Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg, October 22, 1884

Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg (born February 12, 1827 in Mechelroda , † May 29, 1908 in Weimar ) was a Thuringian cantor , organist , composer and from 1865 publisher of the music magazine Urania . He was particularly appreciated by the composer Franz Liszt .

Life

Memorial plaque for Cantor Gottschalg in the Tiefurt church

Gottschalg studied at the teachers' seminar in Weimar with Johann Gottlob Töpfer , later he received lessons from the Weimar court conductor André Hippolyte Chelard and finally from Franz Liszt. From 1847 to 1870 he was cantor at the church in Tiefurt , then court organist in Weimar, there in turn seminar teacher and grand ducal organ auditor. He also taught from 1874 to 1903 at what would later become the Liszt School of Music . His and Liszt's hopes that he would succeed Potter as organist at the Weimar city church were not fulfilled.

Connection to Franz Liszt

Gottschalg's signature

Franz Liszt heard him for the first time when he was walking past the Tiefurt church, where Gottschalg was practicing the organ. From this chance encounter a friendly collaboration grew, which culminated in Liszt's statement:

"Once I have become a legend myself, Gottschalg will live on with me."

Gottschalg gave this remark the joking title "legendary cantor". Liszt always consulted him on his organ compositions. The so-called “organ conferences” that took place at the organ in Denstedt also go back to the joint initiative of Gottschalg and Liszt. Since he also helped Liszt with the publication of compositions, Gottschalg once called his “flag and torch bearer”. Three works by Franz Liszt are dedicated to him, but the composers Gustav Flügel , Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger and Max Reger also assigned works to him.

Fonts

  • Dr. Johann Gottlob Töpfer. A biographical sketch , in: Euterpe , Jg. 16 (1857), pp. 97-100 ( digitized version ) - Separately, in expanded form, Weimar: Kühn 1860 - also in the appendix to Töpfers Choralstudien , Leipzig 1871
  • Unprinted letters from Rob. Schumann , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 87, No. 12 of March 25, 1891, pp. 133f. ( Digitized version ) and ibid., No. 13 from April 1, 1891, pp. 145f. ( Digitized version )
  • Franz Liszt in Weimar and the last years of his life. Memories and diary notes by AW Gottschalg, along with letters from the master , ed. by Carl Alfred René, Berlin: Glaue 1910 ( digitized version )
  • Thomas Schipperges, Liszt student. For the regeneration of a memory figure, in: Music in the field of tension between national thinking and cosmopolitanism. Franz Liszt on his 200th birthday. International conference at the Heidelberg Science Forum, June 3 to 5, 2011, ed. by Dorothea Redepenning, Heidelberg 2015, pp. 259–288.

Web links

Commons : Alexander Wilhelm Gottschalg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files