Franz Brendel

"Not to be confused with composer Franz Brendel (1832-1874)".

Karl Franz Brendel (November 26, 1811 - November 25, 1868) was a German music critic and historian.

Brendel was born at Stolberg. He was a student at the University of Leipzig, University of Berlin, and University of Freiburg up until the year 1840. In 1846 he began teaching music history at the Leipzig Conservatory, and in 1852 he published a well-regarded general history of European music. Brendel also published a book on Franz Liszt. He was the editor of the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" from 1845 until his death in 1868, and coined the phrase "Neudeutsche Schule" (New German School) to describe the movement of German music critics (such as himself and Eduard Hanslick) on the rise in the middle of the nineteenth century. He died in Leipzig.

References

*Don Randel, "The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music". Harvard, 1996, p. 106.