Karl Vollweiler
Karl Vollweiler, also known as Charles Vollweiler, was a German composer, pianist and music educator. He was born on 27 November 1813 in Offenbach am Main, Germany, the son of Georg Jakob Vollweiler. He died on 27 January 1848 in Heidelberg, in the Grand Duchy of Baden, aged 34.
Vollweiler received his first musical training from his father. He then studied in Frankfurt am Main with Peter Hor and Aloys Schmitt; Hor dedicated his Piano Variations of 1822 to the young pupil. Vollweiler began giving concerts in 1826.
In 1834 he set out on an extended concert tour through the Netherlands, northern Germany, Denmark and Sweden. In the autumn of 1835 he gave two concerts in Riga, then moved to St. Petersburg, where he worked for several years as a concert pianist and teacher. His pupils included the sisters Vera and Natalia Pogozheva and the young Vladimir Stasov. He took part in the first musical mornings at St. Petersburg University and performed in ensemble with Nikolai Bakhmetev.
His compositions included an unpublished symphony, two piano trios (Opp. 2 and 15), Variations on Russian Themes for string quartet (Op. 14), a piano sonata (Op. 3), six Melodic Études (Op. 4), six Lyric Études (Op. 9), other piano pieces, and four songs to poems by Heinrich Heine (Op. 45). He also arranged several works by Mikhail Glinka for piano, including the Lezginka from the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila.