Pianist and Teacher Theodore Kullak

Mentor of Many of the Great Pianists of the Nineteenth Century

Sep 29, 2008

Theodore Kullak, one of the foremost pianists of his time, was also an amazing teacher, and many of the great pianists studied with him at his conservatory in Berlin.

Theodore was born on September 12,1818, at Krotoschin and began piano lessons at an early age with A. Aythe in Posen. At the age of eight he came to the attention of Prince Anton Radziwill who allowed him to take part in a concert in Berlin at the age of eleven, where he appeared with the singer Henriette Sontag. His playing delighted the King who gifted him with a purse of money.

Prince Anton Radziwill

Prince Radziwill saw to it that Theodore was educated at the school at Zullichau, but unfortunately the lad was without a piano from his thirteenth to eighteenth year. He also lost his patron but was successful in acquiring another benefactor whose influence provided a stipend in Berlin, where he continued his aborted studies. This enabled him take a course of lessons with Siegfried Wilhelm Dehn (1799-1858) and a man named Ingenheim sent several pupils to the young Kullak.

Czerny and Sechter

When he was twenty-four a Frau von Massow worked on his behalf to get him sponsorship and succeeded in persuading King Friedrich Wilhelm IV to present him with 400 thaler to enable him to continue his studies. He traveled to Vienna where he studied piano with Karl Czerny (1791-1857) and theory with Simon Sechter (1788-1867).

Theodore returned to Berlin in 1843 when he was asked to be the piano teacher of Princess Anna, the daughter of Prince Karl. While there be became the teacher of all the young princes and princesses of the royal house as well as tutor to children in upper class families.

He was appointed Pianist to the Prussian Court in 1846 and finally received a steady income. Four years later he founded, with Julius Stern (1820-1883) and Adolf Bernhard Marx (1795-1866) the Stern Conservatory in Berlin. Active with this organization until 1855, Kullak then resigned his position to begin the New Academy of Music which graduated over one thousand students in the next twenty-five years.

Kullak composed many works and wrote two books on the correct playing of octaves and fingering. His pupils included Hans Bronsart von Schellendorf, Alfred Grunfeld, Erika Lie, Louis Maas, Martha Remmert, Xaver Scharwenka, Emil Liebling ,Edward Baxter Perry, Nicholas Rubinstein, Neally Stevens, Constantin Sternberg, John Orth, August Hyllested, Adele Aus der Ohe, William Sherwood and many others.

Theodore Kullak received several honors, one being elected an honorary member of the Royal Academy of Music in Florence. Kullak also composed many works including a piano concerto. He died in Florence, Italy, on March 1,1882.

Sources

Celebrated Pianists of the Past and Present A Ehrlich Theodore Presser Philadelphia 1894Tyhe New Encyclopedia of Music and Musicians Macmillan Company 1929

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