Rudolf Louis was an influential German music critic and conductor. He was born in Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen is a German town situated in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around southwest of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim.Schwetzingen is one of the 5 biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and it is a medium-sized centre including the cities and municipalities of...

 on 30 January 1870. He studied in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, where he was a pupil of Friedrich Klose

Friedrich Klose

Friedrich Klose was a German composer. His opera Ilsebill is inspired by the music of Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, and the plot is based on the Brothers Grimm tale of a fisherman who catches a huge fish which grants wishes....

, and continued his studies in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 and then Karlsruhe

Karlsruhe

The City of Karlsruhe is a city in the southwest of Germany, in the state of Baden-Württemberg, located near the French-German border.Karlsruhe was founded in 1715 as Karlsruhe Palace, when Germany was a series of principalities and city states...

 under Felix Mottl

Felix Mottl

Felix Josef von Mottl was an Austrian conductor and composer. He was regarded as one of the most brilliant conductors of his day. He composed three operas, of which Agnes Bernauer was the most successful, as well as a string quartet and numerous songs and other music...

 before becoming conductor of the theatre orchestras in Landshut

Landshut

Landshut is a city in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany, belonging to both Eastern and Southern Bavaria. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also the seat of the...

 and Lübeck

Lübeck

The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...

. In 1897 he moved to Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, where he lived for the remainder of his life. Among his pupils was Wilhelm Petersen

Wilhelm Petersen (composer)

Wilhelm Petersen was a German composer and conductor.He was born in Athens and spent his childhood in Darmstadt. From 1908 to 1913 he studied in Munich with Friedrich Klose, Felix Mottl and Rudolf Louis...

. Here he taught harmony and composition and was the critic for the newspaper Münchner Neueste Nachrichten. An advocate of the latest trends in music as exemplified by his friends Ludwig Thuille

Ludwig Thuille

Ludwig Thuille was a German composer and teacher, numbered for a while among the leading operatic composers of the 'Munich School', whose most famous representative was Richard Strauss.-Biography:...

 and Richard Strauss

Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...

, he published books on Wagner, Liszt

Liszt

Liszt is a Hungarian surname. Notable persons with that surname include:* Franz Liszt , Hungarian composer and pianist* Adam Liszt , father of Franz Liszt* Anna Liszt , mother of Franz Liszt...

, Berlioz, Bruckner, Pfitzner

Pfitzner

Pfitzner may refer to:In people* Composer Hans Pfitzner* Nazi politician and historian Josef PfitznerIn other uses* Pfitzner-Moffatt oxidation, a chemical reaction* G. Richard Pfitzner Stadium, located in Prince William County, Virginia, USA...

, Klose and contemporary German music. With Ludwig Thuille he wrote an influential manual on harmony, Harmonielehre (1907), which went through many editions. He died in Munich on 15 November 1914.