Otto Nicolai

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Josef Kriehuber : Otto Nicolai, lithograph (1842)
Nicolai's signature (Ottone Nicolai)

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (born June 9, 1810 in Königsberg i. Pr. , † May 11, 1849 in Berlin ) was a German composer and conductor . During his engagement in Vienna he initiated the “Philharmonic Concerts” and in this way founded the Vienna Philharmonic . He was best known for his opera The funny women of Windsor .

education

Otto Nicolai was born in Königsberg not far from the Steindammer Church and was baptized in this church on June 21, 1810. He was the first born child of Carl Ernst Daniel Nicolai (1785-1857) and Christiane Wilhelmine Lauber (1782-1854). After his parents separated early on, Otto first came to foster parents, a family of piano makers; at times he also lived with his uncle Ehrenfried. The father then married for the second time and took his son back into the new family, which expanded in 1826 with the birth of Nicolai's half-sister Cassandra.

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (1843)
Prussian embassy in the Palazzo Caffarelli
Vienna Court Opera in the Theater am Kärntnertor
Archduke Carl's Palace, Nicolai's residence in Vienna 1842
Opera House Berlin 1844
Old Cathedral Berlin, interior

Since August 6, 1819 Nicolai attended the Collegium Fridericianum . He received his first music lessons from his despotic father. The father tried with great severity and also corporal punishment to turn his highly talented son into a musical child prodigy in order to exploit him to gain fame and money himself. At the beginning of 1826 Otto Nicolai escaped successfully from his parents' home after a few unsuccessful attempts and initially found refuge in Stargard with the division auditor August Adler, who took him in like a son and sent him to Berlin to study at the age of 17. At the age of twenty he entered the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin (in the local performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion on March 27, 1831, he sang the bass part of Jesus), the Younger and Older Liedertafel and the “Lieder-Verein Berlin” 1829 “(from February to October 1830). These memberships had a very formative effect on his further life. This gave him valuable acquaintances such as u. a. with Friedrich Schleiermacher , August Hoffmann von Fallersleben , Georg Poelchau and the Mendelssohn family . Nicolai completed his studies from 1827 to 1830 at the Royal Institute for Church Music with Bernhard Klein (composition), Emil Fischer (singing), Ludwig Berger (piano).

Employment in Rome, Vienna and Berlin

In 1833 he then applied for the position of organist at the Prussian Legation Chapel in Rome, which had just become vacant , which was also awarded to him on the recommendation of Carl Friedrich Rungenhagen . There he was supposed to “complete his development as a composer in the field of sacred music.” Like all educated German musicians at the time, he thought little of contemporary Italian opera. However, his travel letters from Italy document that he became more and more a convert when he saw in Italy the great emotional impact this type of music had on audiences. He also expressed his enthusiasm in a programmatic article that he sent Robert Schumann for publication in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik . In Rome he made contact with Fortunato Santini and Giuseppe Baini , with whom he also enjoyed regular lessons from June 1835. At this time he was intensively involved with the works of Palestrina and other old Italian masters. As early as April 1, 1836, he resigned his office at the legation chapel. In the following years Nicolai traveled through northern Italy , took a. a. Contact with Gaetano Donizetti and Saverio Mercadante and tried himself as a composer of Italian operas.

In 1837 Otto Nicolai moved to Vienna's Kärntnertortheater as Kapellmeister alongside Conradin Kreutzer for a year , but returned to Italy in 1838 and devoted himself again to composing operas. In 1840 he achieved global success with Il templario, according to the terms of the time, which immediately earned him two further opera commissions. When he accepted the commission for Il proscritto for La Scala in Milan in the fall of 1840 , he was engaged to the singer Erminia Frezzolini . At the premiere, she was already married to the tenor Antonio Poggi. Probably out of frustration, she torpedoed the premiere by only hinting at her part like a dress rehearsal. Nicolai was so upset about this that he immediately accepted the offer to conduct his Templario in Vienna after Easter 1841 . The success was overwhelming, so that he was offered the position of 1st Kapellmeister at the Vienna Court Opera . At first Nicolai was in doubt whether he should settle in Vienna, especially since he had already taken on another contract for Turin in autumn 1841, but then decided on the economically more secure position in Vienna. With the orchestra of the Kärntnertortheater he founded the Philharmonic Concerts in 1842 and with it the Vienna Philharmonic .

