Eduard Epstein (Russian ÃÂôÃÂðÃÂô ÃÂÃÂøÿþòøàÃÂÿÃÂÃÂõùý / Eduard Ossipovich Epshtein / ÃÂduard OsipoviàÃÂpà ¡tejn; also spelled Eduard Osipovich Epstein; 13 October 1827 â 22 February (6 March) 1889) was a Russian music educator of Prussian origin.
Eduard Epstein was born in Tiflis in Bodland, Prussia (today Bogacica, Kluczbork municipality, Poland), or according to other sources, in Simmenau (now Szymonków, Woà Âczyn municipality, Poland).
In 1848, he enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory, where he studied piano with Ignaz Moscheles. On April 30, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reported on his participation in a conservatory concert. He also studied music theory under Ernst Friedrich Eduard Richter and Moritz Hauptmann. After completing his studies, he devoted himself primarily to pedagogy. In 1853, he was appointed as a private tutor on a manor in the Minsk Governorate. In 1855, he accompanied the singer Wilhelm Versing on a concert tour through southern Russia. After the tour, he settled in Tiflis in 1857, where he spent the rest of his life. There, he became GeorgiaâÂÂs first professional piano teacher. He taught both privately and later at the music school of the Tiflis branch of the Imperial Russian Musical Society. Among his students was Gennari Karganov. He maintained a close friendship with Gustav Radde.
Epstein published a âÂÂSchool for Elementary Piano Instructionâ (Tiflis, 1877) as well as a popular book in German, Der Musik-Unterricht der Jugend. Eine Anleitung für Eltern und Erzieher (The Musical Education of Youth: A Guide for Parents and Educators; 2nd ed., Leipzig 1888), dedicated to the State Councilor and âÂÂCurator of Education in the Caucasusâ K. P. Yanovsky (1822âÂÂ1902). The book was primarily aimed at parents whose children were receiving music lessons. Nikolai Findeisen called it âÂÂvery valuableâ and âÂÂthe first serious work on the subject in Russia.â In 1895, Findeisen published a Russian translation in his journal Russkaya muzykalnaya gazeta. A stand-alone Russian edition followed in 1897 in Saint Petersburg.
In his younger years, Salomon Jadassohn (1831âÂÂ1902) took over EpsteinâÂÂs students in Leipzig when his friend left the city.
Eduard died on 22 February or 6 March 1889 in Tiflis.