Franz Wüllner
Franz Wüllner (28 January 1832 – 7 September 1902) was a German composer and conductor. He led the premieres of Wagner's Das Rheingold and Die Walküre, but was much criticized by Wagner himself, who greatly preferred the more celebrated conductors Hans von Bülow and Hermann Levi.
Franz Wüllner

Public domain
- Name
- Franz Wüllner
- Born
- 28 January 1832
- Birthplace
- Münster, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia
- Died
- 7 September 1902
- Place of death
- Braunfels, German Empire
- Occupation
- * Pianist
- Nationality
- Kingdom of Prussia
- Fields
- classical music
- Teachers
- Anton Schindler
- Languages
- German
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Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q819749 · wikipedia · Franz Wüllner
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
The documentary record
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Institutions cited
Bibliothèque nationale de France · Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
Complete reading chain (JSON)In this article
Biography
Biography
Training under Anton Schindler is recorded. John Carlowitz Ames is recorded as having studied under Franz Wüllner. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Employment is recorded with Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber and Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln.
Documentary record
Franz Wüllner was born in Munster, Germany, according to the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek records the fuller form Münster (Westf). Franz Wüllner died in Braunfels, Germany, according to the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Places of activity recorded by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek: Aachen and Munich.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Franz Wüllner • Born — 28 January 1832 • Birthplace — Münster, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia • Died — 7 September 1902 • Place of death — Braunfels, German Empire • Occupation — * Pianist • Conductor • Composer • Conservatory director • Organizations — * Munich Conservatory • Munich Court Opera • Cologne Conservatory • Children — Ludwig Wüllner
Documentary record
Franz Wüllner (28 January 1832 – 7 September 1902) is described as a composer, Kapellmeister, music teacher, pianist and conductor in the authority records of the Bibliothèque nationale de France and the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. The birth of Franz Wüllner is recorded on 28 January 1832, and the death on 7 September 1902.
Biography
Biography
section Wüllner was born in Münster and studied in his native place, and at Frankfurt, Berlin, Brussels, and Munich. Among his teachers was Anton Schindler, who styled himself Beethoven's amanuensis carrying on the true traditions of the master's style, a claim disputed by Beethoven's pupil Carl Czerny. In 1856, Wüllner became instructor in piano at the Munich Conservatory. He held the position of town musical director at Aix-la-Chapelle from 1858 to 1864. In 1867, he became director of the choral classes in the reorganized School of Music at Munich and wrote for them Chorübungen der Münchener Musikschule, text of score reading and singing (Solfege). He succeeded the temperamental Bülow in 1869 as conductor of the Court Opera and the Academy Courts. Here he conducted the first performances of Rheingold and Walküre (1869, 1870) before the production of the entire Ring cycle at the first Bayreuth Festival of 1876. It is for these renditions that he is usually remembered now. He became court kapellmeister at Dresden and artistic director of the conservatory in 1877, and director of the Cologne Conservatory and conductor of the Gürzenich concerts in 1884. After 1864 he appeared frequently as conductor of the Lower Rhenish Music Festival. He died in Braunfels. Among his notable pupils were Volkmar Andreae, Fritz Brun, Lothar Kempter, Bruno Klein, Jan van Gilse, Hans von Koessler, Karl Aagard Østvig, Ernst von Schuch, and the conductor Willem Mengelberg. Mengelberg controversially claimed that his teacher's ties with Schindler gave Mengelberg a direct connection with Beethoven performance tradition. Among his works are: Heinrich der Finkler, a cantata for solo, male chorus, and orchestra; additional recitatives to Weber's Oberon, accepted by many of Germany's principal theatres; a setting of Psalm 125, for chorus and orchestra; a setting of Psalm 51 (Miserere) for double choir; and a Stabat Mater for double choir; besides masses, motets, songs, chamber music, and piano pieces. Wüllner was one of the editors of the Bach-Gesellschaft-Ausgabe, the first complete edition of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1832
Franz Wüllner born at Münster.
1902
Franz Wüllner died at Braunfels.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Münster.
Birth place
Braunfels.
Death place
Recording
There is a recording fragment in the Thomas Edison National Historical Park archive from 1890 featuring Wüllner at the piano accompanying the singer Karl Mayer in Schubert's 'Wohin?'. This makes Wüllner the earliest-born person whose piano playing has been recorded acoustically (Saint-Saëns is usually credited with that, although he was born 3 years after Wüllner, and Carl Reinecke (1824–1910) left some piano rolls and not acoustic recordings). Unfortunately, the recording quality of the Wüllner cylinder is now so degraded that almost nothing can be discerned about the piano playing at all.
Text attribution
Licensing
Text attribution
Part of the biographical narrative on this page reuses licensed material. Its origin, revision and licence are recorded here.
The biographical narrative on this page is based on the Wikipedia article Franz Wüllner, revision 1294566797 (EN edition), by its contributors. VALÉORINE has edited that text and built its own documentary record around it. The reused material is available under CC BY-SA 4.0, and this page's reuse of it is offered under the same licence. Everything else on this page — the chronology, the holdings, the evidence, the plates and the connections — is VALÉORINE's own record. Sources and licences.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Slonimsky, Nicolas. Baker's Biographical dictionary of musicians. Schirmer Books. 1919. 1978. 0-02-870240-9.
- 2.New International Encyclopedia
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q819749: Franz WüllnerWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
Formation and teaching. He trained under Anton Schindler. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style. Recorded as conductor, composer, pianist, music educator and university teacher.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
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