Friedrich Kuhlau

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Friedrich Kuhlau

Friedrich Daniel Rudolph Kuhlau (born September 11, 1786 in Uelzen , † March 12, 1832 in Copenhagen ) was a German- Danish composer .

Life

As a child, Kuhlau lost his right eye in an accident. He received his training from Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke in Hamburg . In order to avoid the French conscription , Kuhlau fled to Copenhagen in 1810. There he got a chamber music position as a flautist . After performing his first two operas, Die Räuberburg and Elisa , which were received with great acclaim , he was appointed royal court composer (court composer) in 1818. For the composition of the play Elverhøj he received the title of professor. Friedrich Kuhlau died on March 12, 1832 in Copenhagen and is buried in the assistance cemetery.

plant

In addition to other operas such as Lulu , Die Zauberharfe and Hugo and Adelheid , Kuhlau wrote vocal compositions as well as instrumental and piano works, including many instructive sonatas that are still valued as teaching works today .

Franz Schubert once commented on the Kuhlaus Sonatinas: "These true masterpieces, even if they are only a few minutes long, have tremendous melodies and expressiveness!"

A good quarter of his oeuvre is dedicated to the flute, including sonatas for flute and piano, duos, trios and the quartet for 4 flutes in E major op.103.

"Elverhøj"

The incidental music for the drama Elverhøj (German: "The Elfenhügel"), which was written on the occasion of a wedding in the Danish royal family in 1828, he composed within five months using numerous Danish and Swedish folk melodies. The text is by Johan Ludvig Heiberg . Part of the overture is also the Danish royal hymn Kong Christian stod ved højen mast , the melody of which Kuhlau had published as a piano composition as early as 1817. The first performance took place on November 6, 1828 in the Royal Theater of Copenhagen. The work is still very popular in Denmark today.

See also the article Elverhøj .

Catalog raisonné

Carl Thrane's biography, Friedrich Kuhlau (1886), contains a comprehensive catalog raisonné and is still fundamental. There is a reprint from 1979. Another catalog of works is the thematic-bibliographical catalog by Dan Fog, compositions by Friedrich Kuhlau (1977).

Trivia

The overture to Elverhøj was used, slightly modified, as film music in the popular Olsen Gang series. In Die Olsenbande sucht rot (Danish: Olsen-banden ser rødt , 1976), the eighth episode in the series, the gang breaks through several walls of the Royal Theater to the rhythm of the overture and uses the audience to stand up during the royal anthem to steal.

Others

In honor of Friedrich Kuhlaus, the city of Uelzen organizes an international flute competition every two years in November.

literature

Web links

Commons : Friedrich Kuhlau  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Clive Unger-Hamilton, Neil Fairbairn, Derek Walters; German arrangement: Christian Barth, Holger Fliessbach, Horst Leuchtmann, et al .: The music - 1000 years of illustrated music history . Unipart-Verlag, Stuttgart 1983, ISBN 3-8122-0132-1 , p. 107 .
  2. ↑ Kuhlau chamber music. www.dr-peter-wieners.de, accessed on March 5, 2014 .
  3. ^ Entry in the SWB online catalog on Carl Thrane, Friedrich Kuhlau . Retrieved September 23, 2009 .
  4. ↑ ISBN 87-87099-09-8 . Entry in the SWB online catalog on Dan Fog, compositions by Friedrich Kuhlau . Retrieved September 23, 2009 .
  5. ↑ International Flute Competition "Friedrich Kuhlau". Retrieved June 6, 2010 .
personal data
SURNAME Kuhlau, Friedrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kuhlau, Friedrich Daniel Rudolph (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German-Danish composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 11, 1786
PLACE OF BIRTH Uelzen
DATE OF DEATH March 12, 1832
Place of death Copenhagen