Clemens August Kiel

August Kiel (born May 26, 1813 in Wiesbaden , † December 28, 1871 in Detmold ) was a German composer , conductor and violinist .

life and work

Kiel's father was a singing teacher and later an inspector of the court theater in Sondershausen . In 1831 Louis Spohr accepted Clemens August Kiel as a violin and composition student in Kassel . In 1832 Kiel became a member of the Hautboisten-Corps at the Fürstlich Lippischen Hof Detmold and in 1836 provisional, 1837 full-time conductor of the now civil ensemble (since 1849 officially “Fürstlich-Lippische Hofkapelle”). In 1845 he also took over the management of the opera in the residence as the current court conductor.

Under Kiel's direction, the Detmold court orchestra was significantly expanded, especially with regard to the string line-up. Kiel's relationship with Johannes Brahms , who temporarily worked in Detmold from 1857 to 1859 and was 20 years his junior, is considered tense, as he himself aspired to conduct the Detmold court concerts. In 1862 Kiel was dismissed without notice after a dispute with a garrison officer under the influence of alcohol and received only a pardon . His successor was Carl Bargheer . In 1866 Kiel appeared as a violinist for the last time.

Kiel left behind several symphonies, concerts, including a horn concert and a flute concert, chamber music works, choirs, songs, marches and waltzes.

literature

• Friedrich Frick: Small biographical lexicon of violinists . 2009, Books on Demand, ISBN 9-8370-3907-8 , p. 248 ( online )

Web links

• Works by and about Clemens August Kiel in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biographical information from the Syrinx publishing house
• Correspondence between August Kiel and Louis Spohr
• Notes and audio files by Clemens August Kiel in the International Music Score Library Project