Theodor Kullak

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Theodor Kullak

Theodor Kullak (born September 12, 1818 in Krotoschin near Posen , † March 1, 1882 in Berlin ) was a German pianist , piano teacher and composer .

Youth and education

Kullak received his first piano lessons from Albert Agthe in Poznan. At the age of 8 he caught the attention of Prince Anton Radziwiłł , who made it possible for him to perform with the singer Henriette Sontag at the age of 11 . The king liked his piano playing and received a purse with 30 gold pieces. Prince Radziwill made sure that Kullak received a school education in Züllichau . The prince died in 1833. According to his father's will, he now had to go to Berlin to study medicine and earn a living by taking music lessons. Count Gustav Adolf Wilhelm von Ingenheim introduced him to pupils and thus enabled him to take piano lessons from Wilhelm Taubert and harmony lessons from Siegfried Dehn .

Further help came from people in high places. This time the head court master, Mrs. Hermine von Massow , stood up for him. She succeeded in persuading King Friedrich Wilhelm IV to give a gift of 400 Thalers so that he could continue his music studies. In 1842 he turned his back on medical studies and traveled to Vienna.

From 1842 to 1843 Kullak studied with Simon Sechter , Otto Nicolai and Carl Czerny in Vienna . After a successful concert tour through Austria, he became the piano teacher of the princesses and princes of the royal house in Berlin in 1843 and was awarded the title of royal court pianist in 1846, which was well paid. He was the most respected piano teacher of his time in Berlin.

Pedagogue and Composer

In 1850 he founded the Stern Conservatory together with Julius Stern and Adolf Bernhard Marx . He left this in 1855 to found the New Academy of Music , which he headed until his death. It specialized in pianist training and soon became the largest private German institute for music education. For teaching purposes, he also wrote series such as

  • School of finger exercises and octave playing
  • Materials for elementary education (3 booklets)
  • The practical part on the method of playing the piano by Moscheles and Fétis (2 booklets)

In 1880, the New Academy of Music celebrated its 25th anniversary with 100 teachers and over 1000 students. These included: Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf , Alfred Grünfeld , Erika Lie , Louis Maas , Martha Remmert , Emil Liebling , Edward Baxter Perry , Nikolai Grigorjewitsch Rubinstein , Neally Stevens , Constantin Sternberg , John Orth , August Hyllested , Adele aus der Ohe , William Hall Sherwood , Hans Bischoff , Moritz Moszkowski , James Kwast , Théo Ysaÿe and Xaver and Philipp Scharwenka .

He was succeeded by his son Franz Kullak , who headed the academy until it was dissolved in 1890.

The music encyclopedias of that time consistently report that Kullak is to be regarded as the inventor of the so-called transcriptions , ie arrangements of songs and opera arias or entire scenes for pianoforte.

In addition to about 130 very effective salon pieces, Kullak composed a piano sonata, a piano symphony, a piano concerto and works for piano and violin.

Discography

  • Kullak, Theodor: Piano Concerto in C minor, Op. 55 ( Hyperion Records 1999; Series: 'The Romantic Piano Concerto' Vol. 21)

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gustav Schilling, Gottfried W. Fink: Encyclopedia of the Entire Musical Sciences or Universalixikon der Tonkunst, Volume 1.
  2. ↑ Old views of Züllichau
  3. ↑ A. Ehrlich: Celebrated pianists of the past and present: a collection of one hundred and thirty-nine biographies, with portraits . Published by Theodore Presser Philadelphia 1894
  4. ↑ http://www.hyperion-records.co.uk

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kullak, Theodor
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 12, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Krotoschin
DATE OF DEATH March 1, 1882
Place of death Berlin