Heinrich Marschner

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Heinrich Marschner

Heinrich August Marschner (* 16th August 1795 in Zittau ; † 14. December 1861 in Hannover ) was a German composer of romantic music director in Dresden and conductor in Leipzig , from 1831 royal court conductor in Hanover. His operas made him one of the leading German opera composers of the time between 1830 and 1850 and are considered an important link between the works of Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner .

Life

Marschner's birthplace in Zittau
Marschner's house in Pressburg around 1818/19
Memorial plaque on Marschner's house in Leipzig, 1828
Carte de Visite by Marschner from the 1850s / 60s
Obituary notice for Marschner 1861
Bronze statue in Georgstrasse in Hanover
Carl Grossberg: Marschner Monument Hannover, watercolor 1936
Gravestone in the Neustädter Friedhof in Hanover

Heinrich Marschner was born the son of a Bohemian craftsman. Marschner had initially started to study law in Leipzig, but then turned to music. He began to compose at an early age and was taken under the wing of his mentor, the Thomas Cantor Johann Gottfried Shift . In 1817 he became the music teacher of Count Johann Nepomuk Zichy (1777-1830) in Pressburg . During these years he began to write his first operas. This is how Heinrich IV. And D'Aubigné came about, which was premiered in Dresden in 1820 under Carl Maria von Weber . In 1821 he moved to Dresden, where he was music director at the local opera from 1824 to 1826. In 1825 the comic singspiel Der Holzdieb was premiered in Dresden , his great opera Lucretia , completed in 1822 and based on Gaspare Spontini's Vestalin , then came with his wife Marianne nee. Wohlbrück (1805-1854) in the title role in Danzig. Marschner achieved his breakthrough as a widely recognized composer in 1828 with Der Vampyr and in 1829 with Der Templer und die Jüdin (both libretti : Wilhelm August Wohlbrück ) at the Leipzig City Theater .

Marschner also composed some pieces for the guitar, such as 12 bagatelles ( op.4 ) and 12 chants with guitar accompaniment ( op.5 ).

On January 1, 1831, Marschner was appointed Royal Hanover Kapellmeister in Hanover to succeed Heinrich Aloys Praeger, for the first 21 years in the palace opera house at the Leineschloss , then from 1852 in the royal court theater of Laves. As such - later with the title of general music director - he gradually increased the number of members of the Hanoverian court orchestra who were obliged to perform public operas and concerts, initially in the palace opera house in particular .

During his time in Hanover, Marschner also created his most important work with Hans Heiling , which was to become a key work of German romantic opera. The libretto was provided by the singer and actor Philipp Eduard Devrient .

With the composition of this opera Marschner was at the height of his career. He was also successful for some time with the successor works, but he was outshone by the fame of Giacomo Meyerbeer or later that of Richard Wagner . The hope of being Spontini's successor at the court opera in Berlin was not fulfilled. Marschner stayed at the Hanover Opera until 1859. It was not until 1838 that he had two of his new operas premiered in Hanover ( Der Bäbu and Austin ).

In the last years of his life, during which he even strived to be successful in Paris, Marschner was seen as a man of the past who was no longer open to the present. He died in Hanover in 1861. His grave is located in the Neustadt cemetery there . A monument erected in 1877 by the sculptor Ferdinand Hartzer on Georgstrasse commemorates him .

Marschner's widow Therese, b. Janda later married the Austrian composer Otto Bach .

Hans Joachim Moser writes:

“Marschner shows the tragic fate of a romanticist who was ingenious in the three most important stage works, who then outlived himself during the narrowness of the Biedermeier and flattened out into song tables. He occupies an important position between Weber and Wagner, who in his early days ... owes a lot to him. In his best moments Marschner possesses demoniac and genuine folklore, but often slips into the overly cheap Italian style of his contemporaries Bellini , Mercadante and Pacini . "

During his lifetime he was held in high regard among his music colleagues, such as B. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Robert Schumann or Richard Wagner , who perfected the dramatic spoken chant in his musical tragedies with Marschner. The title characters of Marschner in his operas are preferably ghostly demonic types, who often have a split personality, who ultimately also embody a romantic hero. Marschner's best-known melody comes from his romantic opera Hans Heiling and was made famous by Antonín Dvořák , who used it in his 9th symphony "From the New World" .

