Theodor Kullak was a German pianist, composer, music teacher, and publisher. He was born in Krotoszyn near Poznan on September 12, 1818, and died in Berlin on March 1, 1882. He was of Polish origin, the brother of Adolf Kullak, and the father of Franz Kullak.
He began studying music in Poznan with Albrecht Agthe and received the patronage of Antoni Henryk Radziwill. Kullak gave concerts from the age of six and, by eleven, had performed for the royal court in Berlin. After his career as a child prodigy waned, he lost his influential patrons. At 19, he became a medical student in Berlin while continuing his musical studies with Wilhelm Taubert and Siegfried Dehn.
In 1842, Kullak moved to Vienna to devote himself to music and studied with Carl Czerny and Otto Nicolai. He returned to Berlin in 1843 as a court piano teacher and taught music to Prussian princes and princesses for many years. In 1846, he was named pianist to the Royal Court. In 1844, he co-founded the Berlin Musicians’ Association with Franz Commer, Friedrich Geyer, and Otto Lange, later serving as its chairman for many years.
In 1848, Kullak and Julius Stern helped establish the Berlin Music School, later known as the Stern Conservatory. After disagreements with his colleagues, Kullak founded the New Academy of Music in 1851. Often called the Kullak Academy, it focused on training pianists and became Germany’s largest private music institute. Its students included Xaver Scharwenka, Moritz Moszkowski, and Nikolai Rubinstein.
Kullak’s compositions include piano concertos, sonatas, trios, songs, and transcriptions of German, Spanish, and Russian melodies. His widely used piano studies included The School of Octave Playing (1848), School of Finger Exercises, and Advice and Studies.