Paul Pabst (15 May 1854 - 9 June 1897) was a pianist, composer, and Professor of Piano at Moscow Conservatory.
Pabst was born Christian Georg Paul Pabst in 1854, into a family of highly gifted musicians in Königsberg, capital of East Prussia. The young Pabst had a fortuitous meeting with Anton Rubinstein when the great pianist/composer travelled to Koenigsberg as overseer of cultural programmes there. Pabst moved to Russia as a most accomplished pianist in 1878. In the autumn of that year he accepted an invitation from Nikolai Rubinstein to teach at the Moscow Conservatory.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky frequently attended concerts given by Pabst, and used to refer to Pavel, as he was now known, as “a pianist of divine elegance“, and “a pianist from God“. Pabst was considered the greatest Professor of Piano at the Conservatory, and his students carried the great tradition of Russian romanticism into the 20th century. Pabst was considered one of the greatest pianists of his da