Wenzel Gährich

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Wenzel Gährich (born September 16, 1794 in Zerwitz , Bohemia , † September 15, 1864 in Berlin ) was a German violinist , conductor and composer .

Life

The son of poor parents attended school in his hometown until the age of 12, where he also received singing and instrumental lessons (violin). From 1806 he attended the Piarist grammar school in Prague and at the age of 16 was employed in the accounting department of the iron mining industry. Three years later he went to Leipzig to Jura to study. To finance it, he gave music lessons and eventually became a violinist with the Leipzig Theater Orchestra . Around 1825 he was employed as a chamber musician and violinist with the royal orchestra in Berlin, where he switched to the viola. In 1832 he became a symphony conductor and in 1845 a ballet conductor at the Royal Opera. In the 1840s he also headed the Potsdam Philharmonic Society .

As early as 1818 he published a collection of dances for pianoforte for four hands; From 1832 symphonies and compositions for ballet followed (especially for François Michel Hoguet and Paul Taglioni ), and songs, other dances and marches, chamber music, operetta melodies, church music and much more. Two operas (Singspiele) composed by him are only mentioned as manuscripts. The overture to the Singspiel "Die Creolin" was performed at a concert in Berlin in 1841 and was positively assessed. Gährich's vaudeville music was very well received on the occasion of its repeated performances in the Königstädter Theater Berlin.

Wenzel Gährich's son Georg was a student of Wilhelm Taubert in Berlin. He performed as a pianist, violist and singer (bassist) and in 1843 was employed as a chamber musician by the Royal Chapel in Berlin.

Works (selection)

Operas

  • The creolin ; circa 1840; Manuscript (overture performed in Berlin in 1841 as part of a concert).
  • The privateer ; circa 1840; Manuscript; Text by GA Becker.

Ballet music

  • The pirate based on Lord Byron's The Corsair (choreography: Paul Taglioni ), premiere: September 18, 1838, Berlin
  • Don Quixote (Choreography: Paul Taglioni), Premiere: March 19, 1839, Berlin
  • Die Insel der Liebe, or: The Unworkable Law (Choreography: Paul Taglioni), premiere: March 2nd, 1844, Berlin
  • The amorous village tailor , divertissement ; Text: Toni Stullmüller, premiere: June 6, 1844, Berlin
  • The Interrupted Wedding (Choreography: François Michel Hoguet ), Premiere: September 10, 1845, Berlin
  • The Turkish Doctor (Choreography: François Michel Hoguet), Premiere: December 8th, 1846, Berlin
  • Paul and Virginie (choreography: François Michel Hoguet, based on Pierre Gardel ), premiere: March 13, 1848, Berlin
  • Aladin, or The Magic Lamp (Choreography: François Michel Hoguet), premiere: March 19, 1854, Berlin
  • The women cure (Choreography: Adolphe Adam )
  • Harlequin on the Christmas market , children's ballet

Vaudeville music

  • One hundred thousand thalers , farce with singing (text: David Kalisch ), Berlin 1848, premiere: December 23, 1847
  • Mr. Caroline , Vaudeville Posse in 1 section by David Kalisch, partly composed, partly arranged; Premiere: October 26, 1847, Königstädter Theater Berlin
  • Baron Schultze , Berlin Vaudeville Posse in 1 department of David Kalisch; WP: Hamburg, under the title “Ein Landstand”; November 25, 1847, Königstädter Theater Berlin ( Ein Landstand (text book: A. Heinrich v. H. Michaelson), [Berlin] undated)

Dances and marches

  • The practice camp at Adrianople , performed by 100 musicians under Gährich's direction: Kroll'scher Wintergarten Berlin, August 1844

Instrumental compositions

  • Symphony No. 1 for large orchestra in E flat major, op. 1. Breitkopf & Härtl, Leipzig
  • Concertino for viola and orchestra in G minor, op.2. Breitkopf & Härtl, Leipzig 1831
  • Symphony No. 2 for orchestra and pianoforte in D major, op.3. Breitkopf & Härtl, Leipzig 1831
  • Rondo and Variations, [clarinet] duo, around 1841

Church music

  • The 122nd psalm
  • Fear not , motet for soprano, alto, tenor and bass (text: Isaiah 43,1)
  • Prayer: Our Father, who is love , for 2 tenors and 2 basses; WP: Garrison Church Berlin
  • Salvum fac Regem , for 4 male voices. Kressner, Frankfurt an der Oder 1856
  • Praise and thanks to the gentleman , from H. Liesen, for tenor and bass with the accompaniment of the obl. Bass trombone. June 18, 1839, Werder'sche Kirche Berlin

Cantatas and songs

  • Festive cantata for male voices, solo, choir and orchestra, for the 100th anniversary of the foundation celebration of the lodge to the three globes in Berlin in 1840
  • Cantata on the apotheosis of King Friedrich Wilhelm III. , Philharmonic Society of Potsdam, 1843, conductor: W. Gährich
  • Jubilee cantata for August 17th, eighteen hundred and fifty-five , [Berlin] 1855
  • Table song for August 17th, eighteen hundred and fifty-five , [Berlin] 1855

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Athenaeum. Journal for educated Germany. No. 9, Berlin, February 27, 1841, p. 141: (...) the concert by the chamber musician Gährich deserves a special mention. In it we hear the overture to his new opera: the Creolin; it is well worked, full of effects, and suggests the whole thing advantageously. The cantatas of homage appealed to us less. They were too very casual. The concert giver's son, a pupil of Taubert, proved himself to be a talented pianist.
  2. ↑ JP Dollinger (Ed.): Allgemeine Theaterzeitung, original journal for art, literature, music, fashion and social life, 14th year, No. 295, December 10th, 1847, p. 1180
  3. ↑ Ledebur (1861), p. 178
  4. ↑ Athenaeum (1841), p. 266
  5. ↑ Athenaeum (1841), p. 718
  6. ↑ di Anton Stullmüller (Vienna 1804-1871 Berlin), actor and solo dancer at the Berlin Court Theater
  7. ↑ Berliner Musikalische Zeitung, No. 32, August 31, 1844, p. 3
personal data
SURNAME Gährich, Wenceslaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German violinist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH September 16, 1794
PLACE OF BIRTH Zerwitz, Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH September 15, 1864
Place of death Berlin