Theodor Kirchner

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Theodor Kirchner, pastel painting by Julie de Boor, 1898

Theodor Fürchtegott Kirchner (born December 10, 1823 in Neukirchen / Erzgeb. , † September 18, 1903 in Hamburg ) was a German composer , conductor , organist and pianist .

Life

Kirchner received piano and organ lessons at an early age. From 1838 he continued his musical training in Leipzig , where he made the acquaintance of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy .

Grave of Theodor Kirchner,
Ohlsdorf Cemetery, Hamburg

After completing his studies, Kirchner entered the newly founded Leipzig Conservatory in 1843 as the first student . In the same year, on Mendelssohn's recommendation, he went to Winterthur , Switzerland, where he took up the position of organist at the local church . At the same time he gave concerts and worked as a music teacher. From 1862 he worked as a conductor in Zurich , where he led the subscription concerts of the Allgemeine Musik-Gesellschaft (AMG). Here he made the acquaintance of Johannes Brahms , with whom he was to become a lifelong friend, as well as Friedrich Hegar . In 1868 he married the singer Maria Schmidt in Zurich. From this marriage three children were born: Emmy (1870-1942), Blanka (* 1871, died three months after birth of cholera) and Theodor (1872-1927). In 1872 he left Switzerland and went back to Germany. Stations of his work are from 1872 Meiningen, where he worked as a music teacher, and one year later Würzburg ; here he held the position of director of the local music school. From 1876 he worked for a few years as a music teacher in Leipzig and in 1883 switched to the Dresden Conservatory. Georg Pittrich was one of his students there . In 1890 Kirchner went to Hamburg, where he became almost blind and died paralyzed from several strokes in 1903.

His financial circumstances were very bad all his life. In 1884 a fundraising campaign was initiated for him, in which Edvard Grieg , Hans von Bülow and Carl Reinecke , among others , took part. The proceeds were invested and the interest was made available to Kirchner for his livelihood. However, as in previous years, his friend Johannes Brahms continued to support him financially.

Theodor Kirchner was buried in the Ohlsdorfer Friedhof in Hamburg, grid square Z 8 (south of Chapel 8).

Act

Theodor Kirchner was a very productive composer. His work is very diverse and complex. As a composer, he eschewed large forms and gave his best in expressive character pieces. The piano works alone comprise over 1,000 compositions. He also arranged a large number of the works of Schumann and Brahms for the piano. He also wrote arrangements for pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven , Edvard Grieg, Joseph Haydn , Franz Schubert and many others. He is considered the main representative of the romantic piano miniatures .

Works

piano

  • Ten Piano Pieces op.2
  • Greetings to my friends. Five piano pieces op.5
  • Album sheets. Nine piano pieces op.7
  • Scherzo op.8
  • Preludes op.9
  • Sketches. Small Piano Pieces op.11
  • Adagio quasi Fantasia op.12
  • Songs without words. 7 piano pieces op.13
  • Nine Fantasy Pieces op.14
  • Small fun and tragedy games. Twelve Piano Pieces op.16
  • New Bundestag dances. Twelve Character Pieces, Op. 17
  • Legends. Nine poems op.18
  • Ten piano pieces based on his own songs, Op. 19
  • Watercolors. 12 piano pieces op.21
  • Eight romances op.22
  • Twelve Waltzes op.23
  • Still and moving. 8 piano pieces op.24
  • Night pictures. 10 character pieces op.25
  • Album for piano. 12 small pieces op.26
  • Caprices op.27
  • Nocturne. 4 pieces for piano op.28
  • From my sketchbook. 6 pieces op.29
  • 25 Studies and Pieces op.30
  • In the twilight. Songs and Dances op.31
  • From dreary days. 10 pieces op.32
  • Ideals. 5 piano pieces op.33
  • Seven Waltzes op.34
  • Toys. 14 easy piano pieces op.35
  • Fantasies on the piano op.36
  • Four elegies op.37
  • Twelve Etudes op.38
  • Village stories. 14 piano pieces op.39
  • Blown leaves. 6 piano pieces op.41
  • Mazurkas. 7 pieces op.42
  • Four polonaises op.43
  • Flowers to the bouquet. 10 piano pieces op.44
  • Six Piano Pieces op.45
  • Thirty children's and artist dances op.46
  • Pen drawings. 9 piano pieces op.47
  • Six humoresques op.48
  • New album sheets. 20 character pieces op.49
  • To Stephen Heller. 12 piano pieces op.51
  • A new piano book. 12 piano pieces op.52
  • Echoes. Florestan and Eusebius. 6 piano pieces op.53
  • Scherzo op.54
  • New Children's Scenes, Op. 55
  • In quiet hours. 10 piano pieces op.56
  • Twelve original compositions for piano four hands, op.57
  • Pieces for grandchildren op. 58b [piano version of the children's trios op. 58] (first printed in 1994)
  • Chats on the piano. 25 pieces op.60
  • Six Character Pieces op.61
  • Miniatures. 15 easy pieces, op.62
  • Gavottes, Minuets and Lyric Pieces op.64
  • Sixty preludes op.65
  • Darlings of the youth. 30 small studies for piano based on old folk and children's songs op.66
  • Five Sonatinas op.70
  • Hundred Little Studies, Op. 71
  • Silent songs and dances op.72
  • Romantic stories. 20 piano pieces op.73
  • Old memories. 12 pieces op.74
  • Nine piano pieces op.75
  • Reflexes. 6 Waltz op.76
  • Polonaise, waltz and landlord. 20 piano pieces op.77
  • Les Mois de l'année. 12 small piano pieces in cabinet format op.78
  • Album sheets. New episode. 9 small piano pieces op.80
  • Memorial sheets. 12 pieces of music op.82
  • Colorful leaves. 12 pieces op. 83 [German edition of op. 78]
  • Variations on an own theme for two pianos, Op. 85
  • Seven Waltzes for Two Pianos, Op. 86
  • Eight Notturnos op.87
  • From the youth. 10 small pieces op.88
  • Two marches for piano four hands op.94
  • Confidences. 18 piano pieces op.96
  • Cloud images. 27 pieces op.100 (first edition 2007)
  • Reminder sheets. 4 small pieces, op.101
  • Six waltzes for piano, four and two hands op. 104 and op. 104b
  • 36 rhythmic and melodic studies op.105
  • Preparatory studies. As an introduction to the works of the newest masters op.106
  • Etude in: Ein Studienwerk. Caprices, Etudes and Piano Pieces of Various Characters (Rózsavölgyi, 1879) WoO
  • Two studies in: Lebert and Stark, Piano School, Vol. 4 (Cotta, 1901) WoO

