Hans Gnido Veil Bulow, a German pianist and composer, born at Dresden, Jan. 8, 1830. His father, Karl Eduard von Bulow (1807-'53), was a novelist and poet. The son commenced the study of music at an early age as an amateur, being intended by his father for the law; but as his tastes became more decided, he finally, by the advice of Liszt and Wagner, abandoned his law studies at Berlin, and devoted himself to music. His father, displeased at this decision, refused him support; but both Wagner and Liszt gave him assistance, the former obtaining for him in 1850 the position of chief of orchestra of the theatre at Zurich, where the operas Tannhauser and Lohengrin were being performed. In 1851 he went to Weimar, and studied the piano and composition for two years under Liszt's direction. In 1852 he played for the first time in public, at a musical festival in Ballenstedt; and in the same year his overture to "Julius Caesar" was performed for the first time, and he became one of the editors of the Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik of Leipsic, advocating the progressive school of which Wagner was the chief.

He succeeded Kullak as first professor of the piano at the Berlin conservatory in 1855. In 1857 he married Cosima, natural daughter of Liszt and the countess d'Agoult. In 1858 he was appointed court pianist at Berlin. In 1864 he went to Russia, where he made a great reputation as a pianist and orchestral conductor. In 1867 he became chapelmaster and director of opera to the king of Bavaria. His wife having deserted him for Wagner, Von Bulow in 1869 obtained a divorce in the Bavarian courts; and in December, 1872, she married his former friend. Von Billow's works are nearly 30 in number, the most celebrated among them being his overture and music to "Julius Caesar," "The Minstrel's Curse" for orchestra, and " Nir-wana," a composition founded on an Indian legend. Besides these he has composed songs and choruses and numerous pianoforte pieces, the most popular of which have been transcriptions from Liszt, Wagner, Berlioz, Handel, and Bach. As a conductor of orchestra he has no superior in Europe. As a pianist his only rival is Rubinstein, since Liszt no longer appears in the concert room.

An extraordinary characteristic of the man is that he never plays his own compositions in public.