August Ferdinand Riccius

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August Ferdinand Riccius (born February 26, 1819 in Bernstadt ; † July 5, 1886 Karlsbad ) was a conductor , composer and music journalist.

Live and act

August Ferdinand Riccius was born the son of the Bernstadt cloth manufacturer Karl Friedrich Riccius (1794–1869). His younger brother Karl Moritz Riccius, born in 1828, was the later trumpeter and conductor at the court of a Russian prince. At the age of nine, August Ferdinand could already play the violin and flute excellently. First he attended school in Zittau from 1833 to 1840 , from which he graduated with the Abitur. His parents wanted him to become a writer one day, as he was already gifted in this field.

From 1840 to 1843 he studied at the University of Leipzig theology . In addition to his studies, however, he continued to devote himself very intensively to music, and the fact that the conservatory was founded in Leipzig in 1842 was very helpful. During this time he oriented himself towards a professional development as a musician and music teacher. Here he also met his nephew Carl August Riccius (1830–1893), who studied at the Leipzig Conservatory from 1844 to 1846 and, after graduating, began a career as a choir conductor and composer. One of August Ferdinand Riccius's students at this time was the later composer and musicologist Ludwig Meinardus (1827-1896), who left the conservatory in 1847 in order to prepare for his professional career through more intensive training through private lessons with August Ferdinand Riccius to be able to. From 1849 Riccius was the conductor of the Leipzig "Euterpe" TK Orchestra, of which Robert Schumann (1810-1856) had been an honorary member since 1838 . During this time he was considered a critic of the music of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) in the circles of his musician colleagues. He was of the opinion that this music did not correspond to the zeitgeist of the time and characterized this style as “music of the future ”. This term was first used in an article in the Rheinische Musik-Zeitung on December 4, 1852. Although this article, which was aimed at a review of musical publications by the music teacher Friedrich Wieck (1735–1873), was published under “anonymus”, leading musicologists today assume that August Ferdinand Riccius was the author of this article and the “Leipziger Briefe III” . In addition to this activity, Riccius composed smaller pieces of music or set existing texts to music. In 1853, for example, his work was published by a Magdeburg music publisher under the title "Four Songs".

August Ferdinand Riccius moved to the Leipzig City Theater in 1854, where he was offered the direction of the orchestra. He held this position until 1864. In 1859 he was one of the four festival conductors of the renowned company, alongside Franz Liszt (1811–1886), David Hermann Engel (1816–1877) and Carl Riedel (1827–1888). This year, triggered by an appeal by the editor-in-chief of the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" Franz Brendel (1811–1868), enormous changes took place in the music scene that began in Leipzig. The first “Tonkünstlerversammlung” met here from June 1st to 4th, 1859, with the aim of redefining the artist in society. The result of this development, in which August Ferdinand Riccius participated, was the founding of the “General German Music Association” on August 7, 1861 in Weimar. Main advocates of this development were Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner (1813–1883). Another composition work under the title "Des Vogel's Joy" was published by Riccius in 1859.

In 1864, August Ferdinand Riccius received the call as theater conductor in Hamburg, which he also followed. In the Hamburg years he also worked as a singing teacher, publicist and music consultant for the " Hamburger Nachrichten ". Another composition work under the title "Die Lustigen Musikanten" was published by him in 1878. Overall, his compositional work included the musical accompaniment of dramas and operas, he wrote overtures and several piano pieces.

August Ferdinand Riccius died on July 5, 1886 in Karlsbad, today's Karlovy Vary.

Works

  • "Four songs", Magdeburg 1853
  • "The bird's joy", Leipzig 1859
  • “In the spring on the Alm”, 1860
  • “The funny musicians”, 1878

literature

  • Biography of Riccius, August Ferdinand, Nordisk Familjebok, 1916
  • Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.) German Biographical Encyclopedia, KGSauer Verlag, Munich 2007

Web links

  • News about the Riccius family. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original;

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biography of Riccius, August Ferdinand, Nordisk Familijebok, 1916
  2. ↑ Ludwig Bischoff (Ed.) Rheinische Musik Zeitung of December 4, 1852, pp. 1010-1014
  3. ↑ the father of Clara Schumann
  4. ↑ See Detlef Altenberg : Zukunftsmusik . In: Ralf Noltensmeier (Ed.): Metzler Sachlexikon Musik. JB Metzler, Stuttgart and Weimar 1998, p. 1167 and Frieder Reininghaus : Last but not least: music of the future. In: Austrian music magazine . Volume 66, No. 5. Vienna May 2011, p. 119.
  5. ^ Rudolf Vierhaus (ed.), August Ferdinand Riccius, Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie, KGSauer Verlag Munich, 2007, p. 363
  6. ^ Research by the Riccius family, August Ferdinand Riccius. Retrieved May 21, 2020 .
  7. ↑ fist index2. (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original;
personal data
SURNAME Riccius, August Ferdinand
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Riccius, August
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 26, 1819
PLACE OF BIRTH Bernstadt
DATE OF DEATH July 5, 1886
Place of death Carlsbad