The Viennese position was also connected with the obligation to compose operas. Nicolai searched for a long time for a suitable libretto. Finally he decided to edit his Proscritto . What began as a simple attempt at a German translation ended in a thorough revision in which the music was largely newly composed. In this guise, the opera The Homecoming of the Exile was very successful in Vienna; no less a person than Hector Berlioz , who heard the work there, then counted Nicolai among the most important opera composers of his time. The pater noster, dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. And the festival overture on the theme of the chorale A strong castle is our God for the 300th anniversary of the University of Königsberg gradually re-established relations with Berlin. When, after a dispute with Carlo Balochino, the tenant of the court opera, Nicolai's contract as Kapellmeister in Vienna was not extended, he followed the call to the Prussian capital in 1847, where he was appointed conductor of the Royal Cathedral Choir and Kapellmeister of the Royal Opera . As a condition, he had negotiated that he could make his debut in this office when he returned home . He then revised the work once more after the Merry Wives of Windsor had been completed and now called it The Exile . The outbreak of the revolution in 1848 prevented the first performance under his direction. And since Nicolai had played and sung the Merry Wives to the King in Potsdam , their premiere was brought forward in early 1849. The exile only followed posthumously in autumn 1849 as part of a gala performance in honor of the Queen's birthday. To do this, strict time requirements had to be adhered to, which forced the conductor Heinrich Dorn to make extensive lines that distorted the work. Passages that Nicolai had composed especially for Berlin and that are still waiting for their world premiere were deleted. In addition to operas, Nicolai also composed numerous songs, sacred and secular choral works.

On the afternoon of May 11, 1849, Nicolai died of a cerebral haemorrhage. The news that the Prussian Academy of Arts had elected him a full member did not reach him. The king himself attended the funeral service and had the coffin transported in his carriage to Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof II in Liesenstrasse , where he was buried (field E). In 1851 the grave slab donated by the Berliner Tonkünstler-Verein was placed. In order to secure the preservation of the grave, the directorate of the Royal Drama bought the grave in 1907. Since the end of 1956 it has been cared for as an honorary grave for the city of Berlin.

reception

Nicolai's best-known work to this day has remained The Funny Wives of Windsor , which, together with Albert Lortzing's operas, are considered the paradigm of German opera. The modern premieres of Il templario and The Homecoming of the Banished (Chemnitz 2008 and 2011) have shown, however, that Nicolai's ability and importance are underestimated. Il templario is (as demonstrated by the Salzburg Festival in 2016 ) a veritable bel canto opera, which, together with Saverio Mercadante's La vestale and Giovanni Pacini's Sappho, was one of the three great successes of the Italian opera season in 1840. These formed the framework within which the work of the young Giuseppe Verdi moved. However, Nicolai's performance remained hidden from his contemporaries, as they only saw cheap Kling-sang ( Richard Wagner ) in Italian opera . And with this reservation, the Berlin premiere of the exile also suffered , which was certified that it was simply impossible to turn an Italian into a German opera, not knowing that it was about 15% of the music that was played in Milan in 1840 has been.

In tribute to its founder and the 150th anniversary of the founding, the overture to the opera The Merry Wives of Windsor was performed at the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1992 . 25 years later, the moonrise from this work was on the program for the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 2017 .

