Background
He was born in Samter, Grand Duchy of Posen.
composer music educator musicologist
He was born in Samter, Grand Duchy of Posen.
After the closure of the Gymnasium (college) in 1865 he studied music theory together with his brother under Richard Wüerst and Heinrich Dorn at the new Musical Academy in Berlin where, from 1868, he himself was taken on as teacher of Theory and Composition.
He was the older brother of Xaver Scharwenka. In this period his own first compositions appeared. In 1874 he brought out an overture and a symphony for the first time in a concert of his own.
Philipp however returned to Berlin in 1892 to take control of the Conservatory there, which in 1893 he merged with the Piano School of Karl Klindworth to form the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory.
This went on to become an outstanding institution in the musical landscape of Berlin. As Director of the Conservatory, Scharwenka remained active until his death in 1917.
Otto Klemperer studied with him in Berlin, and Oskar Fried was another very distinguished pupil of his. In 1880 Philipp married violin virtuoso Marianne Scharwenka (Marianne Stresow, d 1918).
Also Scharwenka possessed a remarkable talent as graphic illustrator, which is seen, for instance, in the drastic-humorous Figures for Alexander Moszkowski"s satire, Anton Notenquetscher.