Robert Hausmann

Robert Hausmann (born August 13, 1852 in Rottleberode ; † January 18, 1909 in Vienna ) was a German cellist and university professor.

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Hausmann's paternal grandfather was Friedrich Ludwig Hausmann (1782-1859), professor of mineralogy at the University of Göttingen . His father Friedrich Ludolf Hausmann (1810–1880) was also a mineralogist.

Hausmann began his cello studies in 1861, initially with Theodor August Müller in Braunschweig, the cellist of the Gebrüder Müller Quartet, and from 1867 moved to his nephew Wilhelm Müller in Berlin. Hausmann then completed his studies in 1869 as a student of Alfredo Piatti in London. After his return in 1872, he initially received an engagement in the Dresden quartet of Count Bolko Hochberg , before, after the quartet was dissolved in 1876, he received a lecturer position as the successor to his former teacher Wilhelm Müller at the Royal University of Music in Berlin . Here Hausmann was promoted to Royal Professor in 1884. His numerous students included Hugo Dechert, Otto Lüdemann, Philipp Roth and Friedrich Ernst Koch . In addition, Hausmann was contracted by the well-known Berlin concert agency Hermann Wolff in 1889 and referred to as solo cellist in their concert advertisements, an award that only seven cellists received in 1889: alongside Hausmann were Lucy Campbell, Hugo Becker , Heinrich Grünfeld , Julius Klengel , Alwin Schroeder and Adeline Hanf-Metzdorff there under contract.

Joachim Quartet with (from left to right): Robert Hausmann, Joseph Joachim, Emanuel Wirth and Carl Halir.

The Joachim Quartet in 1884. Above: Robert Hausmann, below de Ahna and Wirth, below Joachim

During his time in Berlin, Hausmann maintained friendly contact with his rector Joseph Joachim , who from 1879 appointed him as a cellist in the "Joachim Quartet" named after him. With this quartet, which, in addition to himself and Joachim, also included Heinrich de Ahna (since 1897 Carl Halir ) and Emanuel Wirth , he celebrated national and international successes and was part of his permanent line-up until its dissolution after Joachim's death in 1907.

On one of his numerous tours through Europe, Hausmann got to know and appreciate Johannes Brahms in Vienna in 1885 . He, in turn, was so convinced of Hausmann's musical abilities that he dedicated the Cello Sonata No. 2 in F major op.99 to him and commissioned him to perform its premiere on November 24, 1886 in Vienna, as well as the premiere of the double concerto in a- Moll op.102 on October 18, 1887 in Cologne with Joseph Joachim (violin) and with Brahms as conductor, as well as the performance of the clarinet trio in A minor op.114 on December 12, 1891 with Brahms at the piano and the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld . 1892 Performance of the concert of the piano trio in D minor op. 63 by Robert Schumann with Joseph Joachim (violin) and Julie von Asten (piano) in Berlin. Even Max Bruch , the Cello Concerto "wrote already ten years earlier for home Kol Nidrei " in D minor, op. 47, which he had then in 1881 also premiered. In addition, Hausmann published his own interpretation of the suites by Johann Sebastian Bach , the two cello sonatas op. 45 and op. 58 as well as the "Variations Concertantes" op. 17 by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and a version of the fairy tale pictures transcribed on cello and piano ( Fairy Tales) op. 113 by Robert Schumann, originally written for viola and piano.

Joachim Quartet

Hausmann, who played a “ Stradivarius ” bequeathed to him by his uncle Georg , was respected as a cellist for his clear and straightforward interpretations, for his good tone and technical perfection and less for virtuoso tricks. In an obituary after his death, Wilhelm Spemann's “Golden Book of Music”, Berlin and Stuttgart 1909, stated that “Hausmann is one of the rare artists whose lectures one never thinks about the execution, but always about the matter. His technical ability is hardly inferior to that of the great virtuosos, but it is always the musician who comes to the fore with Hausmann. Therefore, even as a soloist, as which he had great success in Germany and England, he always limited himself to the really substantial part of the cello literature. "

Hausmann had been married to Helene von Maybach, daughter of the Prussian Trade Minister Albert von Maybach , since 1894 .

Robert and Helene Hausmann were buried in the old St. Matthäus-Kirchhof in Berlin-Schöneberg, the grave stele was adorned (leveled) with a portrait relief of Robert Hausmann by Adolf (von) Hildebrand. The tomb of father-in-law v. Maybach.

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personal data
SURNAME	Hausmann, Robert
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German cellist and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH	August 13, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rottleberode
DATE OF DEATH	January 18, 1909
Place of death	Vienna