German by birth, the pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer studied at the Paris Conservatoire starting at a young age and eventually settled in Paris, where he lived until his death in 1849. For these reasons, many historians refer to Kalkbrenner as being a French composer. At his peak, Kalkbrenner was considered to be the foremost pianist in Europe and was a prolific composer of a multitude of piano works (altogether more than 200), piano concertos, and operas. Author of a famous method of piano playing (1831) which was in print until the late 19th century, he ran in Paris what is sometimes called a factory for aspiring virtuosos and taught scores of pupils from as far away as Cuba. His best piano pupils were Marie Pleyel and Camille-Marie Stamaty. Through Stamaty, Kalkbrenner’s piano method was passed on to Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Camille Saint-Saëns. One of the few composers who through deft business deals became enormously rich, Chopin dedicated his first piano concerto to him and Kalkbrenner published transcriptions of Beethoven's nine symphonies for solo piano decades before Liszt did the same. He was the first one to introduce long and rapid octave passages in both hands – today so familiar from 19th century piano music - into his piano texture.