Daniel Steibelt

Daniel Steibelt

Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt (* 22. October 1765 in Berlin , † September 20 ^{. Jul} / 2. October  1823 ^greg. In Saint Petersburg ) was a German pianist and composer .

Life

Daniel Steibelt was born in Berlin in 1765 as the son of a Prussian officer. (Other sources speak of the year of birth as 1764 or 1766.) Steibelt was a student of the pianist Johann Philipp Kirnberger and decided, contrary to his father's wishes, not to pursue a military career, but a career as a musician.

From 1790 he lived in Paris , where he made a name for himself as a pianist and composer. His most famous opera Romeo and Juliet , which premiered in Paris in 1793 , also dates from this period . Financial problems forced him to move to London in 1796 . Here, too, he continued to work as a pianist and composer. In 1799 he began a major concert tour through Germany and Austria. In May 1800 there was a piano competition with Beethoven in Vienna , which Steibelt, famous for his virtuosity, lost. This led to the termination of his tour through the German-speaking countries.

In the next few years he lived and worked in London and Paris, until in 1808 he followed Alexander I's call to Saint Petersburg. Initially Steibelt was Kapellmeister there and from 1811 until his death director of the Imperial Opera. He died in Saint Petersburg in 1823.

plant

Steibelt was one of the most enterprising and productive composers of his time. His work includes numerous pieces for piano and violin and some operas. He composed 7 piano concertos, 46 piano sonatas, 65 sonatas for piano or harpsichord and violin, several ballets, several trios, quartets and quintets and countless etudes. His opera Cendrillon, composed in 1810 and premiered in Saint Petersburg, based on the fairy tale of the same name by the French author Charles Perrault, enjoyed great popularity on Russian stages for a while.

After his death, interest in his works soon died down. And so to this day at most his piano pieces are performed, while the operas are almost never performed.

literature

• Gottfried Müller: Daniel Steibelt. His life and his piano works. (Etudes and sonatas) (= collection of musicological treatises. 10, ISSN  0085-588X ). Heitz, Leipzig et al. 1933, (At the same time: Greifswald, University, dissertation, 1933; reprint. Koerner, Baden-Baden 1973, ISBN 3-87320-510-6 ).
• Hans Michel Schletterer :  Steibelt, Daniel . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 35, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1893, pp. 567-572.

Web links

• Sheet music and audio files by Daniel Steibelt in the International Music Score Library Project
• Parallel interpretations of 8 Sonatas by D.Steibelt both in the sound of Schantz Pianoforte from 1790 and in the sound of a modern Bechstein grand piano