Michael Henkel (composer)

Michael Henkel (born June 18, 1780 in Fulda , † March 4, 1851 ibid) was a German composer and organist .

Life

Michael Henkel was born as the son of the valet of Prince Bishop Adalbert von Harstall and clarinetist in the Fulda court orchestra, Andreas Henkel (1739-1825) and his wife Juliane Fuchs. He had five siblings. In 1794 (according to other sources 1793) Michael Henkel got his first job at the Fuldaer Fürstenhof, initially as a bellower for the castle organ. In 1799 he was employed as "Hoflaquai" and cellist of the court orchestra. He received his musical training from the Fulda Benedictine Father Odo Staab OSB (1745–1822) and the cellist Karl Ignaz Hämmerlein (1773–1840), who in 1798 was Fulda court concertmaster. In 1800, Henkel stayed for a few weeks with Johann Gottfried Vierling (1750-1813) in Schmalkalden to take further lessons in composition there. This encounter led to a friendship between the two musicians, which is evidenced by a lively correspondence until Vierling's death (1813).

In 1801 or 1802 he became organist at the parish church of St. Blasius (Fulda) as the successor to Johann Sebastian Zahn. The latter was limited to his service as " Cantor ", in which he was supported by Henkel as his " Adjunct ". In 1806, Henkel von Zahn also took over the “Cantor Office”. In 1802 Henkel married the daughter of Johann Sebastian Zahn, Maria Barbara Caritas Zahn (1783–1818), with whom he had seven children. After the secularization of the Diocese of Fulda (1802), the court orchestra was not dissolved, but retained under the new regent Wilhelm Friedrich Prince of Orange-Nassau (1772–1843). In 1803 or 1804, Henkel was also appointed cantor at Fulda Cathedral , where he founded the first Fulda cathedral choir . In 1804, Henkel published his trend-setting “Choral-Melodien-Buch” for the then Fuldaer Gesangbuch, the first of its kind in Germany, which had several editions and was in general use until the end of the 19th century. After the court orchestra was dissolved at the end of the Orange reign (1806), Henkel remained city and cathedral cantor. Henkel retained both offices until his death.

From 1805 to 1837 Michael Henkel worked as a music teacher at the Fulda teachers' college and from 1816 to 1848 at the Lyceum and Gymnasium, where he taught music theory , singing and playing instruments . He led an orchestra made up of former court musicians and held regular chamber concerts in Fulda , was a sought-after accompanist at song recitals and played a musical role in almost all of the city's official festivals and celebrations. In 1823, Henkel formed the Fulda Town Musicians , who had to perform at church and secular celebrations. In 1837 Michael Henkel founded the secular mixed choir Cäcilia ; as early as 1813 he had founded a concert choir called the Singakademie , but it did not last in the political turmoil of the time. Together with Clemens Wenzeslaus Coudray (1775–1845), who worked in Fulda as court architect and professor at the Lyceum , Henkel directed the musical part of the Harmonic Society , and later the inter-act music for the performances of the Muses' Association and the Liebhabertheater . Both institutions existed until around 1837, although further research would have to be done here. After his first wife died, Henkel married her sister Maria Barbara Josepha Zahn (1780–1828) in 1820, with whom he had three more children.

"For more than half a century, Henkel shaped the musical and social life of Fulda with considerable sense of mission and social commitment. A long series of petitions to the city authorities as well as numerous compositions prove his tireless commitment to the improvement of church and school music practice. As a teacher, composer , Commission agent for foreign music publishers and organizer, Henkel made an important contribution beyond the spatial and temporal limits of his work, not only to the dissemination of musical knowledge, but also to raising the general educational standard of other sections of the population. His many compositions intended for domestic use, their stylistic Orientation towards Mozart, Clementi, Pleyel and others cannot be misunderstood, show less lofty artistic ambitions than pedagogical and didactic skill and are still useful today at least as teaching literature. " (quoted from MGG, see literature) In 1837, Henkel succeeded in building a new large organ in the Fulda parish church by Georg Franz Ratzmann (1771–1846), the organ prospectus of which has been preserved.

Obviously, Henkel rarely left his home town of Fulda. A journey of several days “into Saxon” in the run-up to the planned new organ building in the Fulda parish church is proven to get to know organs from various possible organ builders. In 1845 Henkel traveled to Bonn to inaugurate the Beethoven monument .

Michael Henkel died of stomach cancer in 1851. His sons Georg Andreas Henkel (1805–1871) and Heinrich Henkel (1822–1899) were also active as musicians and composers, while his youngest son Theodor Henkel (1823–1901) worked as a music publisher in Fulda and Frankfurt am Main. His estate is in the holdings of the Fulda State Library.

