Background
Carl Wolfsohn was born on December 14, 1834, in Alzey, Germany. He was a son of Benjamin Wolfsohn and Sara (Belmont) Wolfsohn. Benjamin was a physician, who was also fond of music, while Sara was a pianist.
Carl Wolfsohn was born on December 14, 1834, in Alzey, Germany. He was a son of Benjamin Wolfsohn and Sara (Belmont) Wolfsohn. Benjamin was a physician, who was also fond of music, while Sara was a pianist.
Carl showed musical talent in the early years of his life. He began to take piano lessons at the age of seven and was soon placed under the guidance of Aloys Schmitt in Frankfurt. Aloys was Carl's mentor for two years. It also was in Frankfurt, that Wolfsohn made his début as a pianist in December 1848 in the Beethoven piano quintet.
Some time later, Carl studied for two years with Vincenz Lachner in Mannheim, made successful concert tours through Rhenish Bavaria and went to London, where he lived two years before coming to America in 1854.
In 1854, Carl settled down in Philadelphia and for nearly twenty years wielded a wide influence through his varied activities as pianist, teacher and conductor. During that period, he gave annual series of chamber-music concerts and for two seasons gave symphony concerts with a Philadelphia orchestra.
In 1863, Wolfsohn attracted nation-wide attention by presenting all of the Beethoven piano sonatas in a series of recitals, first in Philadelphia, then in Steinway Hall, New York City. The series was repeated the following year in both cities with notable success. Soon after this, Carl gave the entire piano works of Schumann, then of Chopin, in a similar series of concerts.
In 1869, Carl founded the Beethoven Society in Philadelphia and four years later was induced to remove to Chicago to conduct there a similar society. Its first concert took place on January 15, 1874, and the society soon attained an active membership of about two hundred. This was the first important choral organization for mixed voices in Chicago. Its semi-social character made it a strong cultural influence. Wolfsohn directed its activities until 1884, when, because of other enterprises, interest waned, and it was disbanded. In the three annual concerts of the society, he introduced to Chicago such works, as Beethoven's Mass in C and Choral Fantasia, Bruch's Odysseus and Gade's Crusaders. In addition, Carl gave monthly chamber-music and piano recitals. In the spring of 1874, Carl repeated the series of ten Beethoven sonata recitals, in the next spring the piano works of Schumann and in 1876 those of Chopin.
Wolfsohn was a prodigious worker, and his untiring energy and enthusiasm led him, in 1877, to plan a series of historical recitals, covering the whole literature of the piano. The public, however, became rather surfeited with piano music, interest lagged, and after the fifteenth recital, the project was abandoned.
Wolfsohn wrought valiantly in the army of devoted pioneers, who laid the foundations of musical life in America. Beethoven was his musical idol, yet after the age of sixty, he took up the study of Brahms, who was then just beginning to be known in America, and played publicly nearly all of his piano works. He was also one of the earliest in America to espouse the cause of Wagner's music.
From 1856 on, Carl was closely associated with Theodore Thomas in chamber-music in Philadelphia and Chicago and on tour. The trio evenings of Wolfsohn, Thomas and Kammerer (cellist) were notable events in Chicago.
In 1861, with the outset of the American Civil War, Carl wrote music for George Douglas Brewerton's verse "May God Save the Union" and this song became a popular anthem in the army of the northerners. Besides, Wolfsohn is the author of other songs and salon piano pieces, among others.
It's worth noting, that Carl acted as a music teacher and his students included Alfredo Barili, Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler and Augusta Cottlow, among others.
Carl Wolfsohn was an eminent pianist and music teacher. Through his performances and his unflagging zeal, he did much to raise the standards of chamber-music and piano-playing both in Philadelphia and Chicago. His trio concerts were highly appreciated by music lovers generally. Besides, both in Philadelphia and Chicago, Carl established the Beethoven Society.
Carl was essentially a pianist, but, while he possessed an adequate technique, he played from the standpoint of the musical scholar rather than the virtuoso.
Carl had singularly broad musical sympathies. He had a wide and influential following as a teacher of piano, but for conscientious reasons never gave more, than four lessons a day. His most famous pupil was undoubtedly Fannie Bloomfield Zeisler.
As for Carl's personality, he was high-strung, wholly uncommercial in all his artistic ventures, the soul of honesty, intolerant of pretense and sham.
Physical Characteristics: Wolfsohn was thin and wiry in appearance.
Carl was never married.
