Ernst Christoph Dressler

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Johann Heinrich Tischbein the Elder : Ernst Christoph Dressler (completed posthumously in 1780)

Ernst Christoph Dressler (born September 23, 1734 in Greußen ; died April 6, 1779 in Kassel ) was a German composer , tenor , violinist and music theorist . He learned opera singing and violin playing on his own and became a court musician at various courts before moving to the Vienna Court Opera . His last stop was the court in Kassel. He became famous for a march on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote Variations, which became his first published work.

Life

Ernst Christoph Dressler was born in Greußen , near Sondershausen in Thuringia , as the son of Christian Ludwig Dressler and Catherine Elisabeth Renner. He studied theology , law and German poetics at the universities of Halle , Jena and Leipzig . In Leipzig he learned to play the violin and singing on his own. He moved to Bayreuth , where he further trained his tenor voice with Maria Giustina Turcotti, and worked as a chamber musician, court singer and secretary for Margrave Friedrich Christian von Bayreuth . When the margrave died in 1763, Dressler moved to Gotha . There he took a similar position with Friedrich III in May 1764 . and his wife Luise Dorothea .

He was a gifted violinist, composer, and writer. He disapproved of the opera buffa, preferred in Gotha, and in November 1766 either gave up his position or was dismissed. In February 1767 he became Kapellmeister with Joseph Wenzel von Fürstenberg , but not at his court in Donaueschingen , but in Wetzlar . When the prince returned to Bohemia in 1771, Dressler did not follow him, but went as a singer to the imperial court opera in Vienna . In 1774 he moved to the Hofoper in Kassel , where he stayed until his death.

Dressler married Wilhelmine Christiane Zeitz. Two of the couple's sons also worked in the Kassel court orchestra. Dressler died in Kassel on April 6, 1779 at the age of 44.

Act

Ernst Christoph Dressler published two song books. His best-known composition is a march on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote nine variations (WoO 63), which were the first of his works to be published in 1782, three years after Dressler's death.

In his writings on music theory, he advocated an independent German opera with theaters in Germany that specialize in it. He regarded Anton Schweitzer's opera Alceste as a prime example.

Publications

Fragments (1767)
  • My occupations of lonely hours. 1759 (Reprint: Herzog August Bibliothek, Wolfenbüttel 2017.)
  • Monument of love and admiration To the well-bored and well-trained gentleman, Mr. Johann Pfeiffer .... Langbein, Bayreuth 1761.
  • On death evening. Mourning poem for Johann Heinrich Schmitz, d. December 13th, 1777. Orphanage printing press, Cassel 1777.

Song books

  • Melodic songs for the fair sex. Frankfurt am Main 1771.
  • Friendship and love in melodic songs. Gabriel Nicolaus Raspe , Nuremberg 1774.
  • My songs. Leipzig, 1755

Music theory and music practice writings

  • Fragments of some thoughts of the musical audience regarding the better reception of music in Germany. C. Mevius seel. Heirs, Gotha 1767.
  • Thoughts concerning the performance of Alceste, a serious German Singspiel. Erfurt 1774.
  • Theater school for the Germans concerning serious singing drama. Schmidt, Hanover 1777.

Web links

Commons : Ernst Christoph Dressler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Dressler (Dreßler), Ernst Christoph . In: Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online . University of Munich. Retrieved June 4, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b c d Helmuth Christian Wolff: Dreßler, Ernst Christoph . In: New German Biography . tape 4 , 1959 ( deutsche-biographie.de ).
  3. ↑ a b c d e Alexandre Choron, François Fayolle: Dresler, Ernest Christophe . In: Dictionnaire historique des musiciens, artistes et amateurs, morts ou vivans ( French ), Volume 1. Chimot, 1817, p. 191.
  4. ^ A b c d e Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Dressler, Ernst Christoph . In: Large song dictionary . 4th edition. Walter de Gruyter, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-598-44088-5 , p.  1227 ( books.google.com ).
  5. ↑ a b c d Franz Lorenz: Georg Anton Benda . Walter de Gruyter, 2014, ISBN 3-11-084198-3 , p. 65.
  6. ↑ Silke Leopold , Bärbel Pelker: South German court chapels in the 18th century: An inventory . Books on Demand, 2014, ISBN 978-3-946054-78-8 , pp.  71 ( books.google.com - footnote 91).
  7. ^ A b Hugo Riemann : Musik-Lexikon , Volume 1 1916, p. 263.
  8. ^ Gary E. McPherson: Musical Prodigies: Interpretations from Psychology, Education, Musicology, and Ethnomusicology ( English ). Oxford University Press, 2016, ISBN 0-19-150925-6 , p. 582.
personal data
SURNAME Dressler, Ernst Christoph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, tenor, violinist and music theorist
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1734
PLACE OF BIRTH Greetings
DATE OF DEATH April 6, 1779
Place of death kassel