Carl Steinacker

Coat of arms of the Steinacker family

Steinacker's music to Theodor Körner's Toni in the Vienna Burgtheater , April 17, 1812

The four-year post of Steinacker and Körner - theater ticket for the premiere on August 19, 1813 in the Theater an der Wien

Carl Steinacker (* 1785 in Leipzig , † December 18, 1814 in Vienna ) was a German composer and Kapellmeister in Vienna.

family

Carl Steinacker came from the middle-class Steinacker family, which has been documented in Quedlinburg since the beginning of the 16th century . The uninterrupted line-up begins with Hans Steinacker, who was councilor and treasurer of the city of Quedlinburg in 1530 . His grandson was Philipp Steinacker (around 1565–1613), a lawyer and Princely Saxon councilor and court judge at Coburg .

Steinacker was the son of the Dessau businessman who owned a bookstore, Gabriel Wilhelm Steinacker (* 1743) and his second wife Johanna Wilhelmine Marie geb. Ham. His father later emigrated to Austria. Steinacker had two half-brothers from his father's first marriage with Sophie Wilhelmine Christiane nee. Regis:

Carl Wilhelm Anton Steinacker (1772–1831), director of the Hornbostelschen silk factory in Vienna-Gumpendorf
Christian Friedrich Wilhelm Steinacker (1775–1838), businessman and owner of a wholesaler in Vienna.

Life

Steinacker was initially raised in the house of his uncle, the bookseller Johann Erdmann Ferdinand Steinacker (1764–1842) in Leipzig. After completing school, he initially worked as an employee of the publisher Göschen in Leipzig. Even then he was an ambitious musician and composer. However, he went to Vienna at about the same time as Theodor Körner to devote himself entirely to the art of music. In Vienna he quickly made contact with influential musicians, such as Ignaz Franz von Mosel . Like Körner, he took part in the Handel concert in the winter riding school ( Alexander's festival ) in 1812 .

With a few exceptions, his compositions belong to the field of vocal music or music theater. Even before he started working in Vienna, Steinacker was positively recognized in several issues of the Weimar Journal of Luxury and Fashion in music reviews. As a composer of various stage music for the works of Körner, he has been mentioned several times in his correspondence with the family since 1811 . In Körner's Singspiel Der Vierjahres Posten , Steinacker was the first of at least 21 composers who verifiably set this libretto to music well into the 20th century.

Like Körner, Steinacker was a victim of the so-called Wars of Liberation , although he probably did not suffer a gunshot wound. He died at the age of 30.

Works (selection)

Toni , overture and interludes to the drama by Theodor Körner based on Heinrich von Kleist's The Engagement in St. Domingo , 1812 in the Vienna Burgtheater
Hatred and love (text by Theodor Körner), operetta 1 act (1812)
The Vedette (text by Theodor Körner under the title Der Vierjahres Posten ), Operetta 1 act (August 19, 1813 in the Theater an der Wien )

literature

Short necrology in the Leipzig AMZ, 17 (1815), January 18, 1815, column 46.
Edmund Steinacker : The story of the Steinacker family in the German Roland book for gender studies , published by the "Roland" association for the promotion of core, coat of arms and seal studies EV, 1st volume, Dresden 1918, p. 325ff.
Constantin von Wurzbach : Steinacker, Karl . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 38th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1879, p. 47 ( digitized version ).
Augusta Weldler-Steinberg (ed.): Körner's works. Second part. Tragedy comedy letters , Berlin etc. o. J.
Till Gerrit Waidelich: “ The four year old post ” by Theodor Körner as a libretto “like a finale” for 21 operas . In: Dietrich Berke (Ed.): Franz Schubert - work and reception . Report on the International Schubert Congress Duisburg 1997. Part 2: Stage and orchestral works, chamber and piano music . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2000, ISBN 3-7618-1477-1 , ( Schubert-Jahrbuch 1998), pp. 57-77.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ "Notes. On the 18th [December 1814], the composer and music teacher, Carl Steinacker, 30 years old, who was respected as an artist and person, died of emaciation. His beautiful talent, his zeal in his art, and his general education, by no means common among the local musicians, justified great expectations. He used to work in the famous bookstore of Mr. Göschen in Leipzig, and left his advantageous post solely to pursue an often fought but irresistible urge to devote his life to music - which urge he had hoped to satisfy here. In the last two wars he went out and fought with him, not accustomed to the hardships, brought the seed back to the disease that tore him away in its bloom ”( Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung , January 18, 1815, Col. 46).

personal data
SURNAME	Steinacker, Carl
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German composer, opera composer and Kapellmeister
DATE OF BIRTH	1785
PLACE OF BIRTH	Leipzig
DATE OF DEATH	December 18, 1814
Place of death	Vienna

[1] "Notes. On the 18th [December 1814], the composer and music teacher, Carl Steinacker, 30 years old, who was respected as an artist and person, died of emaciation. His beautiful talent, his zeal in his art, and his general education, by no means common among the local musicians, justified great expectations. He used to work in the famous bookstore of Mr. Göschen in Leipzig, and left his advantageous post solely to pursue an often fought but irresistible urge to devote his life to music - which urge he had hoped to satisfy here. In the last two wars he went out and fought with him, not accustomed to the hardships, brought the seed back to the disease that tore him away in its bloom ”( Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung , January 18, 1815, Col. 46).