Goldbeck, Robert

1839

German pianist, composer, and conductor; born at Potsdam, near Berlin. He first studied piano and harmony under his uncle, Louis Kohler; later was a pupil of Litolff at Brunswick, and for a short time of Liszt at Weimar. In 1851 he went to Paris, and several years later to London. About 1861 he came to America, where he composed his principal works in New York, founded a Conservatory in Boston, and in 1868 became director of the Chicago Conservatory of Music. In 1873 he went to St Louis, Missouri, where he conducted the Harmonic Society, and was one of the directors in the Beethoven Conservatory. He returned to New York in 1885. He has composed the following: Saratoga and Newport, two operas; a cantata, The Song of the Brave Man; the orchestral works, Elegie, Idylle, Leonore, and Victoria; a symphony; two piano concertos; a sextet for strings; quintet for piano and strings; over one hundred and thirty compositions for the piano; choruses and songs, among which, Three Fishers, a male quartet, has been repeatedly performed by the choral societies of the large cities of the United States. He is also the author of three Graduating Courses, instructive works for piano, voice, and violoncello, comprising six volumes; and an Encyclopaedia of Musical Education.