Gustav Heuser

Gustav Heuser (born October 15, 1817 in Herzkamp (today part of Sprockhövel ), † October 8, 1846 in Berlin ) was a German composer and music journalist.

Life

Heuser was the son of a teacher and attended the Elberfelder Gymnasium . There he was one of Friedrich Engels' childhood friends . On March 18, 1837, he left high school to study at the Royal Music Institute in Berlin . At the same time he took composition lessons from Adolf Bernhard Marx and was soon considered to be a great talent.

In 1840 Engels wrote the opera libretto Cola di Rienzi for Heuser , which Heuser did not set to music. On August 3, 1841, Marx performed Heuser's choral works at the Berlin University . On November 18, 1841, Heuser was recommended to Robert Schumann by Marx . On the same day he turned to Schumann himself and subsequently wrote several essays for his Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , in which he discussed fundamental questions of contemporary music. His hope that Schumann could also help him with the publication of his compositions, however, was not fulfilled. On August 22, 1844, he paid a personal visit to Schumann in Leipzig , during which there was presumably talked about his further collaboration for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik . In the edition of November 7, 1846, “Mr. Gustav Heuser in Berlin ”expressly referred to as“ our employee ”.

In 1846 he sent several musical manuscripts to a supposed publisher named Conrad Löffler, who was soon discovered to be a fraud, because Löffler had Heuser's works performed in Vienna under his own name: on July 26th three string quartets and on August 13th in the Theater an der Vienna Heuser's overture triumphant , together with a symphony by August Conradi , which Löffler also passed off as his own work.

Richard Wagner was one of those who fell for Löffler , who sent Löffler his operas Rienzi , The Flying Dutchman and Tannhauser in the belief that Löffler would publish them.

On September 19, 1846, Heuser attended the world premiere of Michael Beers Struensee with the music of Giacomo Meyerbeer and was seen for the last time the next day. In October, his body was recovered from the Spree . It was assumed that he died voluntarily, because "he had left the watch and purse in his apartment".

In Elberfeld the local organist and music teacher August Weinbrenner performed a “Fest Overture (Manuscript)” on March 16, 1850 by the “brilliant, unfortunately too early passed over G. Heuser” - probably his Overture triomphale .

Compositions (selection)

• op. 1: Songs of a living person based on texts by Georg Herwegh for bass and piano, Zurich: Robert Geyser, 1843
• op. 2: Birthday and Christmas music for soprano, alto, tenor and bass with accompaniment of the pianoforte and six children's instruments (cuckoo, trumpet, drum, gun, cymbal, forest devil) , based on a text by M. Wolff, Berlin: Schlesinger, 1844
• Overture triomphale , around 1846
• Three string quartets , around 1846

Fonts (selection)

• What practical results can be expected from the new theory of composition compared to the old theory? , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 15, No. 51 of December 24, 1841, pp. 201f.
• Das Moderne Pianoforte , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 17, No. 49 of December 16, 1842, pp. 199–202; No. 50, December 20, 1842, pp. 203-205; No. 51 of December 23, 1842, pp. 207-210 and No. 52 of December 27, 1842, pp. 211-214
• Oratorio and Opera , in: Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 21, No. 41 of November 18, 1844, pp. 161f; No. 45 of December 2, 1844, pp. 177f .; No. 46 of December 5, 1844, pp. 181f .; No. 47 of December 9, 1844, pp. 185f .; No. 48 of December 12, 189f .; No. 49 of December 16, 1844, pp. 193f .; No. 50 of December 19, 1844, pp. 197f. and No. 52 of December 26, 1844, pp. 206f.

literature

• Michael Knieriem , "We want to make a name for Wupperthale ..." A documentation on the history of the Elberfeld reading circle 1838–1844 , Wuppertal 1994 (= News from the Engels House , Volume 10) - contains letters about Heuser
• Robert and Clara Schumann's correspondence with correspondents in Berlin 1832 to 1883 , ed. by Klaus Martin Kopitz , Eva Katharina Klein and Thomas Synofzik (=  Schumann-Briefedition , Series II, Volume 17), Cologne: Dohr 2015, pp. 213–223, ISBN 978-3-86846-028-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Baptismal register of the Protestant parish Herzkamp, ​​Volume 1: 1785–1818, p. 233, no. 70
2. ^ Burial book of the Protestant parish "Neue Kirche" in Berlin 1846–1860, p. 16, no. 233: the music teacher Gustav Heuser Komadantenstr. 35 . According to the funeral register, he was buried on October 22, 1846.
3. ↑ Friedrich Engels. Cola di Rienzi. An Unknown Dramatic Draft , ed. by Michael Knieriem, Wuppertal: Peter Hammer 1974
4. ↑ Berlinische Nachrichten , No. 180 of August 5, 1841, p. [1]
5. ↑ Robert Schumann, Diaries , Volume 3, ed. by Gerd Nauhaus , Leipzig 1982, p. 370
6. ↑ Cf. Quartet-Soirée of Mr. Konrad Löffler , in: Der Wanderer , vol. 33, no. 181 of July 30, 1846, pp. 719f. ( Digitized version ); August Schmidt , once again Conrad Löffler , in: Wiener Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung , vol. 6, no. 121 of October 8, 1846, p. 486 (with a letter from Heuser to Schmidt) and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , volume 25, no . 38 of November 7, 1846, p. 154 ( digitized version )
7. ↑ See Wagner's letters to Franz Liszt of April 10, 1846 and to Conrad Löffler of May 20, 1846, in: Richard Wagner, Samples , Volume 2, ed. by Gertrud Strobel and Werner Wolf , Leipzig 1970, p. 500f. and 505-507. Löffler pretended to be "pensioner of the King of Prussia" to Wagner.
8. ↑ On Heuser's death cf. "KG" ( Karl Gaillard ), Heuser , in: Berliner musical newspaper , vol. 3, no. 44 of October 31, 1846, p. [4] ( digitized version ); Wiener Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung , Vol. 6, No. 139 of November 19, 1846, p. 563 and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik , Volume 25, No. 49 of December 16, 1846, p. 198 ( digitized version )
9. ↑ Elberfelder Zeitung , No. 62 of March 13, 1850, p. [3] (advance notice) and No. 63 of March 14, 1850, p. [4] (program)