His father had crossed the
Atlantic, moving to
Cincinnati, and there established a piano manufacturing business. Young Edward, under pressure from his father to enter banking as a career, a prospect he found uncongenial, escaped to
Leipzig in 1859. He trained as a musician at the
Leipzig Conservatoire, where he was a pupil of
Ignaz Moscheles. A youthful champion of composer
Richard Wagner, he founded the London
Wagner Society in 1872. In 1863 he had been recruited by
Henry Chorley to play the piano in London at the
Crystal Palace Concerts. His performances of
Chopin and
Beethoven were well received; after his marriage in 1871 he decided to settle permanently in England. His two-volume work
Musical Ornamentation was for many years the standard text, and an important influence on the evolving trend of performance practice. Dannreuther became a professor of piano at the
Royal College of Music in 1895, a position he held until his death. An enthusiast for new music, he was an important influence on the composer
Hubert Parry, who was his pupil. A memorial plaque on his former home at 12
Orme Square,
Westminster, London was unveiled on 26 July 2005. His son
Hubert Edward Dannreuther (1880–1977) was a British
admiral and one of six survivors of the sinking of
HMS Invincible. Another son Tristan Dannreuther (1872–1963) also served as an officer in the Royal Navy, and was an Assistant Director of Naval Intelligence after World War I. ==Selected writings==