Otto Neitzel

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Otto Neitzel

Otto Neitzel (born July 6, 1852 in Falkenburg in Pomerania , † March 10, 1920 in Cologne ) was a German composer , pianist , music writer, journalist and university professor . He is a representative of the German piano school of the 19th century.

Life

Otto Neitzel's parents were the teacher Gottfried Neitzel and his wife Louise, geb. Messerschmidt. He was the second child of six siblings, all of whom were musically gifted. Neitzel's sister Helene became a concert singer, his brother Erich became a commercial building officer and composed. As a child prodigy, Otto Neitzel caused a stir at piano concerts in Dramburg , Kallies and Rummelsburg as early as the age of eight . In Berlin the boy's great talent was confirmed by the director of the Sing-Akademie Eduard Grell , the violinist Hubert Ries and the composer Wilhelm Tauber , in Stettin by Carl Loewe . However, the father earned only 15 thalers a month and was therefore unable to bear the costs for the further musical training of his talented son.

From 1865, Bernhard Loeser , who was on his way to becoming a successful tobacco entrepreneur, enabled Otto Neitzel to attend school and study music in Berlin . With that, Neitzel left his closer home in Pomeranian Switzerland forever. Neitzel came to the Joachimsthaler Gymnasium in 1865 as a quartan and took piano lessons at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst with Theodor Kullak and Richard Wüerst . The Friedrich Kiel Society registered him as a student of Friedrich Kiel . From 1873 to 1875 Neitzel was a student of Franz Liszt . In 1875 Neitzel wrote his dissertation The Aesthetic Limits of Programmatic Music in three weeks and was awarded a Dr. phil. PhD. He then accompanied Pauline Lucca and the violinist Pablo de Sarasate on tours as pianist .

In 1878 Neitzel became director of the Strasbourg Music Society . From 1879 to 1881 he was music director at the Strasbourg City Theater and teacher at the Strasbourg Conservatory . Then director Max Erdmannsdörfer recommended him as a teacher at the Moscow Conservatory . There Neitzel followed a call as professor and training teacher in 1881. There he married his student Sophie Romboi, a talented contralto.

In 1885 he was appointed as a teacher at the Cologne Conservatory . In Cologne in 1887 he also took over the music department of the Kölnische Zeitung and worked as a music critic . During this time he made his debut as an opera composer ( Angela , 1887, Halle ad Saale). Open to technical inventions, Neitzel recorded excerpts from Chopin's 2nd piano concerto on the Edison phonograph with Rudolf Ibach & Sohn at Neumarkt in Cologne on January 23, 1890; with it he left one of the oldest preserved music recordings in the world on a wax cylinder. (B)

In the winter of 1906/07 Neitzel was invited to concerts in the United States of America, including piano lectures with explanations, so-called lecture recitals . In Boston and Philadelphia Neitzel played Beethoven's G major concerto under Karl Muck. On February 7th and 8th, 1909 he conducted the 'Ninth' and Beethoven's choral fantasies after Muck was canceled. Due to the success, Muck wanted to persuade Neitzel to conduct, but Neitzel refused. Neitzel tried out another invention for sound recording: around 1910 he recorded Robert Schumann's Davidsbündler Tänze with the Welter grand piano on paper tape rolls. (C)

In the following years Neitzel composed and played tirelessly and worked as a music writer. He came into contact with numerous musical greats of his time, including Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss, for whom he campaigned.

In March 1919 he was appointed a member of the Prussian Academy of the Arts in Berlin.

Neitzel wrote a general opera guide and a work on Richard Wagner's operas. In addition to his own compositions, he created piano arrangements of well-known works, around 1878 the arrangement of Sarasate's Spanish Dances for piano. His book on Saint-Saëns (1891) is also commendable. As a music writer, Neitzel wanted to be stimulating and entertaining, rather than appearing as a scientifically trained critic.

