Eduard Stein

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Eduard Stein (born October 16, 1818 in Kleinschirma ; † March 16, 1864 in Sondershausen ) was the conductor, music director and Princely Court Kapellmeister of the (later so-called) Loh Orchestra in the royal seat of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen .

Life

childhood and education

Eduard Stein was born in 1818 as the son of farmer Johann Traugott Stein in Kleinschirma near Freiberg in Saxony.

He attended grammar school in Freiberg, where his musical inclination was also encouraged by the founder of the singing academy and conductor of the mountain music choir August Ferdinand Anacker , which had previously been discovered by the local pastor. He then began studying theology at the University of Leipzig , which he broke off in favor of musical training under the influence of Heinrich Marschner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy .

Professional background

After dropping out of his studies and completing a musical education, Stein was music director of a traveling theater company in Bautzen until 1845 .

Then he went to Frankfurt (Oder) and was initially director of the opera. He later worked as a conductor of the symphony concerts, the Liedertafel and the Singakademie .

In January 1853 he was entrusted with this position when he applied for the position of Princely Court Kapellmeister in Sondershausen; he held it until his death on March 16, 1864. During his time in special houses, he taught the later Scottish conductor and composer Alexander Mackenzie, among others .

family

In Altenburg , Eduard Stein met Eleonore Natalie Richter (born 1818) from Annaberg , the daughter of a dance teacher from Dresden. On October 4, 1842, they married in Bautzen. The marriage resulted in a son and a daughter, but their traces are lost after Edward's death.

Creating in Sondershausen

The former Loh hall on Lohplatz in Sondershausen

As a conductor, Eduard Stein succeeded in elevating the court orchestra , which Gottfried Herrmann had developed into a symphony orchestra, to the quality level of important orchestras from musically decisive German centers. Very early on, he performed the so-called future music (also called the New German School ) by Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner , which was still very unusual at the time. In 1856 he tried to get the audience in the mood for the new developments through advertising preliminary discussions in German .

An early performance of Lohengrin on March 26, 1858 was enthusiastically reviewed by Laue, which prompted Wagner to write a letter to Stein on May 3:

“Dear Kapellmeister!
I am just reading an account of your performance of my Lohengrin, and I see from it that I was so happy to meet in you one of those rare friends whose beautiful and uplifting participation alone does not make me regret presenting my work to the public where they so often and usually experience the lot of mischief and mockery.
Meetings like yours are the only ones that comfort me about my fate, which without it would have to be one of the most deplorable in existence.
Greet Mr. Pichon - in spite of his unhappiness at the first performance - and thank him on my behalf that some time ago he made me aware of your great devotion to my work. [...]
My greatest thanks and best regards to your honored orchestra and to the singers unknown to me who distinguished themselves in the Lohengrin!
I hope I will see you one day too: then you can add my handshake to what I will say briefly today, but with emphatic, heartfelt emphasis: - Thank you, thank you for the joy you made me!
Yours Richard Wagner. "

On July 3, Wagner replied to Stein's reply:

“Dear friend!
In a few short words, thank you for your exceptionally friendly letter, and if I may ask, please also share with Herr Laue my joy that I have won such gentle hearts in him as in you !
[...] Your most devoted Richard Wagner. "

The program design and performance practice met Franz Liszt's admiration and prompted him to come to Sondershausen three times to experience concerts under stone. Further visits followed even after Stein's death. With Liszt, the pianist, conductor and dreaded critic Hans von Bülow and the journalist and editor of the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in Leipzig, Franz Brendel , also came to the royal seat. With their laudatory reports, they made the city of Sondershausen and the orchestra widely known in the music world.

Aftertaste

To commemorate the year on March 16, 1865, a marble stone was placed on the grave (in the Rosengarten cemetery at that time) with the inscription “EDUARD STEIN | † | XVI. MAERZ MDCCCLXIV “unveiled. This grave site was leveled in 1952. Since 2012 there has been a stele with Stein's portrait and life dates on the Altes Gottesacker .

Until the Loh Hall was demolished in 1973, Stein's name was written next to other musicians in the Loh Orchestra in a frieze surrounding the concert shell. Today a replica of this frieze can be found in the music department of the Sondershausen Castle Museum . His name can also be read in the foyer of the Haus der Kunst concert hall in Sondershausen.

literature

  • The German. Sondershäuser newspaper together with government and intelligence paper for the principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. [Sondershausen: Eupel.] (Incomplete) digitized version .
  • JL: From Sondershausen. In Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Vol. 41, 1854, pp. 116f. .
  • Hans v. Bülow: A concert of the princely chapel in Sondershausen. In Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Vol. 45, 1856, pp. 99-102 .
  • Ms. Laue: performance of “Lohengrin”. In Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Vol. 48, 1858, No. 18 of April 30, 1858, pp. 199f. .
  • F. Brendel: Chapel and musical life in Sondershausen. In Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Vol. 57, 1862, pp. 73ff. , P. 85ff. , P. 93ff. , P. 101ff. and p. 109ff. .
  • [Thilo Irmisch:] Eduard Stein. In Der Deutsche 1864 p. 287 (No. 36) and p. 294f. (No. 37) .
  • Memories of Eduard Stein. In Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Vol. 60, 1864, pp. 121–123 .
  • Hans Eberhardt: Eduard Stein, a special house court conductor as a champion for Franz Liszt and Richard Wagner. In Das Thüringer Fähnlein. Monthly magazine for the Central German homeland. Vol. 10, 1941, pp. 182-188 .
  • Personalities in Sondershausen - Eduard Stein, Sondershausen, 2010
  • Special houses Heimatecho 2011 No. 1

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Annotation of death and thanks in Der Deutsche 1864 No. 33 and 38 . Registration office information in No. 34 .
  2. ↑ Eberhardt p. 185 .
  3. ^ Johann Friedrich Laue, first mayor of Sondershausen from 1860 to 1891, was himself a devoted musician, cf. his obituary in Der Deutsche 1896 No. 192 . (The article from 1854 marked with "JL" was probably made by him.)
  4. ↑ See Laue p. 200 .
  5. ↑ Richard Wagner, Complete Letters. Volume 9. Leipzig 2000. ISBN 3370003619 , p. 256.
  6. ↑ All letters. Volume 9, p. 333. - The text version, which is printed in Eberhardt p. 184 , probably goes back to a mixture of the two letter texts .
  7. ↑ Eberhardt p. 186.
  8. ↑ Neue Zeitschrift für Musik Vol. 61, 1865, p. 137 ; A celebration of the memory of Eduard Stein, in Der Deutsche 1865 No. 33 .
  9. ↑ See single photo and ensemble view .
personal data
SURNAME Stein, Eduard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor, music director and court music director
DATE OF BIRTH October 16, 1818
PLACE OF BIRTH Small business
DATE OF DEATH March 16, 1864
Place of death Sondershausen