Awards

  • 1833 Berlin: Donation of a brilliant ring to Otto Nicolai by King Friedrich Wilhelm III. as a sign of appreciation for music creation
  • 1836 Rome: Honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia
  • 1836 Berlin: Appointment as Royal Prussian Music Director
  • 1836 Bologna: Admission to the Accademia Filarmonica
  • 1839 Vienna: Donation of a precious diamond ring by the Grand Duke of Russia for the dedication of three military marches (personally played with four hands with a music lover)
  • 1840 Milan: After the performance of his opera Il templario at the Teatro alla Scala (stormy outbursts of enthusiasm) he was considered the “ninth” in the series of the greatest Italian opera composers - after Rossini , Bellini , Donizetti, Mercadante, Ricci , Pacini , Coccia and Coppola . He was now jokingly called "Nicolino".
  • 1842 Salzburg: Honorary member of the Mozarteum , Salzburg
  • 1843 Berlin: Great gold medal for art and science
  • 1844 Berlin: Red Eagle Order, fourth class
  • 1845 Königsberg: Donation of a splendid, silver conductor's baton (with the appropriate engraving) by the city of Königsberg (Nicolai's birthplace) as thanks and recognition for his musical commitment on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the University of Königsberg from 27.-31. August 1844. On August 27, 1844 a soiree with a cycle of pieces of music from the opera Der Tempelritter, given by Nicolai in the Stadttheater Königsberg , himself on the piano - as a substitute for the unusual performance of the said musical work, which the theater management in his honor planned, but could not be implemented due to insufficient trial period; on August 28, 1844 his festival overture on the chorale A strong castle is our God; on September 2, 1844 the same music lecture in the castle church - here at the request of the king, as he could not take part in the concert in the cathedral for health reasons
  • 1845 Königsberg: Donation of a golden box and commemorative coin as a thank you from the University of Königsberg for his personal contribution to the 300th anniversary of the University of Königsberg
  • 1846 Berlin: Donation of a “golden tobacco box” by King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. For his Pater Noster op. 33
Burial site (1851)
  • 1849 Berlin: Member of the Royal Prussian Academy of the Arts
  • 1851 Berlin: Dorotheenstädtischer Friedhof II (Liesenstrasse), grave of Otto Nicolai, placement of a gray granite grave slab with gold-plated embossing: wreath and inscription ("Otto Nicolai, born on June 9th, 1810, died on May 11th, 1849") on the side The titles of his 3 most important operas ( The Homecoming of the Exiled, The Knights Templar and The Merry Wives of Windsor ) and the writing (lower page): “Dedicated v. Tonkünstlerverein zu Berlin, 1851 "
  • 1910 Königsberg: Installation of an Otto Nicolai memorial plaque on the house where he was born, at that time Königsberg, Steindamm 277, on the occasion of the 100th birthday party
  • 1910 Königsberg: Life-size bust by the Berlin sculptor Albert Manthe on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday
  • 1910 Berlin: memorial plaque on Nicolai's last house in Berlin on the occasion of the composer's 100th birthday
Otto Nicolai lived here in his last lifetime - memorial plaque at the Metropoltheater ( Behrenstraße 57)
  • 1931 Berlin: Renaming of a traffic route in the Berlin-Lankwitz district (composers' quarter ) to "Nicolaistraße"
  • 1932 Königsberg: Fire-gilded, life-size Otto Nicolai bronze bust by the sculptor Franz Andreas Threyne (professor at the Königsberg Art College); 1936 solemnly unveiled in the first tier in the Königsberg opera house; Destroyed in a bombing night in 1944
  • 1942 Vienna: Attachment of the "Otto Nicolai memorial plaque" - on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Vienna Philharmonic - at the city ​​palace of Archduke Karl in Vienna, Seilerstätte 30 (House of Music / Sound Museum)
  • 1942 Vienna: Foundation of the Nicolai Medal (in silver and gold) of the Vienna Philharmonic (honors in gold including Carl Schuricht , Karl Böhm , Leonard Bernstein , Gerhart Hauptmann , Wilhelm Furtwängler )
  • 1956 Berlin: Otto Nicolai grave was taken over and maintained by the city of Berlin as an "honor grave"
  • 1992 Vienna: Issuance of the Austrian "Otto Nicolai commemorative coin", 100 schillings in silver - on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the foundation of the "Vienna Philharmonic"
  • 2000 Vienna: The House of Music (Museum of the Vienna Philharmonic) in Vienna with a life-size wax figure of the composer opens in Nicolai's former home
  • 2010 Vienna: The "Otto Nicolai memorial star" was placed on the sidewalk in front of the House of Music in Vienna
  • 2010 Königsberg / Kaliningrad : Installation of the "Otto Nicolai memorial plaque" (Foundation of the Vienna Philharmonic) - on the occasion of his 200th birthday - at the Königsberg Cathedral (portal area) as part of a large gala concert by the Vienna Philharmonic in the cathedral (music excerpt, played by the cathedral organist Artjom Chatschaturow , from the ecclesiastical festival overture on the chorale Ein'fest Burg ist Unser Gott op.31)
  • 2017 Vienna: Issuance of the Austrian commemorative coin “ Vienna Philharmonic ” in silver with a value of 20 euros on the occasion of the 175th birthday of the Vienna Philharmonic, a. a. with a portrait of Nicolai, who founded the orchestra in 1842

