Karl Merz

Background

Karl Merz was born on September 10, 1834, in Bensheim, Hesse, near Frankfort-on-the-Main. He was the third of nine children of Johannes Merz and Katharina (Werle).

Education

The father, a native of Steinheim, Prussia, was an excellent all-round musician who taught school and music for fifty years. He gave Karl his first lessons in violin and organ, enabling him to become a church organist at the age of eleven. The boy's schooling was not confined to music, however, but included excellent literary discipline; nor did his father continue long to teach him, but placed him with Franz Joseph Kunkel, a good musician though a less able schoolmaster. Karl was graduated from the Gymnasium (in arts) in 1852.

Career

In 1853, Karl received a government appointment as school-teacher in a small town near Bingen-on-the-Rhine. His devotion to music caused him to weary of teaching school in so small a town and he remained only a year, coming to America in September 1854 and settling at once in Philadelphia. Since he could not speak English, he met with many obstacles. Through his friend Johann Heinrich Bonawitz he secured a position as violinist in a theatre orchestra and also an organ position in the Sixth Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, where he remained for one year. From 1856 to 1859 he taught in a ladies' seminary near Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and played the organ associated with the school. Here he had much time for furthering his own study and growth, and for testing himself in musical composition. During the next two years, he was successively in Salem, Roanoke County, in Harrisonburg, at Hollins Institute, and at Botetourt Springs (all in Virginia), teaching music in schools for girls. While he was away on vacation in 1861 the Civil War began and he was obliged to seek another position. This circumstance was not really a misfortune, for he secured a much better place at Oxford Female College, Oxford, Ohio, where he remained twenty-one years. When this institution closed its doors temporarily in 1882 he was immediately called to Wooster University as director of the department of music and the arts, and here he remained until his death. He became a regular contributor to Brainard's Musical World journal and was made associate editor in 1871 and editor in 1873. Probably his work most widely read by musicians is the posthumous volume, Music and Culture (1890), a collection of essays and articles, some of which were given as lectures before the students at Wooster University and some of which had appeared in musical periodicals. These writings were compiled by his son, Charles Hope Merz, in response to many requests for them made while the fatherwas still living. Merz's compositions, now little remembered, included a trio for piano, violin, and 'cello, the three movements bearing the titles "L'inquiétude, " "Éloge, " "La Belle Am Éricaine"; two nocturnes for piano entitled "Bitter Tears" and "Tranquility"; a piano sonata in C minor; and three operettas: The Runaway Flirt (1868), The Last Will and Testament (1877, produced at Oxford), and Katie Dean (1882, Oxford). Merz died on January 30, 1890.

Achievements

• Besides his success as a teacher and lecturer, Merz achieved considerable reputation as a writer on musical topics. His "Musical Hints for the Million, " published serially in Brainard's Musical World beginning in April 1868 (and in book form in 1875), gained immediate attention. He also wrote numerous quartets and choruses, organ and piano pieces, and songs. After his death his valuable library was purchased and presented to the Carnegie Institute Library, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Music and Culture: Comprising a Number of Lectures and Essays 1890

    (Originally published in 1890. This volume from the Cornel...)

Personality

Merz was a gifted lecturer, possessing personal charm which, combined with his thorough knowledge of his subject, won wide favor.

Connections

Merz's wife, whom he married in 1858, was Mary Louise Riddle of Paradise, Pennsylvania, a pupil. Their daughter, Bessie C. Merz, was, until her death in 1921, a well-known music teacher in New York City.

Father:

Johannes Merz

Mother:

Katharina (Werle) Merz

Wife:

Mary Louise Riddle

Daughter:

Bessie C. Merz

References

• A hundred years of music in America. An account of musical effort in America during the past century ... together with historical and biographical sketches of important personalities