Biographical Notes
Mikuli (aka Bsdikian) was born in Czerniowce, then part of the Austrian Empire (now Chernivtsi, Ukraine) to an Armenian family. He studied under Frédéric Chopin for piano (later becoming his teaching assistant) and Anton Reicha for composition. He toured widely as a concert pianist, becoming Director of the Lviv Conservatory in 1858. He founded his own school there in 1888.
His students included Moriz Rosenthal, Raoul Koczalski, Aleksander Michałowski, Jaroslaw Zieliński and Kornelia Parnas. He died in Lemberg, then part of Austria-Hungary (now Lviv, Ukraine) and is buried in the courtyard of the Armenian church in Lviv.
He is most well known as an editor of works by Chopin. Dover Publications currently publishes reprints of his 1879 editions of Chopin's piano music, originally published by F. Kistner (Leipzig). His goal, as stated in the foreword of the edition, was to provide more reliable editions. He used several verified sources, most of which were written or corrected by Chopin himself. His editions of Chopin's works were first published in America in 1895.
Mikuli also took detailed notes of Chopin's comments made in lessons and interviewed witnesses of Chopin's performances. For many years he was regarded as the primary authority on Chopin and his remarks about Chopin's playing were often quoted by biographers.
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