Operas

  • Titus , Serious Opera, 1817 (fragment)
  • The Kyffhäuserberg , comic opera in one act, 1817 (first performance : January 2, 1822 in the Stadttheater Zittau)
  • Saidar and Zulima , Romantic opera in three acts, 1818 (first performance: November 26, 1818 in the Schauspielhaus Preßburg)
  • Heinrich IV and D'Aubigné , Great Opera in three acts, 1819 (first performance: July 19, 1820 in the Dresden Court Theater )
  • The silent people , magic game, 1818 (planned)
  • Der Holzdieb , comic opera in one act, (World premiere: February 22, 1825 in the Dresden Court Theater)
  • Lucretia , Great Serious Opera in Two Acts, (First performance: January 17, 1827 in the City Theater of Danzig)
  • The Vampyr , romantic opera in two acts, (premiere: March 29, 1828 in the Leipzig City Theater)
  • The Templar and the Jewess , Great Romantic Opera in three acts, (World premiere: December 22, 1829 in the Leipzig City Theater), based on Walter Scott's Ivanhoe
  • The Falkner's Bride , comic opera in three acts, (World premiere: March 10, 1832 in the Leipzig City Theater)
  • Hans Heiling , Romantic opera with a prelude and three acts, (Libretto: Eduard Devrient , first performance: May 24, 1833 at the Royal Court Opera in Berlin )
  • The castle on Etna , great romantic opera in three acts, (first performance: January 29, 1836 in the Leipzig City Theater)
  • Der Bäbu , comic opera in three acts, (first performance: February 19, 1838 in the Royal Court Theater Hanover )
  • Emperor Adolph von Nassau , Great Opera in four acts, (World premiere: January 5, 1845 in the Royal Saxon Court Theater in Dresden )
  • Austin , Romantic opera in four acts, (First performance: January 25, 1852 in the Hoftheater Hannover)
  • King Hiarne , Great Romantic Opera in four acts with a libretto by Wilhelm Grothe (World premiere: September 13, 1863 in the Nationaltheater Frankfurt am Main)

Incidental music

Awards and honors

Streets in various German cities are named after Marschner. A commemorative plaque on Ranstädter Steinweg in Leipzig refers to the Zur golden Laute inn , where Marschner lived from 1827 to 1828 and where he completed his opera The Vampire .

literature

Web links

Commons : Heinrich Marschner  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Walter Götze (Ed.): Heinrich Marschner: 12 Bagatelles, op. 4. B. Schott's Sons, Mainz (= guitar archive. Volume 41).
  2. ↑ Martin Rätz (Ed.): Classics of the guitar. Study and lecture literature from the 18th and 19th centuries. Volume 2. Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1978; License edition Schott, Mainz, pp. 106–117 ( Twelve Bagatelles ) and 140 ( About the Composers ).
  3. ^ Wulf Konold (Ges.-Red.), Klaus-Jürgen Etzold (co-author): Praeger, Heinrich Aloys , in this .: The Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hanover 1636 to 1986 , ed. by the Lower Saxony State Orchestra Hannover GmbH, Hannover: Schlütersche Verlagsgesellschaft, 1986, ISBN 3-87706-041-2 , pp. 178, 180.
  4. ↑ A digitized version of King Hiarne can be found at www.loc.gov
personal data
SURNAME Marschner, Heinrich
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Marschner, Heinrich August (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer
DATE OF BIRTH August 16, 1795
PLACE OF BIRTH Zittau
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1861
Place of death Hanover