Bülow

Bülow, HANS GUIDO VON, pianist and composer, was born at Dresden, 8th January 1830, the son of Karl Eduard von Bülow (1803-53), poet and author. Hans studied music with zeal, and after being sent to Leipzig and Berlin to qualify for a legal career, resolved to give himself to music. Having spent some time with Richard Wagner, he in 1857 became the pupil of Liszt, whose daughter he married. In 1854 he became Prussian court-pianist, in 1864 pianist to the Bavarian court, and head of a music-school at Munich. In 1869 family troubles led him to resign his appointments and retire to Florence; and subsequently he undertook great concert tours in England and America. In 1880 he settled as director of music to the court at Meiningen; and after a year in a Berlin lunatic asylum, he died at Cairo in Egypt on the 13th February 1894. One of the most brilliant pianists of his time, remarkable for his extraordinary memory and unparalleled skill in conquering technical difficulties, he was famous as a concert director, and as a representative of the Liszt-Wagner school. He produced works for piano and for the orchestra, as also numerous editions of pieces by the great musicians, with arrangements and translations from Berlioz, Wagner, and Liszt.