Kullak, Theodor
Kullak, Theodor
Kullak, Theodor, famous German pianist and pedagogue, brother of Adolf Kullak and father of Franz Kullak; b. Krotoschin, Sept. 12, 1818; d. Berlin, March 1, 1882. He studied piano with local teachers, and in 1837 went to Berlin at his father’s behest to study medicine. He also studied there with Dehn (theory). He then went to Vienna, where he took lessons with Czerny, Sechter, and Nicolai (1842–43). Returning to Berlin in 1846, he became court pianist to the King of Prussia. In 1850 he founded a cons, in Berlin in partnership with Julius Stern and A.B. Marx; however, dissension soon arose among them, and in 1855 Kullak established his own school, the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst, which greatly prospered and became famous as Kullak’s Academy, turning out such students as Moszkowski, N. Rubinstein, and the Scharwenka brothers. He publ. the methods Schule des Oktavenspiel, op.48 (Berlin, 1848; 3rd ed., 1877), Schule der Fingerübungen, op.61 (Berlin, c. 1850), Ratschläge und Studien, op.74 (Berlin, c. 1852), and Materialien für den Elementar- Klavierunterricht (Berlin, c. 1859). He also composed pieces for piano.
Bibliography
O. Reinsdorf, T. K. und seine Neue Akademie der Tonkunst in Berlin (Neusalz, 1870); H. Bischoff, Zur Erinnerung an T K. (Berlin, 1883).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire