Epstein Julius, *7 August 1832 Zagreb, †1 March 1926 Vienna, Austrian pianist and teacher. He studied music under A. Halm (piano) and A. J. Rufinatscha (composition) in Vienna. From 1867 to 1901, he was a professor at the Vienna Conservatory, where he trained many outstanding pianists; among others, M. Sembrich-Kochańska studied piano with him, and he encouraged her to take up singing. In his concert and teaching activities, Epstein favored the music of the Viennese classics and early Romantics; he published piano works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Mozart, collaborated on the publication of Schubert’s complete works (Leipzig, B&H), and also published Alte Meisterstücke für Klavier (3 vols., Vienna UE). He belonged to Brahms’s circle of friends, whom he introduced to the musical world of Vienna.
Literature: H. Schuster Julius Epstein, Vienna 1902.
