Person details

Theodor Kullak

Kulák

Kullak, Theodor (1818-1882). German pianist, composer and teacher. Demonstrated enormous pianistic talent in childhood but did not devote himself fully to a musical profession until the 1840s when he became renowned as virtuoso and teacher of the instrument in aristocratic circles. He founded two important music teaching institutes in Berlin; in 1858 the Berliner Musikschuler (later becoming the Stern Conservatoire), and in 1851 the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst (known as the Kullak Academy). The latter became the largest and most active and influential private music school in the Prussian lands during the nineteenth century. As well as being an effective and much praised teacher his talents as a composer, almost exclusively of solo and concertante piano works, were considerable.