Pembaur, Josef 04/20/1875 - 10/12/1950

Josef Pembaur was the son of the composer and music director Josef Pembaur the Elder (1848-1923). He received his first musical education from his father. From 1893 to 1896 he studied piano under Ludwig Thuille, conducting under Ludwig Abel and composition and organ under Josef Gabriel Rheinberger at the Royal Academy of Music in Munich. He was awarded a gold medal at the final examination in 1896. From 1896 to 1901 he worked as a piano teacher at the same training institution. In 1901/02 further studies followed with Alfred Reisenauer at the Leipzig Conservatory of Music where he was subsequently employed as a specialist teacher for advanced piano playing. In 1912 he was appointed professor in Saxony. Appointed Bavarian professor in 1921, he returned to the ''Akademie für Tonkunst'' in Munich and led a master class for piano.

Pembaur also completed numerous concert tours. In Berlin he was one of the judges in the competition for the ''Ibach Prize''.

In spring 1919 he recorded eight piano pieces for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano including two compositions by his father which were probably his earliest recordings.

On October 29, 1918, Thomas Mann had heard him in an event with Joachim von Delbrück who was reading from his novel ''Der sterbende Chopin'' that evening. Mann commented on this in his diary as follows: "I listened to the music especially the sonata with the funeral march which Pembaur played excellently and with profound pleasure. In the meantime what this cretin Delbrück was doing really made no sense. We left before the last section''.

In 1906 he married the pianist Maria Elterich. They also performed together on two pianos.