Isidor Wilhelm Seiss (23 December 184025 September 1905) was a German composer, conductor, pianist, piano pedagogue and philanthropist. His surname also appears as Seiß, and his first name also appears as Isidore.

Biography

Isidor Wilhelm Seiss was born in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

in 1840. His first musical studies were under Friedrich Wieck (piano) and Julius Otto (theory), before going to Moritz Hauptmann in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

from 1858 to 1860. He did some performing in Germany and Belgium, then became a piano teacher at the Cologne Conservatory in 1871, where he had a long career. He conducted the Cologne Musical Society.Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed, 1954, Vol. VII, p. 691 His notable students included Engelbert Humperdinck,Guy Wagner
''A Master from Liechtenstein: Josef Gabriel Rheinberger''
/ref> Elly Ney (for nine years before she moved on to Leschetizky and

Sauer The Sauer ( German and Luxembourgish, , ) or Sûre ( French, ) is a river in Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany. A left tributary of the Moselle, its total length is . Rising near Vaux-sur-Sûre in the Ardennes in southeastern Belgium, the Sauer f ...

Willem Mengelberg Joseph Wilhelm Mengelberg (28 March 1871 – 21 March 1951) was a Dutch conductor, famous for his performances of Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler and Strauss with the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest ...

, Carl Lachmund, Frederick Corder, Volkmar Andreae, Maurits Leefson,

Henri Weil Henri Weil (August 27, 1818 – November 5, 1909) was a French philologist. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Frankfurt, he was educated at the universities of Bonn, Berlin, and Leipzig. He went to France, and continued his studies at Paris ...

, Karl Krill and others. Dedications to Isidor Seiss included: *

Edvard Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic music, Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwid ...

: Book III (Op. 43) of the ''

Lyric Pieces ''Lyric Pieces'' () is a collection of 66 short pieces for solo piano written by Edvard Grieg. They were published in 10 volumes, from 1867 ( Op. 12) to 1901 (Op. 71). The collection includes several of his best known pieces, such as '' Wedding ...

'' * Josef Rheinberger: Toccata in C minor, Op. 115 * August Winding: Preludes in All the Keys, Op. 26. He wrote some educational pieces for piano and other minor works. He also arranged some of

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

's Contredanses and German Dances for piano.IMSLP
Seiss
/ref> He also revised Weber's Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat, and published editions of

Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

's ''Capriccio brillante'' in B minor, and other works. Isidor Seiss died by his own hand in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

in 1905, having suffered increasing blindness that had forced him to retire from his teaching position. Although aged only 64, he had outlived his entire family, and in his will he endowed the Conservatory with a pension and cash grants for the four oldest teachers. He also bequeathed over half a million marks to the city of Cologne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seiss, Isidor 1840 births 1905 suicides 1905 deaths 19th-century German classical pianists 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians 19th-century German philanthropists German Romantic composers German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) German male classical pianists Musicians from Dresden Musicians from Cologne German piano educators Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln alumni Academic staff of the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln Pupils of Friedrich Wieck Suicides in Germany