organ

  • Organ work op.89

Songs

  • Ten songs op.1
  • Girl songs op.3
  • Four songs op.4
  • Four songs op.6
  • Two kings. Ballad op.10
  • Three songs based on texts by FvHolstein op.40
  • Six songs based on texts by Victor Blüthgen op.50
  • Love Awakening op.67
  • Nearness of the Beloved op.68
  • Six songs, op.81
  • I wander through the silent night op.95
  • Heinrich IV. In the courtyard of Canossa. Ballad op.102
  • A beautiful star goes to op.103
  • Please: Because on me WoO
  • Prize song: You wonderful sweet child WoO
  • Lullaby: Eia popeia WoO

Choir

  • Four poems by Goethe for male choir op.69 (new edition Berlin 2013)
  • Folksongs for mixed choir op.93

Chamber music

  • Serenade for piano, violin and violoncello op.15
  • String Quartet op.20
  • Children's trios for piano, violin and violoncello op.58
  • Novelets for piano, violin and violoncello op.59
  • Romance and slumber song for violin and piano op.63
  • Eight pieces for violoncello (or viola, or violin) and piano op.79
  • Colorful sheets for piano, violin and violoncello op.83
  • Piano quartet in C minor op.84
  • Twelve Fantasy Pieces for Violin and Piano op.90
  • Two performance pieces for violin and organ op.91
  • Two clay pieces for violoncello and organ op.92
  • Two Terzets op.97
  • Serenade for piano, violin and violoncello in E major WoO
  • Just drops. Very small pieces for string quartet WoO
  • Three string quartet movements op. Post.

A complete edition of Theodor Kirchner's works is published by Amadeus Verlag , Winterthur.

literature

  • Sigfrid Karg-Elert : Theodor Kirchner. A necrology . In: Die Musik-Woche , vol. 38, 1903, pp. 367–369
  • Otto Klauwell : Theodor Kirchner, a grand master of musical cabaret . Beyer, Langensalza 1909
  • Theodor Kirchner: Letters from the years 1860–1868 . Hug in Komm., Zurich 1949
  • Reinhold Sietz: Theodor Kirchner, a piano master of German Romanticism . Bosse, Regensburg 1971
  • Renate Hofmann (Ed.): Clara Schumann's letters to Theodor Kirchner, with a life sketch of the composer . Schneider, Tutzing 1996
  • Anton Würz :  Kirchner, Theodor. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 663 f. ( Digitized version ).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pfitzinger, Scott: A Compendium of Composers, Their Teachers, and Their Students . [A compendium of composers, their teachers and their students - English edition] Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Landham, Boulder, New, York, London 2017, p. 284; ISBN 978-1-4422-7225-5
  2. ↑ Celebrity Graves
personal data
SURNAME Kirchner, Theodor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kirchner, Theodor Fürchtegott (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German composer, conductor, organist and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH December 10, 1823
PLACE OF BIRTH Neukirchen / Erzgeb.
DATE OF DEATH September 18, 1903
Place of death Hamburg