Works

Operas

  • La figlia abbandonata ( The Forsaken Daughter ); Libretto: stub, fragment; Milan 1837; from this partial concert performance of the quintet, Milan 1837
  • Enrico secondo ( Heinrich II ), melodrama, 2 acts; Libretto: Felice Romani ; 1837/38, premiere : November 26, 1839 in Trieste, Teatro Grande ; originally Rosamonda d'Inghilterra (Rosamund from England)
  • Il templario ( The Templar ), melodrama, 3 acts; Libretto: Girolamo Maria Marini, based on Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe , 1839/40; Premiere: February 11, 1840 in Turin, Teatro Regio , as Teodosia; Premiere: 1843 in Naples; German translation 1845 by Siegfried Kapper , as a Knight Templar, tragic opera, 3 acts, EA : December 20, 1845 in Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor . Arevision plannedby Wilhelm Hanke and Max Loy (on behalf of the Reich Office for Music Processing) as Die Sarazenerin could no longer be carried out due to the war. Modern premiere of the original version in 2008 in Chemnitz.
  • Gildippe ed Odoardo (Gildippe is the wife of Baron Eduard), melodrama, 3 acts; Libretto: Temistocle Solera ; Premiere: December 26th, 1840 in Genoa, Teatro Regio
  • Proserpina (daughter of Jupiter and Ceres and wife of Pluto, who kidnaps her into the underworld and makes her his wife), opera, 1841, fragment
  • Il proscritto ( The Outlaw ), 1841, melodramma tragico, 3 acts, libretto: Gaetano Rossi ; Premiere: March 13th 1841, Milan, Teatro alla Scala
  • The Return of the Exiled , 1843, tragic opera (based on Il proscritto ); Libretto: Siegfried Kapper; Premiere: February 3, 1844 in Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor . Nicolaiprepareda second version with the title The Banished in 1847/48 (after completing the Lustige Weiber ) for his debut as Kapellmeister at the Royal Opera in Berlin, which, however, was only premiered posthumously in autumn 1849 due to the revolution. An arrangement by Willi Hanke and Max Loy on behalf of the Reichsstelle für Musikverarbeitung was performed in 1941 as Marianna, in 1943 in Berlin, Staatsoper Unter den Linden . Modern premiere (Viennese version) Chemnitz 2011.
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor , comic and fantastic opera, 3 acts, 1845/46; Libretto: Salomon Hermann Mosenthal based on William Shakespeare ; Premiere: March 9, 1849 in Berlin, Court Opera

Symphonies

  • 1st Symphony in C minor (1833)
  • 2nd Symphony in D major (1835, written for a competition in Vienna, revised in 1845)

Orchestral works

  • Christmas overture on the chorale "Vom Himmel hoch" (1833)
  • Fantasia with bravura variations on Norma (Vincenco Bellini) for piano and orchestra op.25
  • Variations brilliant on themes from the opera “La Sonnambula” by Bellini in the arrangement for clarinet and orchestra op. 26
  • Ecclesiastical festival overture on the chorale “A strong castle is our god” for orchestra, choir and organ op. 31, 1844, premiered in 1844 in Königsberg Cathedral under his direction, on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Königsberg University.

Sacred choral works

  • Te Deum for eight solo voices, eight-part choir and orchestra (1832; piano reduction Berlin 1938)
  • Mass No. 1 in D major for four solo voices, four-part choir and orchestra (1832; revised 1844)
  • Graduale de Beata Vergine "Benedicta et venerabilis" for solo voices and choir with orchestra (1834)
  • Psalmus 54 for ten-part double choir a cappella [and organ] (1834; revised 1835/1836)
  • Hymn in Urbis laudem "O Roma nobilis" for male choir a cappella (1835)
  • Pater noster for eight-part a cappella choir, op.33 (1836, Mainz 1846)
  • Offertory in Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virgini's “Assumpta est Maria” for five solo voices and five-part choir, op. 38 (1846, Vienna 1846)
  • Salve regina for mezzo-soprano and orchestra, op.39 (1846, Vienna 1847)
  • The 13th Psalm for eight solo voices, four-part a cappella choir [and piano] (1846)
  • The 98th Psalm for four solo voices, eight-part double choir and orchestra (1847)
  • Liturgy No. 1 for eight-part a cappella choir (1847)
  • Liturgy No. 2 for four-part a cappella choir (1847)
  • The 84th Psalm for eight-part a cappella choir (1st version) or double choir, two trumpets, three trombones and organ (2nd version) (1848)
  • The 100th Psalm for eight-part double choir a cappella (1848)
  • Spruch "Herr, I love" for six solo voices (1848)
  • The 97th Psalm for four-part choir a cappella (1848)
  • The 31st Psalm for eight-part a cappella choir (1849)
  • Glory to God on high for eight-part a cappella choir (Luke 2:14; from Liturgy No. 1 ; F major),
  • The punishment lies on him for eight-part a cappella choir (Isaiah 52.5; end of the 31st Psalm with new text; E flat major)
  • Ecce enim Deus for eight-part choir a cappella (fragment from Psalmus 54 ; previously published in an arrangement for eight solo voices; B flat major)

