Franz Brendel: Journalist, Musicologist, and Critic
Franz Brendel was a journalist, musicologist, and critic who was born in Stolberg, Germany. He researched, taught, and wrote various histories of European music in 1846. Brendel established the new German School in 1859, where he used several German music styles. Because of his conservatism, he was the most well-known representative of the New German School. Brendel considered Liszt to be the epitome of instrumental music at the time, while viewing other composers as epigones. Wagner railed against the adoption of the term "New German School" in a loud manner. Wagner suggested that the use of this term depicted music drama rather than a combative style of music. Brendel supported his idea by stating that Beethoven's era represented the old school, therefore, he did not want to be associated with the Viennese Mozart (Taruskin and Gibbs 928).
Organizing a Musical Performance
Due to the heated debates concerning the name Franz chose, he decided to organize a musical performance where he invited Liszt and Berlioz. His main agenda was to allow the people to choose for themselves after listening to the musical performance. He regarded Liszt as a master of music. Franz wanted to show that it did not matter where people came from, but what mattered was that they played good music. Brendel believed in Liszt's ideas because those ideas were the same as his (Taruskin and Gibbs 1164). Liszt and Brendel worked together to promote music in Germany and unity amongst other music composers despite the opposition they faced from other musicians with different ideologies.
