Pauer formed a direct link with great Viennese traditions: he was born in Vienna, his mother was a member of the famous Streicher family of piano makers, and for a time (1839–44) he was a piano pupil of Mozart's son, F. X. W. Mozart and a composition student of Simon Sechter.
After further study with Franz Lachner in Munich (1845–47) he worked as a conductor and composer in Mainz, before moving to London in 1851.
[2] From the outset Pauer's piano playing was admired in London, and there he developed a series of concerts, with copious programme notes, that illustrated the development of keyboard music from 1600 to modern times; in later years he lectured on this and many other topics.
Pauer's pupils included Alfred Anderson,[3] William Carter,[4] Eugen d'Albert,[5] Emily Daymond,[6] Stephen Kemp,[7] Emma Mundella,[8] Jane Roeckel,[9] Bernhard Scholz,[10] Charles Villiers Stanford,[11] Edmund Hart Turpin,[12] Ernest Walker,[13] and Agnes Zimmermann.
[14] Pauer's interest in early keyboard music and historically informed performance was reflected in his numerous editions.