Karl Eduard Weber, How He was Known in Russia

The article illustrates the life and creative activity of German pianist and pedagogue Karl Eduard Weber in Russia. Weber received his education at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1854 he went to Russia, where musicians of high professional level were on demand, and taught for over 20 years at the Tambov Music College. However, having engaged in pedagogical activity in various Russian cities, Weber frequently experienced discontent. Having observed the unsatisfactory level of musical education, he began creating methodological works. Among them, those which became famous and were disseminated were “Rukovodstvo k sistematicheskomu obucheniyu igre na fortepiano” [“A Manual for the Systematic Instruction of Playing the Piano”] (1866), and “Putevoditel' pri obuchenii igre na fortepiano” [“A Guide to Instruction of Piano Playing”] (1876). In 1881 Karl Eduard Weber received the position of an instructor at the Tambov Alexandrinsky Institute for Noble Girls. In 1889 he switched to working at the Tambov Musical Classes (since 1900 — the Tambov Music College), where he worked until the end of his life (1913).Weber brought up the talented student Anna Gravert-Lavdovskaya (1881 – 1888). She provided initial instruction to the future outstanding pianist Victor Merzhanov. Therein, undoubtedly, lies a great merit of the Weber school. Many of the foundational traits of piano pedagogy of Karl Eduard Weber are inherent to the pedagogy of Victor K. Merzhanov.