Works

Orchestra and stage works

• Six marches for wind orchestra (around 1800 ?, except for one part missing)
• Concert piece in D minor op.19 (around 1812?) For violoncello and orchestra (lost)
• Festival Overture op.27 (around 1815)
• Incidental music for "Achmet und Zanaide" (August Wilhelm Iffland) (lost)
• Incidental music for "The Peasant Wedding" (Heinrich König) (lost)
• Incidental music for "The Fulfillment" (Heinrich König) (lost)

Chamber music works

• Four string quartets
• Serenade for flute, viola and guitar op.16
• Sonata for flute or violin and guitar op.9
• Sonata for flute and guitar op.24
• Sonata for guitar and piano op.25
• Sonata for cello or flute and piano op.30
• Sonata for cello or clarinet and piano op.35
• Sonata for guitar and piano op.44
• Sonata for violin and piano op.52
• Sonata for violin or cello and piano op.63
• Sonata for violin and piano op.73
• Sonata for violin or flute and piano op.74
• Sonata for violin and piano op.79
• 15 concert pieces for flute and guitar op.36
• Variations for flute and guitar op.31
• at least 15 further variation series for flute and guitar (8 of which are preserved)
• Scherzo “Le Coucou” for flute and guitar
• 24 duets for two flutes

Polyphonic vocal works

• Ambrosian hymn of praise “Te Deum” on the 50th anniversary of the priesthood of Prince-Bishop Adalbert III. von Harstall 1811 (lost)
• Cantata for Grand Duke Carl's name festival in 1811 (lost)
• Cantata on the 25th anniversary of the bishopric of Prince-Bishop Adalbert III. by Harstall 1814.
• Three German soul masses for choir, organ and 2 horns op.32
• Three (more) soul masses for choir and organ (not yet found)
• Cantata "The Praise of Harmony" (1833)
• Bonifatius Cantatine for the inauguration of the Bonifatius Monument in Fulda (1842)
• Six religious chants (ca.1825)
• 12 four-part songs (around 1845)
• Four-part songs and chants, initially for high schools and seminars (around 1835, 2 booklets, one of which is missing)
• Three chants for solo and choir voices, initially for high schools
• 13 two-part songs
• (34?) Songs for elementary schools in four-part setting (1823 ?, lost)
• (100 planned) songs for elementary schools in two-part setting (1848-1851, only partially completed)
• "Solenne Masses" for choir and orchestra "(lost)

Unison vocal works with accompaniment

• 6 German songs for voice and guitar or piano op.10
• 6 songs based on poems by Frhr. von Steigentesch op.21
• 24 songs and chants for voice and guitar or piano
• “Songs sung in Buchonia” for voice and guitar or piano
• “To Hope” for voice and piano
• “Lebens-Thräume” for voice and piano
• “Die Flammennacht” for voice and piano or guitar
• Constitution hymn for Kurhessen , for voice and piano
• Round song "Wachse hoch, Oranien" for voice and piano
• Spiritual song "I will praise the goodness of God forever" for voice and organ
• further songs, partly only preserved in fragments

Solo works for organ

• 100 Versetten (1807)
• 48 preludes, interludes and epilogues op.5
• 20 organ pieces op.23
• 24 easy mixed organ pieces op.26
• 60 easy, 2-, 3- and 4-part organ pieces op.62
• “Practical Organ School” or 66 Organ Pieces op. 68
• 12 new organ pieces of a mixed kind op.82
• 6 major and 6 minor movements for the organ op.83 (lost)
• Some notes for the organ (on the occasion of the inauguration of the Ratzmann organ in the Fulda parish church)
• 48 small organ pieces op.91
• 48 small organ pieces in the fugitive style, op.92
• 48 small organ pieces op.96
• 18 Organ Pieces for Inexperienced Players op.102
• Fugue about BACH (1820, dedicated to Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck )
• 9 organ works in different years of "Heckel's Orgel-Journal" (1830-1832)

Solo works for piano

• 3 marches op.14
• 6 sonatinas with cadences (op.42?)
• 8 sonatinas op.43
• 3 sonatinas op.65
• 20 easy piano pieces op.66
• Sonatina op.70
• at least 20 "slight variations" on different topics
• at least 42 further series of variations on various themes, around half of which have been preserved
• 20 pieces "Choix de Rondeaux et Polonaises"
• March of the Fulda Landwehr
• Funeral march for Adalbert III. (lost)
• Funeral march for Andreas Ernst
• 3 songs with variations (lost)
• Sonata for piano 4 hands op.16
• 6 waltzes for piano 4 hands
• "Teachers and Students" , 24 pieces for piano 4 hands op. 42
• “Practical Lessons” , 62 pieces for piano 4 hands op. 100
• Overture to the opera "Les deux Aveugles de Tolede" by Mehul (transcription for piano 4 hands)
• other works and occasional compositions probably lost

