Born in
Hausneindorf on 23 March 1834, a small village in the region of the
Harz Mountains, he was the eldest son of
organ and
piano builder
Adolf Reubke (1805-1875). Of Julius's five siblings, two brothers, Emil (1836–1884) and Karl (1840–1860), worked with their father; Emil became a partner in 1860 and owned the company from 1872. His brother Otto (1842–1913) was also a pianist, organist and composer; he prepared the
Sonata on the 94th Psalm for its first publication in August 1871. Otto settled in
Halle, where he was a professor at the
University of Halle, and became its director in 1892. There were also two sisters, Meta and Alma. Reubke's first musical instruction was in
Quedlinburg with Hermann Bönicke (1821–1879). He moved to
Berlin in April or October 1851, where he continued his musical education at the conservatory there, which had been founded in November 1850 by
Theodor Kullak, with whom he studied piano,
Adolf Bernhard Marx, with whom he studied composition, and
Julius Stern. In Berlin, he encountered the Neudeutsche Schule with conductor
Hans von Bülow and organist
Alexander Winterberger, both associated with
Franz Liszt. When Liszt visited Berlin in December 1855, he arranged, on the recommendation of Bülow, to teach Reubke
piano and
composition from February 1856 in
Weimar, and allowed him to live at the Altenburg house he kept. It was in this environment that Reubke composed his two major works, the
Piano Sonata in B-flat minor, which he composed from December 1856 to March 1857, and the
Sonata on the 94th Psalm in C minor, for
organ, which he finished a month later; he also considered writing an
opera. The organ sonata was dedicated to Professor
Carl Riedel; its premiere was by Reubke on the
Ladegast organ (1853-1855) of
Merseburg Cathedral on 17 June 1857. Since its composition, it has been considered one of the pinnacles of the
Romantic repertoire. His health was already in decline at the time of his great compositions: He moved to
Dresden in December 1857. By this time, he was suffering from worsening
tuberculosis, and did not have the energy to play or compose. He moved to the health resort at
Pillnitz in May 1858, where he died at the
Zum Goldenen Löwen inn a few days later, at the age of just 24. He was buried near the church of Maria am Wasser in
Pillnitz-Hosterwitz on 7 June. He was one of
Franz Liszt's favourite pupils; after his death, Liszt wrote in a letter of sympathy to Reubke's father: "Truly no one could feel more deeply the loss which
Art has suffered in your Julius, than the one who has followed with admiring sympathy his noble, constant, and successful strivings in these latter years, and who will ever bear his friendship faithfully in mind". Liszt's legacy was successfully perpetuated and instilled in his pupil, whose piano and organ sonatas were influenced by his
Sonata in B minor and
Fantasy and Fugue on the chorale "Ad nos, ad salutarem undam", respectively. ==Compositions==