Neitzel died on March 10, 1920. He had four daughters, one of whom had been trained on the piano and another played as a harpist in the orchestra.

The Kölnische Zeitung reported on January 27, 1890 about the last recording session of the Europe Expedition to announce the Edison phonograph on January 23, 1890 in Cologne. a. Neitzel took part: “Mr. Wangemann, the real Edison Apostle, the same one who had the honor of demonstrating his apparatus to the German emperor, honored some local musicians and music lovers with invitations to visit and hear his phonograph set up by Ibach's son on Neumarkt. It seems that this instrument is not always handled with the necessary care; because of the other background noises mentioned above, hardly anything could be felt, especially on the freshly made cylinders. A piano performance recorded on the phonograph produced the most faithful drawing of every nuance and freedom of nuance, every blurred note, every incorrect tone. A gypsy band and a Viennese tenor player were particularly clearly audible from earlier cylinders. The apparatus, which is not shown publicly, was specially set up for the recording of musical lectures. "

Works (selection)

Compositions

  • Musiques pour piano et chant: opus 4, 5, 11, 25-27, 33, 36, 43
  • Life a dream, fantasy for violin and orchestra
  • Fatherland, ode for choir, orchestra and organ

Operas

  • Angela (Opera), Halle 1887
  • Dido (opera), 1888
  • The old Dessauer (Opera), 1889, Wiesbaden
  • The Barbarina (Opera), 1904, Wiesbaden
  • Valhalla in Need , 1905, Bremen
  • The judge of Kaschau (opera), 1916, Darmstadt

Fonts

  • German opera guide. The guide through the German opera , Magnus-Verlag o. J., ISBN 978-3-88400-121-9
  • Richard Wagner's operas. In Text, Musik und Szene , Magnus-Verlag 1983, ISBN 978-3-88400-122-6
  • The guide through the opera of the theater of the present, explaining text, music and scene , 3 volumes, volume 2: Richard Wagner's operas , AG Liebeskind, Leipzig 1890–1893
  • Beethoven's symphonies - explained according to their part content (with numerous musical examples) , Tonger , Cologne 1891

  • title

  • inside

  • Thematic guide through the program of the 69th Niederrheinischen Musikfest , Cologne 1892.
  • Camille Saint-Saëns , Harmonie Verlagsgesellschaft, Berlin 1899
  • Introduction to Hausegger's Zinnober , Ahn, Cologne 1898
  • (with L. Riemann), music aesthetic considerations , Breitkopf and Härtel, Leipzig 1907, 3rd edition: 1909
  • From my musician's portfolio - Ernstes and Heiteres , Loesdau, Berlin 1914 (Rev. A, p. 27)
  • The guide through the Deutsche Oper , Cotta, Stuttgart 1920.

Sound carrier

  • Edison phonograph wax cylinder: January 23, 1890, with Rudolf Ibach und Sohn am Neumarkt in Cologne, 1.24 min., Recording by Adelbert Theodor Wangemann, excerpts from 3rd movement “Piano Concerto No2” in F minor, Frederic Chopin, Thomas Edison National Historical Park, West Orange, NJ, USA. (Rev.B)
  • Welter grand piano: 2 paper tape rolls, approx. 1910, approx. 5 min. Each, “Davidsbündler Tänze”, Robert Schumann, Musikinstrumentenmuseum Berlin, Germany. (Rev. C)

literature

Web links

Commons : Otto Neitzel  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Otto Neitzel in the database of the Akademie der Künste
  2. ^ University of Rochester Items for Author Neitzel, Otto
  3. ↑ cutout Archives of Berlin Federal Archives, inventory R 4701 reichspostministerium: Act 5578, phonograph, 1878-1919 (Rev.D).
personal data
SURNAME Neitzel, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, pianist, music writer and university lecturer
DATE OF BIRTH July 6, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Falkenburg
DATE OF DEATH March 10, 1920
Place of death Cologne