Xaver Scharwenka

Theophil Franz Xaver Scharwenka was a German pianist, composer and teacher of Polish descent. He was the brother of Ludwig Philipp Scharwenka (1847–1917), who was also a composer and teacher of music.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Xaver Scharwenka.

From the period sources

Xaver Scharwenka, born in Samter in 1850, was the brother of composer Philipp Scharwenka, their father being an architect (Grove’s, 1908). Xaver studied at Kullak’s Academy in Berlin, where he was noted for his piano playing and composition, learning piano from Kullak and composition from Wuerst. He made his public debut in Berlin in 1869 at the Singakademie and taught at Kullak’s until military duties called him away in 1873. Afterward, he became renowned as a “fine and brilliant player” and a “young composer of remarkable endowments,” according to Grove’s Dictionary (1908). His first Piano Concerto (Op. 32) premiered in 1877, which he played for German musicians in Hanover and later at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig, in 1878. He made several successful tours to England, introducing his first and second concertos to London audiences, and was favorably received by masters such as Rubinstein and Liszt during an 1883-84 European visit (Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians, 1888). In 1881, Scharwenka founded his own Conservatorium in Berlin, which later merged with Klindworth’s in 1893 to become the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatorium. He also directed a conservatory in New York from 1891-98 (Grove’s American Supplement, 1920).