Louis (Ludwik) Marek was a Ukrainian pianist and composer who was born in Ternopil in 1837 and died in L'viv (then known as Lemberg) in 1893. Louis Marek was active primarily in Central Europe, particularly in Galicia (then part of the Habsburg Monarchy). He belonged to a generation of musicians strongly influenced by the Romantic piano tradition and can be stylistically classified as a successor to composers such as Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt. Marek composed primarily piano music, including character pieces and salon pieces, dances (e.g., mazurkas, waltzes), as well as shorter lyrical pieces in the Romantic style. Many of his works were published during his lifetime, but today they are largely forgotten and rarely performed. Some scores are still accessible through music archives such as IMSLP.
