Karl Muck’s father was a Bavarian politician and amateur musician. After his school years he studied music at the Conservatory in Würzburg. He also studied classical philology at the University of Heidelberg. In 1877 he continued his music studies in Leipzig, learning the piano with Carl Reinecke. His first public performance was in 1880, the year in which he graduated with a doctorate, playing the piano in the Piano Concerto by Xaver Scharwenka at the Leipzig Gewandhaus.