Gottfried Galston, born in Vienna in 1879, completed his studies under Schenner at the Vienna Conservatory at the age of fifteen and then became a pupil of Theodore Leschetizky with whom he remained for five years. It was in Leipzig in 1900 that Galston made his piano debut. In 1903, he was appointed Professor at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin where he taught until 1907. At this time Galston also received significant honors, the title of Professor Extraordinary at the Imperial Conservatory in St. Petersburg and an invitation to perform at the Conservatory in Paris without the customary written application. In 1927, Galston settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he taught at the St. Louis Institute of Music. He resided in St. Louis until his death in 1950.

The Italian-born pianist, composer, and conductor, Ferruccio Benvenuto Busoni was born April 1, 1866, in Empoli, Italy. He performed as a child prodigy at the piano beginning at the age of nine, although he had not studied with any well-known teacher at that time. His studies in composition began with Wilhelm Meyer-Remy at Graz and continued at the Leipzig Conservatory beginning in 1886. Busoni was an intellectual who wrote his own opera libretti as well as essays on the philosophy and aesthetics of music; he was a virtuoso pianist who possessed impressive technical skill; he was a conductor who supported the new composers of his day by programming unknown works; he was a composer of a wide range of works for piano, voice, orchestra, organ, chamber ensembles, and the stage.

(Excerpts from Pauline Shaw Bayne's book: The Gottfried Galston Music Collection and the Galston-Busoni Archive)