Albert Dietrich (musician)

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Albert (Hermann) Dietrich (born August 28, 1829 in the Forsthaus Golk near Meißen ; † November 20, 1908 in Berlin ) was a German composer and conductor .

Life

Early years and education

Albert Dietrich was born as the son of the royal Saxon district forester Hermann Dietrich and his wife Carolina born. Heydeck born. At a young age he received music lessons from a private tutor and from 1842 his first lessons in composition at the Kreuzschule in Dresden . During his law studies in Leipzig , Dietrich took private lessons at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1847 with Ignaz Moscheles , Julius Rietz and Moritz Hauptmann , and in the winter of 1847/48 he became a member of the Leipzig University Choir of St. Pauli (now the German Choir Association ).

Friendship with the Schumann Circle

In 1851 Dietrich went to Düsseldorf and became a student of Robert Schumann . In 1853 he dedicated the composition Fairy Tales (Op. 132) to him. Dietrich belonged to the closest circle of friends around Clara Schumann , Joseph Joachim and Johannes Brahms and experienced the mental collapse of Robert Schumann up close. In this circle he met his future wife Clara Emilie Sohn (born November 11, 1834 in Düsseldorf), a daughter of the painter Karl Ferdinand Sohn , whom he married on August 15, 1859 in Düsseldorf. Both had two children, Max and Clara. Schumann, Brahms and Dietrich composed a violin sonata for their friend Joachim in 1853 with the title “Frei, aber einsam” (the life motto of the young Joseph Joachim). This contributed to Dietrich's name not being completely forgotten. Together with Brahms, Joachim and others, he was one of the mourners who gave Schumann the last escort after his untimely death in 1856.

Dietrich had already returned to Leipzig in 1854 and was soon able to experience the performance of his own symphony with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under his teacher and conductor Julius Rietz there . In the summer of 1855, he was given responsibility for the subscription concerts of the Bonn Concert Society and the local choral society. When he was offered the opportunity to go to Barmen as music director , his position in Bonn was converted into that of music director in 1859.

Activity in Oldenburg

On March 12, 1861, Dietrich was appointed court conductor at the Oldenburg State Theater . He owed his appointment to a mediation by his friend Joseph Joachim . The decisive factors for this were Dietrich's performance and his level of fame as a composer. This was not unusual in an era when musicians who achieved fame just by conducting were still very rare. Like his predecessor August Pott , he had to take over the music lessons of the Grand Duchess in addition to leading the court orchestra. He received an additional income for singing lessons at the teachers' college. Although his salary expectations were still not met, the employment in the residence brought him a significant expansion of his possibilities compared to the municipal office in Bonn.

Dietrich's appointment was also a stroke of luck for Oldenburg concert life in the 19th century, as he was not only an excellent conductor, pianist and composer, but also opened up valuable contacts for the city through his intensive personal relationships with the Schumann Circle. These were extremely fruitful in the decades to come, as Clara Schumann, Josef Joachim and Johannes Brahms often gave concerts in Oldenburg, which under Dietrich became a permanent foster home for their music. Thanks to his friendship with Dietrich, Johannes Brahms also appeared several times as a conductor in front of the court orchestra. After the return of the conductor (and Varel city director) Dietrich Klävemann to Oldenburg (1880) Albert Dietrich also conducted the concerts of the prestigious Varel Singverein in the 80s.

On May 1, 1890, Dietrich retired for health reasons. At that time he had serious professional conflicts with Richard Eckhold, the scheming concertmaster of the court orchestra, and tragic family experiences. His successor was Ferdinand Manns . He moved his retirement home to Leipzig and then to Berlin , where he died in 1908. Dietrich was a recognized and frequently performed composer during his lifetime.

Posthumous reception

Dietrich's work was largely forgotten for no apparent reason. In 2008 his three most important works appeared on CD for the first time: the symphony in D minor, violin concerto and Romance op. 27 for horn & orchestra. The Oldenburg State Orchestra recorded it under the direction of Alexander Rumpf , thereby also paying tribute to his former conductor Dietrich. In 2017 the label cpo released a CD "Albert Dietrich: Cello Sonata, Piano Pieces", recorded by the pianist Friedrich Thomas and the cellist Alexander Will , a. a. with the Sonata for Piano and Cello from 1868 op.15. Dietrich's Concerto for Violoncello and Orchestra in G minor op.32 can also be heard on sound carrier, interpreted by the cellist Alban Gerhardt and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra on the CD The Romantic Cello Concerto, Vol. 2 on the Hyperion label. The violin sonata Frei aber einsam (“FAE Sonata”), composed together with Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, has been recorded on numerous CDs. B. 2014 by the violinist Isabelle Faust and the pianist Alexander Melnikov (label: harmonia mundi).

plant

  • Chamber music
    • First movement of the “FAE” sonata (“free but lonely”) for violin and piano in A minor (the sonata was a joint composition with Schumann and Brahms), 1853
    • Trio for piano, violin and violoncello No. 1 in C major op.9
    • Trio for piano, violin and violoncello No. 2 in A major op.14
    • Sonata for violoncello and piano in C major op.15
  • Piano music
    • Piano pieces op.6
    • Sonata for piano four hands in G major op.19
  • Concerts
    • Concert piece for horn and orchestra in F major op.27
    • Concerto for Violin and Orchestra in D minor, Op. 30
    • Concerto for violoncello and orchestra in G minor op.32
  • Orchestral works
    • Symphony in D minor op.20 (dedicated to Brahms).
    • Overture in C major op.35 (1882)
  • Stage works
    • Robin Hood ; Opera 3 acts op.34 (re-performance at Theater Erfurt from March 20, 2011)
    • Cymbeline; Incidental music for Shakespeare's drama op.38 (around 1880)
    • The Sunday child; Opera
    • The bride from Liebenstein; dramatic scene for solos, choir and orchestra
  • Choral works
    • Six songs for mixed choir op.21
      • Scottish song
      • After luck
      • Spring urge
      • Sound of the night
      • Hunting song
      • I dream that I am lying where blossoms are leaping

Fonts

  • Memories of Johannes Brahms in letters, especially from his youth , Leipzig 1898 ( digitized version )

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philip Förster: Albert Hermann Dietrich , on Schumann Portal, accessed on March 14, 2016
  2. ↑ Complete directory of the Pauliner from summer 1822 to summer 1938, Leipzig 1938, page 21
  3. ↑ http://digital.lb-oldenburg.de/ihd/content/zoom/153883
  4. ↑ See for example the report in the Varel daily newspaper "Der Gemeinnützige" from December 12, 1889
  5. ↑ a b Review of the double CD in the magazine Klassik heute
  6. ↑ Jens-Uwe Sommerschuh: The Saxon Brahms - a fine CD reminds of the musician who is often underestimated today. In: Sächsische Zeitung of January 12, 2018, p. 14.
personal data
SURNAME Dietrich, Albert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Dietrich, Albert Hermann (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 28, 1829
PLACE OF BIRTH Forsthaus Golk near Meissen
DATE OF DEATH November 20, 1908
Place of death Berlin