John William Harmston

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John William Harmston (born April 22, 1822 in London , † August 26, 1881 in Lübeck ) was a British-German pianist, composer and photographer.

Life

John William Harmston grew up in Lincoln (Lincolnshire) ; he was a student of William Sterndale Bennett . His first compositions appeared in 1844. At that time he was working as a music teacher in Lincoln. In 1846 he was appointed church organist in Kettering, Northamptonshire .

In January 1849 he moved to Lübeck. In 1850 he married Johanna, geb. Pole. The couple had two children: John William Bernhard (born August 10, 1851, † 1914 in London) and Alma (born March 23, 1856). The family lived in Königstrasse 888 (census 1851), Königstrasse 857 (1857), Mengstrasse 45 (1862) and Holstenstrasse 309, today 17 (1871).

Harmston worked in Lübeck mainly as a piano teacher, but also as a language teacher at the von Großheim secondary school . Around 1863 he was also active as a professional photographer. His portraits and views in carte de visite format as well as some large-format cityscapes are known. Both his musical and photographic works were distributed by Friedrich Wilhelm Kaibel's Lübeck art and music dealership .

He published a large number of compositions for piano, especially drawing-room pieces ( salon music ). Over 230 pieces are documented. His op. 22 (“Vögleins Lied” / “Song of the Bird”) was particularly popular. For the inauguration of the Eutin-Lübeck Railway , he created the Lübeck-Eutiner-Eisenbahn-Galopp op.192 .

Works

  • Salon compositions for the pianoforte; op.14 to op.21 Lübeck: Kaibel o. J.
Digitalisat , City Library Lübeck
  • Bird's Song. Song without words, composed for the piano by JW Harmston. Op. 22nd 12th edition, Leipzig: Peters 1875
  • Lübeck-Eutiner-Eisenbahn-Gallop op.192. Lübeck: Kaibel o. J.
Digitalisat , City Library Lübeck
  • Schützen-March: for the pianoforte. Lübeck: Kaibel o. J.
Digitalisat , City Library Lübeck
  • The Hanseatic Homecoming: Peace March for the Pianoforte; op. 169. Lübeck: Kaibel [1871]
Digitalisat , City Library Lübeck

literature

  • Harmston, John William , in: Ernst Pauer: A Dictionary of Pianists and Composers for the Pianoforte: With an Appendix of Manufacturers of the Instrument. London & New York: Novello 1895, p. 45
  • Harmston, John William , in: James Duff Brown, Stephen Samuel Stratton: British Musical Biography: A Dictionary of Musical Artists, Authors, and Composers Born in Britain and Its Colonies. Birmingham: Stratton 1897, p. 184
  • Harmston, John William , in: Carl Stiehl : Lübeckisches Tonkünstlerlexikon. Leipzig: Hesse 1887 ( digitized version ), p. 9

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date and place of birth are uncertain, see the discussion here
  2. ↑ Pauer (lit.)
  3. ↑ So Stiehl (lit.)
  4. ↑ private website with biographical information
  5. ↑ Alexander Bastek, Jan Zimmermann (Ed.): Photography in Lübeck 1840-1945 . Imhof, Petersberg 2016. ISBN 978-3-7319-0366-6 , p. 364 and catalog nos. 76, 148, 197
  6. ↑ Pauer (lit.)
personal data
SURNAME Harmston, John William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-German pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1822
PLACE OF BIRTH London
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 1881
Place of death Lübeck