Tellefsen – teacher

After the death of Chopin, Tellefsen took over many of his students and quickly gained a great reputation as a teacher. Already in 1850, he wrote that he was earning good money and teaching music to the beau monde. It seems that his success was lasting, as one year later he wrote: “I have many pupils and my reputation in Paris grows daily; I have probably the most aristocratic clientele, as I’m giving lessons to four princesses, one duchess, and I won’t even count the countesses”.

The students of Tellefsen included Jane Stirling and Princess Marcelina Czartoryska. The latter, it seems, was instrumental in securing an influx of new pupils. Tellefsen also gave lessons to the Duchess of Coigny and numerous members of the Rothschild family.

Tellesfen's reputation as a teacher during the 1860s can be gauged from a letter from one of his former student friends, Karol Mikuli, written in 1864. In the letter, Mikuli asks Tellefsen to send one of his students to fill the position of a piano teacher to the children of Prince Adam Sapieha, who resided in Paris.