Krause, Martin

1853

One of the greatest of living teachers of the piano. Was born at Lobstadt, near Leipsic. His father, who was cantor of the church of Lobstadt, often called upon Martin to serve as organist, and in this capacity to transpose chorales and improvise upon them. When eleven years old his father presented him with the sonatas of Beethoven and the Well-tempered Clavichord of Bach, two works which seemed to arouse his latent musical talent. His parents wished him to become a teacher, so sent him first to the seminary for teachers at Borna, where he laid the foundation of his broad musical knowledge and gained his first ideas of pedagogy. He later went to Leipsic, where for two and a half years he studied under Reinccke and afterward under Wenzel and Coccius. After completing his studies in Leipsic he taught for a year in Switzerland, then went to Bremen, where he remained three years and founded the Eberhardt and Torleberg chamber-music concerts. Between 1878 and 1880 he gave concerts in Hanover, Cassel, Leipsic and other important German towns. In 1880 he settled in Leipsic as teacher of piano and critic on the Musikalischen Wochenblatt and the Leipsiger Tageblatt. In 1883 he met Lizst, and, after playing for him, became a regular attendant of his lessons in Weimar. In 1885 he arranged two grand concerts in Leipsic, at which the programs were entirely made up of the compositions of Liszt, and from these concerts sprang the Lizst- Verein, of which Krause was the founder and for fourteen years the president. In 1901 Krause went to Munich, where for three years he was Royal professor of piano at the Academy. This position he resigned to become head teacher of piano at Stern's Academy, where he is now teaching. It is his custom to give weekly recitals by his pupils in his home, to which come as guests the greatest pianists of the world. At these concerts the pupils become familiar with all of the most important works for the piano and gam  confidence and poise for public playing . One of his most promising pupils is Robert Adams Buell, whose debut concerts at Berlin and Leipsic won extravagant praise for both teacher and pupil.