Karl Wilhelm Brandt (1869-1923)

Biography

Karl Wilhelm Brandt was born in 1869 in Coburg, Bavaria (Germany). He finished his musical studies in the city of his birth in 1887. He then left for Finland to play principal trumpet in the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1890 he was engaged with the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra in Moscow, and in 1899 he was named professor at the Conservatory.

In Russia he enjoyed a prestigious reputation as a soloist and as a military band director. He also was an equally fine composer and has left us many pieces for brasses, mainly for trumpet and cornet. In 1912 he was named professor of trumpet and horn at the newly created Saratov Conservatory, where he displayed his talents as a teacher and organizer (he founded the city symphony orchestra). It was in Saratov that he wrote his famous etude books for trumpets which is still played throughout the world today.