A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pauer, Ernst

by A. J. Hipkins

PAUER, Ernst, pianist and eminent teacher of the piano, was born at Vienna, Dec. 21, 1826. His father was first minister of the Lutheran church, Director of the theological seminary in Vienna, and Superintendent-General of the Lutheran churches of the Austrian Empire; his mother was a Streicher, of the great pianoforte-making family, so intimately connected with Beethoven. The cultivation of his early musical talent was not allowed to prejudice his general education; the study of the classics and modern languages being carried on concurrently with the pianoforte, first under Theodor Dirzka, and then under Mozart's son, Wolfgang Amadeus, and with harmony and counterpoint under Sechter. This first stage in his musical education was terminated by a public performance in 1842, and the publication of one of his compositions. In 1845 he went to Munich for a year and a half to study instrumentation and dramatic composition under Franz Lachner. Not content with his musical studies he learnt Italian and Spanish, and by teaching and composing was enabled to become independent of his father, thus early evincing that extraordinary energy which has always been one of his principal characteristics. In April 1847 he competed for and obtained the appointment of director of the musical societies at Mayence, and was employed by the great publishing firm of Schotts to compose two operas, 'Don Riego' (1849), and 'Die rothe Maske' (1850), which were performed in Mayence and Mannheim; also some important vocal works, and overtures and entractes for the use of the local theatre. This appointment, in which he gained great experience, he resigned in April 1851, and preceded to London, where his performances at the Philharmonic (June 23, Hummel's A minor Concerto) and the Musical Union were received with much favour. After this success he resolved to pursue his career in England, though returning for a time to Germany.

In 1852 he married Miss Andreae, of Frankfort, and brought her with him to London, where they have since regularly resided during the musical season. Mrs. Pauer is a good contralto singer, and an excellent musician. During the first few years of her married life she was not infrequently heard in public, but this she has latterly given up. She has not however forsaken music, and the Bach Choir has profited much by her great knowledge and her steady devotion to its rehearsals and performances.

In 1861 Mr. Pauer adopted a new direction in pianoforte-playing, one which had been sketched by Moscheles some twenty years before, but not fully carried out—the historical; and gave a series of six performances with the view of illustrating the foundation and development of pianoforte composition and playing, in chronological series from about 1600 to the present time, elucidated and assisted by programmes containing critical and biographical notices. Similar performances, but with different programmes, were given in 1862 and 1863, and again in 1867, in Willis's and the Hanover Square Rooms. In 1862 he was selected by Austria and the Zollverein for the Musical Jury of the London International Exhibition. He was at the same time the official reporter for the Prussian government, and his report was reproduced by some of the chief industrial journals, and was translated into various languages. For these services he received the Imperial Austrian order of Francis Joseph, and the Prussian order of the Crown. During the next few years Mr. Pauer played in Holland, Leipzig, Munich and Vienna, in fulfilment of special engagements, and was appointed pianist to the Imperial Austrian Court in 1866.

In 1870 he began a new phase of his active career, that of lecturing upon the composers for the harpsichord (or clavecin) and pianoforte; the form and spirit of the varieties of modern music, as the Italian, French and German; the history of the oratorio; the practice of teaching; and many cognate subjects. These lectures have been given at the Royal Institution, the South Kensington Museum, and in many other important lecture-rooms in Great Britain and Ireland. When Cipriani Potter retired from the Royal Academy of Music, Pauer took his class, and retained it for five years. In 1876, on the foundation of the National Training School for Music at Kensington Gore, he became the principal pianoforte professor of that institution, and in 1878 was made a member of the Board for Musical Studies at Cambridge University, and the following year an Examiner. Another of his important occupations has been editing the works of the classical and romantic composers. Among these will be found 'Alte Klavier-Musik' (Senff, Leipzig), 12 books; 'Alte Meister' (Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig), 40 Nos. [See Klavier-musik, Alte; and Meister, Alte.] Also 'Old English Composers for the Virginals and Harpsichord' (Augener, London); and, under the auspices of the last-named publisher, an edition of the classical composers in a cheap form, embracing and including all the great masters from Bach and Handel to Schumann, and extending, up to July 1880, to nearly 30 volumes, of admirable clearness and convenience. Besides this are arrangements for children, and educational works, including the 'New Gradus ad Parnassum,' 100 studies, some of them by himself; 'Primer of the Pianoforte' (Novello, Ewer & Co. 1876); 'Elements of the Beautiful in Music' (ditto, 1876); and 'Primer of Musical Forms' (ditto, 1878). Also some interesting arrangements of Schumann's Symphonies for four hands, and of Mendelssohn's PF. Concerto for two pianos, thrown off as mere hors d'œuvres by this clever and indefatigable worker. Reference to the publishers' catalogues must supplement these specimens of the work of an active and successful life. As may be expected, he has unperformed and unpublished works in his portfolios; among them an opera 'Die Brautschau Friedrich des Grossen.' Of published pianoforte pieces few can be named that have attained greater popularity than Pauer's 'Cascade.' As a pianist his style is distinguished by breadth and nobility of tone, and by a sentiment in which seriousness of thought is blended with profound respect for the intention of the composer. As a man, his simple genuine nature has gained him the affection and esteem of a very large circle of friends and pupils.

[ A. J. H. ]