Alfred Julius Becher

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Alfred Julius Becher, lithograph by Gabriel Decker , 1844.

Alfred Julius Becher (born April 27, 1803 in Manchester , † November 23, 1848 in Vienna ) was a music critic, composer and one of the main leaders of the Vienna October Uprising of 1848 .

Life

Becher was born the son of a Hanauer who founded the Rheinisch-Westindische Handelskompanie . In Heidelberg , Göttingen and Berlin , he studied the rights and came for democratic activities (membership in the Old Berlin fraternity ) in custody . He later settled down as a lawyer in Elberfeld , then edited a trade newspaper in Cologne that his father had founded , turned to Düsseldorf out of a love of art , where he worked with Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Carl Leberecht Immermann , Friedrich von Üchtritz and especially Christian Dietrich Grabbe Dealt with.

In 1838, Becher accepted a position at the Koninklijke Academie van Beeldende Kunsten in The Hague , where he became professor of music theory and aesthetics. As a result of an unpopular art criticism, he went to London in 1840 , where he became professor at the Royal Academy of Music . Because of a publishing suit against an English peer , he came to Vienna in 1842 , where he stayed. Here he quickly settled into cultural and social life and soon worked as a music reviewer for the Wiener Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung and the Sunday papers . Here he also made the acquaintance of the young Eduard Hanslick . “ His reputation as a capable but keen reviewer and his amiable personality made him, in spite of his impetuous, heavenly nature, a favorite of the fine, aesthetic circles and Bach , Wehli , L. Neumann , Tausenau , Max Löwenthal , Bauernfeld , LA Frankl , but especially Lenau were dear friends to him. "

Becher soon attracted attention with his harsh reviews and performed with songs and string quartets. He later published monologues on the piano and a little book by Jenny Lind , a sketch of her life (2nd edition, Vienna 1847). The March days of 1848 dragged him into the maelstrom of politics. A member of the democratic central committee, he and Hermann Jellinek were the editor of the daily newspaper Der Radikal . Therefore, he was arrested after the suppression of the uprising, sentenced to death and, together with Hermann Jellinek before the Neutor in Vienna shot .

In 1971 the Bechergasse in Vienna- Favoriten was named after him.

Works

As the composer of 25 works, Becher was both radically progressive and unsuccessful. It was based on Beethoven , Berlioz , Mendelssohn and Schumann , but often anticipated developments in the New German School . “ He did not succeed in gaining recognition as a composer; his ingenious, but abstract music ('building on' later Beethoven) could at best interest the connoisseur, but not please anyone. “Regarding Becher's reaction to the silence that was met with his string quartet in A major , performed in the Viennese society“ Concordia ”in 1843 , a contemporary witness reports:“ Becher rubbed his hands, we can still see him, happily with his hands and said: 'That's great me, the mute amazement speaks for my talent. I am glad that my contemporaries do not understand me ' ”. Under the impression of this string quartet, Franz Grillparzer composed a well-known epigram: “ Your quartet sounded as if someone / heavy blows with an ax, / and three women sawing / a fathom of wood! Another epigram by Grillparzer, composed on a mug in 1847, reads: “ They say you despise the melody / the very word fills you with a shudder; / So it was with the fox, the celibate cattle, / He found the grapes sour. "

In contrast to the weakly pronounced melody, form and especially harmony in Becher's compositional work are highly advanced and constructed. Developments in late romanticism are anticipated, such as B. Tristanharmonik or freely starting and unresolved dissonances.

Mug left u. a. Piano music, three string quartets in A major, G major and C major. There is also an Elegic Fantasy for violoncello, premiered in 1847, and a fragment of a symphony in D minor (composed around 1846).

literature

  • Constantin von Wurzbach : Becher, Alfred Julius . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 1st part. University printing press L. C. Zamarski (formerly JP Sollinger), Vienna 1856, p. 207 f. ( Digitized version ).
  • Franz Freiherr von Sommaruga:  Becher, Alfred Julius . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 2, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1875, p. 200 f.
  • Hermann Josef Ullrich : Alfred Julius Becher and his Vienna circle . In: Yearbook of the Association for the History of the City of Vienna . 23/25, 1967/69, ISSN  1011-4726 , pp. 293-334.
  • Hermann Ullrich: Alfred Julius Becher. The minstrel of the Viennese Revolution (= Studies on the History of Music in the 19th Century, Vol. 40), Regensburg 1974
  • Renate Federhofer-Königs: The relationship of Alfred Julius Becher to Robert Schumann - with unpublished letters , in: Studies for Musicology, 40th Vol. (1991), pp. 97-131
  • Helge Dvorak: Biographical Lexicon of the German Burschenschaft. Volume I: Politicians. Sub-Volume 1: A-E. Winter, Heidelberg 1996, ISBN 3-8253-0339-X , pp. 64-65.
  • Ulrich Konrad : Walther von Goethe's obituary for Alfred Julius Becher. An unnoticed testimony to Viennese music history . In: Joachim Brügge (Ed.): Music history as a history of understanding. Festschrift for Gernot Gruber on his 65th birthday . Schneider Verlag, Tutzing 2004, ISBN 3-7952-1173-5 , p. 39-47 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Horst Grimm, Leo Besser-Walzel: The corporations. Handbook on history, dates, facts, people . Umschau-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1986, ISBN 3-524-69059-9 .
  2. ↑ He was a member of men's circles such as the " Juridisch-Politischen Leseverein ", the "Concordia" and the "Soupiritum".
  3. ^ Ernst Victor Zenker: History of Viennese Journalism. A contribution to the German cultural history , vol. 1, Vienna 1892, p. 114f.
  4. ^ Eduard Hanslick: History of concerts in Vienna , Vienna 1870, p. 322
  5. ↑ Ludwig August Frankl: “Dr. Alfred Julius Becher ”, in: Neue Freie Presse , No. 9535 of March 13, 1891, p. 2
  6. ^ Eduard Hanslick: History of concerts in Vienna , Vienna 1870, p. 357
  7. ↑ Franz Grillparzer: Complete Works , ed. v. Peter Frank and Karl Pörnbacher. Munich 1960, Vol. I, 480
personal data
SURNAME Becher, Alfred Julius
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Main leader of the Vienna October Uprising in 1848
DATE OF BIRTH April 27, 1803
PLACE OF BIRTH Manchester
DATE OF DEATH November 23, 1848
Place of death Vienna