August Wilhelmj
August Wilhelmj (born September 21, 1845 in Usingen , † January 22, 1908 in London ) was a German violinist .
Wilhelmj was the son of the winery owner August Wilhelm Wilhelmj (1813-1910) and his wife Charlotte Friederieke Emilie Petry . After his first lessons in Wiesbaden, he studied with Ferdinand David at the Leipzig Conservatory on the recommendation of Franz Liszt , as well as with Moritz Hauptmann and Ernst Friedrich Richter . From 1864 he studied composition with Joachim Raff in Wiesbaden . His first concert tours took him to Switzerland and the Netherlands in 1865, and to London in 1866. On May 29, 1866, he married Sophie von Liphart , whom he had met in the house of the Gewandhaus concert master Ferdinand David in Leipzig. In the following ten years he gave concerts in all major European cities. Between 1878 and 1882, he toured North and South America, Asia and Australia with great success.
His playing stood out for his powerful tone, which he achieved by frequent changes of stroke . With this he stands at the beginning of the late romantic style of interpretation and achieved a tone adapted to the large orchestras and concert halls. An example of this effort is the by him under the title Air on the G string edited Air from the Suite BWV 1068 by Johann Sebastian Bach for violin and piano (especially in the English-speaking world is the air since then mostly as Air on the G String known ).
One of the admirers of the virtuoso violin playing that distinguished August Wilhelmj from the beginning was Richard Wagner , who had been around at home. Wagner appointed him for his Ring des Nibelungen as concertmaster and first violinist at the Bayreuth Festival Hall in 1875 and assigned him the task of putting together an orchestra with 108 musicians for the performance.
In 1894 he was appointed professor of violin at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he and colleagues wrote the 12 booklet Modern School for the Violin in 1903 . His activity as editor is documented in editions of the classical and romantic violin literature, which he prepared for practice.
He found his final resting place in the north cemetery in Wiesbaden .
family
He was married twice. His first wife was Sophie von Liphart on May 29, 1866 , daughter of the art patron Karl Eduard von Liphart and niece of Ferdinand Davids. The couple had the son Adolf (born March 31, 1872), who later became professor of violin at the Belfast Conservatoire . In 1895 he married the pianist Mariella Mausch-Jerret .
Others
Letters from August Wilhelmj are in the holdings of the Leipzig music publisher CF Peters in the Leipzig State Archives .
His hometown Usingen honored him with the naming of Wilhelmj-Strasse and the Wilhelmj monument.
literature
- Mareike Beckmann: August Wilhelmj: the German Paganini? , Baden-Baden: Tectum Verlag; Frankfurt am Main ; [2019], ISBN 978-3-8288-4162-8
Web links
- August Wilhelmj Music Institute
- E. Heron-Allen, Lynda MacGregor: Wilhelmj, August. In: Grove Music Online (English; subscription required).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Wilhelmj's curriculum vitae (eng.)
- ↑ City history Wiesbaden: The violin king August Wilhelmj rests in the violin coffin
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wilhelmj, August |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wilhelmj, August Emil Daniel Ferdinand Viktor |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German violinist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 21, 1845 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Usingen |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 22, 1908 |
| Place of death | London |