Secular choral works

  • Prussia's voice (KW Lange) for voice and piano, op.4 (Berlin 1830; arranged for solo, four-part choir, military music corps and orchestra 1848, Berlin 1849)
  • Six four-part songs for soprano, alto, tenor and bass, op.6 (Leipzig 1830)
  • Two canons for four voices and piano ad libitum, op.8 (1833)
  • Different sensations in one place (Goethe) for soprano, 2 tenors, bass and piano, op.9 (around 1830, Halle 1832)
  • Königslieder for four male voices, op. 10 (around 1830–1833)
  • Song at the Round Table (Köppen) for two four-part male choirs (around 1830–1833)
  • Four songs for four male voices, op.17 (around 1832)

Songs and duets

  • If gently of the evening, op. 2a
  • The Shepherd in May / Men's Sense, Op. 3
  • Farewell, op.13
  • Forever yours, op.14
  • How the day creeps up on me / Welcome you God's sun / The swallow, op.15
  • Farewell / To the Distant / Randino / The faithful maiden, Op. 16
  • Sleeping Son of the Heart, op.19
  • Restless love, op.23
  • Il duolo d'amore / Se tranquillo a te d'accanto / Il desiderio al lido, op.24
  • The tear, op.30
  • The sedative / Faithful Bub / storming, storming, you winter wind, op. 34
  • The cuckoo / flea Jammer / You're too small, my Hänselein, Op. 35
  • Autumn song, op.37

Piano works

  • Six danses brilliant
  • Rondo capriccioso
  • Sonata in D minor op.27
  • Moon waltz
  • Etude “Adieu à Liszt”, op. 28
  • 3 Études, op.40

Movie

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Georg Richard Kruse: Otto Nicolai in Stargard. In: Our Pommerland . Issue 11/12, Volume 12, 1927, ZDB -ID 547603-3 , pp. 495-497.
  2. ^ Letter from Otto Nicolai to the Prussian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of May 4, 1836. Quoted from Rettinghaus: Nicolai. P. 47.
  3. ↑ Frezzolini Erminia at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer LexiconTemplate: Operissimo / maintenance / use of parameter 2 .
  4. ↑ Back and forth. In: New magazine for music . 74 (1907), p. 231, col.b ( Scan  - Internet Archive ).
  5. ↑ Honorary graves of the State of Berlin (as of November 2018). (PDF; 413 kB) Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment Berlin , p. 62; accessed on May 9, 2020.
  6. ↑ New Year's Concert: The program for 2017 has been set. In: DiePresse.com . November 15, 2016, accessed November 18, 2016.
  7. ↑ Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung. 2nd year, 1842, p. 556, col. 1/2 ( Scan  - Internet Archive ).
  8. ^ Austrian sheets for literature and art. 2nd year, 1845, p. 64, col. 2, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10498760-9 ( bsb-muenchen.de [accessed on August 10, 2019]).
  9. ^ Austrian sheets for literature and art. 3rd year, 1846, p. 952, column a, urn : nbn: de: bvb: 12-bsb10498761-5 ( bsb-muenchen.de ); -
    New magazine for music . 25 (1846), p. 66.
  10. ↑ Euro coins in Austria. In: oenb.at. Oesterreichische Nationalbank , accessed on March 30, 2017 (with PDF; 13.1 MB; p. 89, PDF-p. 46).
  11. ↑ 20 Euro coin “175 Years of the Vienna Philharmonic”. Austria 2017. Description and data sheet. In: muenzen.eu, accessed on March 30, 2017.
  12. ^ Falstaff in Vienna in the Internet Movie Database (English).
personal data
SURNAME Nicolai, Otto
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Nicolai, Carl Otto Ehrenfried (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer and conductor
DATE OF BIRTH June 9, 1810
PLACE OF BIRTH Koenigsberg i. Pr.
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1849
Place of death Berlin