Four-part chorale movements

• Four-part chorale melody book (1st edition 1804, revision 1846)
• Seven Church Melodies (1805)
• Four-part choral melodies of the parish brotherhood of Jesus at the cathedral church. to Fulda (1819)
• Melodiae Hymnorum Sacrorum (1818)
• Hymn and prayer book for Catholic high schools (1848)

Others

• Elementary singing theory with practical examples (1828)
• Christian songs for Catholic high schools (1838, edited by M. Henkel together with Dr. Nikolaus Bach)
• Hymn and prayer book for Catholic high schools (1848, edited by M. Henkel together with Ernst Friedrich Dronke)
• 100 songs for elementary schools (1822–1824)
• Johann Gottfried Vierling: 48 organ pieces (edited by M. Henkel, around 1818)
• Collection of entertaining and educational anecdotes by the most famous musicians of all nations (handwriting)

Appreciations

The Michael Henkel street in Fulda is named after him.

literature

• Axel Beer : Music wrested from the past . In: Fulda newspaper. November 19, 1984.
• Axel Beer: Michael Henkel (1780–1851) and the Catholic Church Music in Fulda. In: Church Music Yearbook. 69th year, 1985, pp. 13-22.
• Axel Beer:  Henkel (family). In: Ludwig Finscher (Hrsg.): The music in past and present . Second edition, personal section, volume 8 (Gribenski - Hilverding). Bärenreiter / Metzler, Kassel et al. 2002, ISBN 3-7618-1118-7 , Sp. 1295–1297 ( online edition , subscription required for full access)
• Heinrich Henkel: Communications from Fulda’s musical past. Edited from sources and memories . Commissions-Verlag by Aloys Maier, Fulda 1882.
• Stephanus Hilpisch : On the history of the Fulda cathedral choir . In: Fulda history sheets. Year 1965, pp. 151–161.
• Eduard Krieg: Henkel as a reformer of church singing . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung for Heimatfreunde, 1977, No. 22.
• Michael Mott : Fulda heads. Volume II . Parzellers Buchverlag, Fulda 2011, ISBN 978-3-7900-0442-7 , pp. 108-111.
• Michael Niessner: Michael Henkel, a Fulda composer of the Biedermeier period . Scientific homework for the first state examination for teaching at grammar schools. oO [Fulda?] 1999.
• Thorsten Pirkl: On Michael Henkel's organ work . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 2014, No. 10.
• Gottfried Rehm : Church music ideas Michael Henkel . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 1971, No. 9.
• Gottfried Rehm: The Henkel family of musicians from Fulda . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 1975, No. 16.
• Gottfried Rehm: Michael Henkel's correspondence with Johann Gottfried Vierling . In: Fulda history sheets. Born in 1976, pp. 156–169.
• Gottfried Rehm: Michael Henkel in Schmalkalden . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 1980, No. 23.
• Gottfried Rehm: The chronicle of the families Zahn, Staab and Henkel . In: Fulda history sheets. Born in 1982, pp. 105–122. Supplement in Fuldaer Geschichtsblätter , year 1983, p. 139.
• Gottfried Rehm: Michael and Andreas Henkel as music teachers in Fulda . In: Fulda history sheets. Year 1988, pp. 147–16.
• Gottfried Rehm: Musikantenleben. Contributions to the music history of Fulda and the Rhön in the 18th and 19th centuries . 61. Publication of the Fulda History Association. Parzeller publishing house, Fulda 1997, ISBN 3-7900-0282-8 .
• Paul Rübsam: Timeline of the Fulda music history (1800–1975) . In: beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 1976, No. 16.
• Gustav Schneider: Old Fulda organists . In beech leaves. Supplement to the Fuldaer Zeitung für Heimatfreunde, 1937, No. 3 and 4.

Web links

• Musical life in Fulda 1803–1870
• Article Michael Henkel in the Rhönlexikon , after source Gottfried Rehm: Musikantenleben. Contributions to the music history of Fulda and the Rhön in the 18th and 19th centuries , Fulda 1997
• Sheet music and audio files by Michael Henkel in the International Music Score Library Project

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Overview of the bequests at HLB Fulda ( Memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.