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Music
Life
Ignaz Brüll was born on the 7th. November 1846 in the town of Proßnitz in Moravia.
A move by the family in 1850 to Vienna was to be the turning point in his life. His mother and father were both very musical and it soon became apparent that the young Ignaz had definite musical skills. She encouraged him by giving him his first piano lessons, but it was soon to be seen that he required more professional tuition.
The young man was to become the pupil of Professor Julius Epstein. Later he would study composition under Anton Rufinatscha and then Otto Dessoff. By the age of fourteen he had composed his first Piano Concerto (which has been recorded, along with other Brüll works, by Hyperion as a CD in their Romantic Piano Concertos series and played by Martin Roscoe).
He embarked upon a concert pianist career which brought him into contact with many of the best performers of the age. Brüll ventured into writing Operas, of which his “Das Goldene Kreuz” was the most famous, long-lasting and financially beneficial. Being based in Vienna had many advantages — the most apparent being the contact with so many prominent and influential composers, performers and conductors.
He engendered a friendship with Johannes Brahms which lasted until the latter’s death. Brahms would be a family friend for many, many years.
Brüll eventually had a large Austrian-style villa built on the shore of Lake Attersee at Unterach that became known by all as “The Berghof”. Many musicians — Brahms included — paid “The Berghof” numerous visits, staying quite long periods of time at each occasion! Brüll was a friendly, generous and warm-hearted man.
From the start of 1907 he had increasingly been feeling unwell and had, under his doctor’s orders, visited Karlsbad for “the cure” there. Sadly Brüll died suddenly whilst in Vienna at the house of his brother Eugen. Brüll was just 60 years old.
He wrote well over one hundred piano works, many orchestral and chamber pieces as well as numerous operas. Sadly nearly all works have been away from the public view for over a hundred years.
Brüll deserves recognition once more for his musical compositions and to be positioned alongside his friends Brahms, Mahler and Schumann to name just a few.
© Philip S. Gorse