Ernst Wenzel

Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel (German: Ernst Ferdinand Wenzel; 25 January 1808, Walddorf – 16 August 1880, Bad Kösen) was a German pianist and music teacher.

He studied philosophy at the University of Leipzig while also taking private piano lessons with Friedrich Wieck. During this period he became close to Robert Schumann and later frequently published articles in Schumann’s journal, the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik.

Wenzel was also a friend of Johannes Brahms, who dedicated to him the Scherzo in E-flat minor, Op. 4 (1851). At the invitation of Felix Mendelssohn, Wenzel began teaching piano at the Leipzig Conservatory in 1843 and remained in that position until the end of his life.

His pupils included Edvard Grieg, who admired Wenzel’s gifts as a pedagogue, as well as Rafael Joseffy, Albert Augustus Stanley, William Bradbury, and Dora Schirmacher. A Russian edition of Hugo Riemann’s Musical Dictionary (1905) described Wenzel as an excellent musician and an intelligent man, though marked by eccentricities.

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