Carl Friedrich Abel

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Carl Friedrich Abel (1777) by Thomas Gainsborough
Abel with viola da gamba

Carl Friedrich Abel , also Karl Friedrich (born December 22, 1723 in Koethen (Anhalt) , † June 20, 1787 in London ) was a German composer and viol soloist .

life and work

As the son of the famous viol virtuoso Christian Ferdinand Abel , Carl Friedrich was born in Köthen, where his father worked as "Premier Musicus" in Johann Sebastian Bach's court orchestra. It has not been proven that he was a student at the St. Thomas School there after Bach moved to Leipzig . What is certain, however, is that, on Bach's recommendation to the conductor Johann Adolph Hasse, he worked for nine years (1748–1757) as the “chamber musician of the King of Poland” in the Dresden court orchestra .

The effects of the Seven Years' War drove him out of Dresden in 1757. In 1758 he was a guest in the house of the Goethe family in Frankfurt / Main. He reached London in 1759 via several stations in southern Germany and Paris. He gave his first concert here with great success with his own compositions on various instruments, primarily the viol and the baryton - an instrument for which Joseph Haydn also composed. Further solo concerts for the London Society followed, with the result of his appointment as chamber musician for Queen Charlotte .

In 1762 Johann Christian Bach came to London to meet the famous Abel. The soon-to-be friendship between the two led to the founding of the popular "Bach-Abel Concerts" in 1764, which was organized until 1775 by Teresa Cornelys , the operator of Carlisle House on Soho Square . They were the first subscription concerts in English history.

In 1764, eight-year-old Mozart came to London with his father and visited Abel, whose compositional setting he studied. As an example it copied itself Abels It major Symphony (op. VII, 6) in his notebook, thereby falsely as Mozart " Symphony no. 3 in E-flat " under no. 18 in the Köchelverzeichnis reached.

From 1775 the concerts of Mrs. Cornelys became independent, and after Bach's death in 1782 Abel only continued them unsuccessfully for one year. In the concert series were u. a. many of Joseph Haydn's works first performed in England. After the failure of the concert company, Abel returned to Germany, where he did not manage to gain a foothold. So he felt compelled to return to London after two years, where he was still in demand as a player of various new and old instruments. He became a drinker and thereby hastened his death. In 1787 he died in poor circumstances.

Abel was the last great soloist in the art of viol playing. With him, the instrument disappeared from the series of orchestral and soon after also the solo instruments.

He was a man of striking appearance, of whom several portraits exist, including two by his longtime friend Thomas Gainsborough . The artists Leopold August Abel , Ernst August Abel and Ernst Heinrich Abel were his brothers.

Works

Abel wrote symphonies , overtures , instrumental concerts , string quartets , sonatas and solo works , among other things .

  • Small symphony in F major
  • 6 symphonies op.1 (1759)
  • Flute Concerts op.6
  • 6 symphonies op. 7 (approx. 1763–67)
  • 6 string quartets op.8 (1768)
  • 6 symphonies op. 10 (approx. 1766–67)
  • 6 string quartets op.12 (1774)
  • 6 string quartets op.15 (1780)
  • 6 string quartets op.17 (1782–86)
  • Sonata No. 1 for oboe and piano in C major
  • Sonata No. 2 for oboe and piano in F major
  • Sonata No. 3 for oboe and piano in D major
  • Sonata No. 4 for oboe and piano in B flat major
  • Sonata for viola da gamba solo in C major
  • Sonata for viola da gamba solo in D minor
  • Sonata for viola da gamba solo in E minor

Participation in the following pasticci :

  • Love in a Village. Pasticcio, 3 acts (with music by 14 other composers; Abel's overture). Libretto: Isaac Bickerstaffe, based on Charles Johnson's The Village Opera . First performance: December 8, 1762 in London, Covent Garden.
  • Berenice. Pasticcio, 3 acts (with music by 5 other composers). Libretto: Antonio Salvi . First performance: January 1, 1765 London, Haymarket.
  • The Summers Tale. Pasticcio, 3 acts (with music by 12 other composers). Libretto: Richard Cumberland. First performance: December 6, 1765 London, Covent Garden.
  • Sifari. Pasticcio, 3 acts (with music by J. C. Bach and others). First performance: March 5, 1767 London, Haymarket.
  • Tom Jones. Pasticcio, 3 acts (with music by J. C. Bach and others). Libretto: Joseph Reed, after Henry Fielding. First performed January 14, 1769 London, Covent Garden.

literature

Recordings

  • 4 flute concertos op. 6; 1–3 and 5, Karl Kaiser, Flute, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider, CPO 999 208-2, 1993
  • Symphonies op. 7 No. 1–6, Cantilena Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Adrian Shepherd, Chandos 8648, 1988
  • Symphonies op. 7 No. 1–6, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider, CPO, co-production with Deutschlandfunk, 2015
  • Symphonies op. 10 No. 1–6, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider, CPO, co-production with the WDR, 1993, 999 207-2
  • Piano concertos op. 11 No. 1–6, Sabine Bauer, Pianoforte and Harpsichord, La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider, CPO 999 892-2, 2001
  • Symphonies op. 17 No. 1–6, The Hannover Band, Anthony Halstead, CPO 999 214-2, 1994

Web links

Commons : Carl Friedrich Abel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Abel, Carl Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abel, Karl Friedrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer of the early classical period
DATE OF BIRTH December 22, 1723
PLACE OF BIRTH Koethen (Anhalt)
DATE OF DEATH June 20, 1787
Place of death London