selo...

, Moritz Moszkowski

Moritz Moszkowski

Moritz Moszkowski was a German Jewish composer, pianist, and teacher of Polish descent. Ignacy Paderewski said, "After Chopin, Moszkowski best understands how to write for the piano"...

, Silas Gamaliel Pratt

Silas G. Pratt

Silas Gamaliel Pratt was an American composer. A native of Addison, Vermont, he worked in Chicago, New York, and Pittsburgh, in addition to studies and travels in Germany. Between 1868 and 1871, he studied under Theodor Kullak, among others, but he suffered a wrist injury during a lesson, which...

, Julius Reubke

Julius Reubke

Julius Reubke was a German composer, pianist and organist. In his short life — he died at the age of 24 — he composed the Sonata on the 94th Psalm, in C minor, which was and still is considered one of the greatest organ works in the repertoire.-Biography:Born in Hausneindorf, a small...

, Nikolai Rubinstein, Xaver Scharwenka

Xaver Scharwenka

Franz Xaver Scharwenka was a German pianist, composer and teacher. He was the brother of Philipp Scharwenka , who was also a composer and teacher of music.- Life and career :...

, Otto Bendix, Hans Bischoff

Hans Bischoff (pianist)

Hans Bischoff was a German pianist most noted for his edition of Johann Sebastian Bach's keyboard works....

, Amy Fay and James Kwast. Noted Bohemian pianist and composer Franz Bendel

Franz Bendel

Franz Bendel was a Bohemian German pianist and composer. He was a student of Franz Liszt for five years in Weimar. Bendel was a superb pianist who toured extensively until his death from typhoid fever in Boston while on an American tour...

taught at the academy.

Piano

Piano Solo

• Two Etudes de Concert, Op. 2
• Grand Valse brillante, Op. 3
• Le Reve, Pièce de Salon, Op. 4
• Danse des Sylphides, Op. 5
• 12 Transcriptions, Op. 6
• Grand Sonata in F sharp minor, Op. 7
• 12 Transcriptions ou Paraphase, Op. 9
• Fantaisie de Concert sur Freischütz, Op. 11
• Grande Fantaisie sur ‘La Fille du Régiment’, Op. 13
• Grande Fantaisie sur ‘Preciosa’, Op. 14
• Grande Fantaisie sur ‘Jessonda’, Op. 15
• Grande Fantaisie sur La Fille du Régiment de Donizetti, Op. 16
• Die Kunst des Anschlags, Fingerübungen, Op. 17
• Fantaisie de Caprice, Op. 19
• Portfeuille de Musique #1, Op. 20
• La Gazelle, Op. 22
• Une Fleur de Pologne, Polonaise brillant, Op. 24
• 6 Solis de Piano, Op. 25
• Symphonie-Sonate in E flat major, Op. 27
• Le Danaides, Fantaisie, Op. 28
• Nord et Sud, 2 Nocturnes, Op. 29
• Grande Fantaisie sur ‘L'Etoile du Nord’, Op. 30
• Paraphrase du 4me Acte de ‘Dom Sébastian’, Op. 31
• 3 Mazurkas, Op. 34
• Notturno, Op. 35
• Chant d'Ossian, Op. 36
• Perles d'écume, Fantaisie, Op. 37
• Libella, Thème et Etude, Op. 38
• Rayons et Ombres, 6 Pieces, Op. 39
• Caprice-Fantaisie sur ‘L'Etoile du Nord’, Op. 40
• 2 Paraphrases sur Verdi's Ernani, Op. 43
• La belle Amazone, Rondeau à la Polacca, Op. 44
• Pieces, Op. 45
• Fleurs du Sud, 6 Pieces, Op. 46
• School of Octave playing, Op. 48
• Saltarello di Roma, Op. 49
• Rotkäppchen, Op. 50
• Portfeuille de Musique #2, Op. 51
• Impromptu, Op. 52
• Etincelles, Thème et Etude, Op. 53
• Ballade, Op. 54
• Bouquet de 12 Mélodies russes, Op. 56
• Les Fleurs animées, Op. 57
• Romance variée, Op. 58
• Allegro di Bravoura, Op. 59
• Le Prophète, 7 Transcriptions de Concert, Op. 60
• Schule der Fingerübungen, Op. 61
• Scenes of Childhood, Op. 62
• Galop de Salon, Op. 63
• Valse de Salon, Op. 64
• Romance de Dargomijski, Op. 65
• Romance de Glinka, Op. 66
• Improvisation sur ‘La Fée aux Roses’, Op. 67
• 2 Mélodies hongroises, Op. 68
• 2 Pieces, Op. 71
• Airs nationaux bohémiens, Op. 72
• Ratschläge und Studien, Op. 74
• 5 Idylles, Op. 75
• Shéhérazade, Op. 78
• Lieder aus alter Zeit, Op. 80/1
• Improvisation dramatique sur ‘L'Etoile du Nord’, Op. 80/2
• Leonore, Ballade, Op. 81/1
• Scenes of Childhood, Op. 81/2
• Paraphrase du Siège de Corinthe, Op. 82
• Petrarca an Laura, 3 Pieces, Op. 84
• Hymne, Op. 85
• Bolero di Bravoura, Op. 86
• Valse de Salon, Op. 87
• Psyché, Etude fantastique, Op. 88
• In Wald und Flur, Pieces, Op. 89/1
• Les Arpèges, Etude de Concert, Op. 89/2
• Im Mai, Impromptu, Op. 90
• Au Clair de la Lune, 2 Nocturnes, Op. 91
• 2 Chansonnettes, Op. 92
• Violen, Pieces, Op. 93
• Zwiegespräch, Op. 94
• St. Gilgen, Barcarolle-Prière, Op. 95
• Scherzo, Op. 96
• Impromptu-Caprice, Op. 97
• Airs nationaux italiens, Op. 98
• 2 Valse-Caprices, Op. 99
• Sang und Klang, 4 Pieces, Op. 100
• 2 Polonaises caractéristiques, Op. 101
• Romance in G major, Op. 102
• Hommage à S.A.R. la Princesse royale de Prusse, 3 Pieces, Op. 103
• 4 Solostücke, Op. 104
• Im Grünen, Pieces, Op. 105
• Gracieuse, Impromptu, Op. 106
• Airs nationaux russes, Op. 108
• Polonaise et Valse-Impromptu, Op. 109
• Mazurka-Caprice, Op. 110
• Lieder aus alter Zeit, Op. 111
• Ondine, Op. 112
• 6 Pieces, Op. 113
• Valse-Caprice, Op. 115
• Bolero, Op. 116
• Marche de Couronnement de Meyerbeer, Op. 117
• Valse mignonne, Op. 118
• Soldatenlieder, Op. 119
• Arcadien, Pieces, Op. 120
• Konzert-Etüde für die Klavierschule von Lebert und Stark, Op. 121
• Concert Etude, Op. 122
• Barcarole, Op. 123
• Fantasiestück, Op. 124
• Scherzo in G major, Op. 125
• Mazurka de Concert, Op. 126
• Cavatine de Robert le Diable de Meyerbeer
• Scherzo
• Romanze by Warlamoff (Transcription of Varlamov)

External links

• List of compositions (In German)
• List of compositions
• Liner Notes for the Hyperion Album of his Piano Concerto Op. 55