Johann Karl Eschmann was a Swiss composer and pianist of the Romantic period. Eschmann was the son of the Winterthur military bandmaster Henry Eschmann (1802-1882). Eschmann attended piano lessons with Alexander Müller in Zurich and studied with Felix Mendelssohn and Moscheles in Leipzig. He worked then in Winterthur (1850-1859), Schaffhausen (1859-1866) and Zurich (since 1866) as a piano teacher and composer, and found in Johannes Brahms a friend and admirer. Eschmann benefited from acquaintances with leading musicians of his time such as Louis Spohr, Theodor Kirchner and Richard Wagner, who gave him a serenade. Esch's own works are particularly influenced by the composition of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn.