Carl Gottlob Abela

Carl Gottlob Abela (born April 29, 1803 in Borna near Oschatz , Saxony, † April 22, 1841 in Halle an der Saale ) was cantor at the Marktkirche Our Dear Women in Halle and the first teacher at the Francke Foundations who exclusively Subject taught singing .

Life

After attending the community school in Oschatz, Abela completed thorough pedagogical training at the school teachers' seminar in Dresden-Friedrichstadt as early as 1817 . The influence of the former Zeithain cantor August Gottlob Fischer is likely to have been of importance for his life there .

After graduating in 1822, he was employed as an assistant teacher at the Francke Foundations in Halle. In addition, he was immediately assigned the post of Prefect at the Stadtsingechor , probably the oldest German boys' choir. The choir responsible for the three city churches, affiliated to the foundations since 1808, was at that time under the direction of Johann Friedrich Naue , who was also organist at the main parish church of Halle, the market church of Our Lady . On his mediation Abela became cantor of this church in 1825. From that year on, the board of directors of the Francke Foundations gradually entrusted him with "singing lessons" at all the schools of the renowned institutions. His “collection of two-, three- and four-part songs” soon formed the basis of his work, the two volumes of which were often reprinted because they were recognized elsewhere and were used successfully by music teachers. Abela founded a choir in 1829 for particularly interested pupils who enjoyed singing, with which he could cope with more demanding tasks.

At least once a year there were notable concerts in the large assembly hall , now named after Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen . The program included choral works by contemporary composers such as Friedrich Schneider , Bernhard Klein and Carl Loewe , but also by Handel , Gluck , Haydn and Beethoven . During his training at the Latin Secondary School of the Francke Foundations ( Latina ), the later song composer Robert Franz accompanied the choir rehearsals on the piano. He is said to have remembered the experiences he made under Abela for a lifetime with pleasure and gratitude.

As Marienkantor Abela came into conflict with his original sponsor, the organist Johann Friedrich Naue. Since the organist of the Marktkirche in Halle was also the director of the boys' choir, the cantor's office, which was actually only responsible for singing, had been degraded, which Abela did not want to accept. After hard disputes, the conflict was finally decided in Abela's favor in 1835. He was now allowed to influence the quality of the city choir in the service. Naue, offended, submitted the resignation.

The clashes had caused quite a stir. They brought Abela sympathy with many Halle residents. The “ Hallische Liedertafel ”, founded just a year earlier, chose him as its conductor.

Six years later, the still young Abela died; He did not live to see the publication of his “Choral Book for Schools”. But it was completed under his name by his friend and colleague Samuel Leberecht Thieme , Naue's successor at the organ bench in the Marktkirche, and published in 1842. Of the three children still alive at his death, the son Otto Robert became known as a landscape gardener in Tsarskoye Selo with the Tsar in Russia. A Carl Gottlob Abela Foundation initiated by him to support widows of former teachers at the community school in the Francke Foundations existed until the 1930s.

literature

• Konstanze Musketa : Music history of the city of Halle: Guide through the exhibition of the Handel House . 1st edition. Handel House, Halle an der Saale 1998, ISBN 3-910019-13-7 , p. 54 .
• Götz Traxdorf: "... to enliven the students' enthusiasm": Announcements on the biography of the cantor Carl Gottlob Abela (1803–1841) . In: Handel house communications 3/2003 and 1/2004 .
• Götz Traxdorf: The Cantor Carl Gottlob Abela in the Francke Foundations - Notes on the musical instruction of the pupil Robert Franz. In: Wolfgang Ruf (Hrsg.): The sound of the city - music culture in Halle from the 17th to the 20th century. Halle 2009, pp. 147–167.