Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg

Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (copperplate engraving by Christian Friedrich Stölzel )

Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg (born January 10, 1760 in Sachsenflur in the Umpfertal , † January 27, 1802 in Stuttgart ) was a German composer and conductor .

Life

Born as the son of a ducal-Württemberg valet, he entered the Karlsschule in Stuttgart at the age of ten, initially in order to receive training in sculpture. Because of his outstanding musical talent, however, he then received a music education. His teachers included Johann Friedrich Seubert and Eberhard Malterre , from whom he received cello lessons, and the Stuttgart court conductor Agostino Poli , who taught him composition. He met Friedrich Schiller at the Karlsschule . Both became friends, and Zumsteeg later set many of his poems to music.

In 1781 Zumsteeg was dismissed from the Karlsschule and got a job as a cellist in the court orchestra in Stuttgart . Four years later he held the position of teacher at the High Charles School . In 1791 he was appointed director of German music at the court theater and in this context also became director of the Music and Mimic Institute of the Hohen Karlsschule. A year later he was awarded the title of Ducal Concert Master and he succeeded Polis as court conductor . Zumsteeg died of a stroke in 1802 at the age of 42.

His compositional work includes operas and choral music . He is also said to have had a not inconsiderable influence on the development of German art song . The later works of Schubert and Loewe were particularly influenced by his ballads .

Zumsteeg is the father of Emilie Zumsteeg , born on December 9, 1796 , a composer, choir director and music teacher who worked in Stuttgart.

Works

Title page of the ballad Die Entführung , around 1830

Operas

• Tatar Law (1780)
• The Ghost Island (1798)
• Elbondocani (1803)

melodrama

• The peacock festival (1801)

Ballads

• Leonore
• The pastor's daughter from Taubenhain
• The penitent
• The abduction
• The song of loyalty
• Knight Toggenburg

literature

• Robert Eitner :  Zumsteeg, Johann Rudolf . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 45, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1900, pp. 484-486.
• Ignaz Theodor Ferdinand Cajetan Arnold: Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg . In: Gallery of the most famous musicians of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries , Volume 1. Müller, Erfurt 1810 ( digitized version )
• Gunter Maier: The songs of Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg and their relationship to Schubert , Kümmerle, Göppingen 1971 (Göppinger academic contributions, volume 28), ISBN 3-87452-067-6 .

CD

• The Geisterinsel with the Stuttgart Chamber Choir , the Stuttgart Court Orchestra , direction: Frieder Bernius , Carus Verlag, Stuttgart 2011, Carus 83.229, 3 CD.

Web links

Commons : Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg in the catalog of the German National Library
• Page for an exhibition in autumn 2002 ( memento from October 29, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) in the Württemberg State Library
• Entry to Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg on the history of occidental music
• CV on Klassika
• Sheet music and audio files by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg in the International Music Score Library Project
• List of stage works by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg based on the MGG at Operone
• Zumsteeg letter
• Song portal
• Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg in the Internet Archive