He was born into a German-speaking family. His father was a music teacher. When he was 18 Hanslick went to study music with Tomášek, one of Prague's most important musicians. He also studied law at Prague University. He did not study music at university but he knew a lot about music and played the piano very well. He started writing music reviews (writing about concerts that had taken place). For many years he wrote reviews in a paper called "Neue freie Presse". He became professor of history and music at the University of Vienna and was an adjudicator at lots of music festivals. His most famous book was called "Vom Musikalisch-Schönen" ("About Beauty in Music").