Scharwenks, (Franz) Xaver

Scharwenka, (Franz) Xaver, Polish-German pianist, composer, and pedagogue, brother of (Ludwig ) Philipp Scharwenka; b. Samter, Posen, Jan. 6, 1850; d. Berlin, Dec. 8, 1924. He studied with Kullak and Wuerst at the Kullak Academy of Music in Berlin, graduating in 1868, then joined its faculty. He made his debut in Berlin in 1869, then made regular tours from 1874; also presented chamber music concerts in Berlin from 1881. With his brother, he founded the Scharwenka Cons. in Berlin in 1881. In 1891 he went to the U.S. and opened a N.Y. branch of his Cons.; appeared as soloist in his own Piano Concerto (N.Y., Jan. 24, 1891). Returning to Berlin in 1898, he became co-director of the newly amalgamated (1893) Klindworth-Scharwenka Cons.; in 1914 he established his own course of master classes for piano. As a composer, he was undoubtedly superior to his brother, although both were faithful imitators of Schumann and other German Romantics. He wrote an opera, Mataswintha (Weimar, Oct. 4, 1896), a Sym. (1885), 4 piano concertos, chamber music, and numerous effective piano pieces, of which his Polish Dances became favorites with American piano teachers and students. He also publ, technical studies for piano, Beiträge zur Fingerbildung; Studien im Oktavenspiel, a collection of famous études, arranged according to progressive difficulty, under the title Meisterschule des Klavierspiels, Methodik des Klavierspiels (1907; with A. Spanuth), and a book of memoirs, Klänge aus meinem Leben: Erinnerungen eines Musikers (Leipzig, 1922).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire