Elias Parish Alvars

Elias Parish Alvars ( born February 28, 1808 in Teignmouth, Devonshire, † January 25, 1849 in Vienna ) was an English harpist and composer.

Life

Elias Parish Alvars, actually Eli Parish, was born as the son of an organist. Harp he learned at Robert Nicolas -Charles Bochsa. An attempt to be recorded in 1822 at the Royal Academy of Music, the newly founded failed. In 1828, he took with Maximilian Josef Leidesdorf in Florence composition lessons.

1831 undertook Parish Alvars a concert tour to Germany (eg to Bremen and Hamburg), 1832, he traveled at the invitation of the Russian ambassador to Constantinople Opel. 1834 was followed by another concert tour to Italy. In 1836 he moved to Vienna, where he became friends with Carl Czerny, composition studies at Simon Sechter business and worked as a soloist at the Court Opera. There he married Melanie Lewy († 1857), a colleague from the Viennese court orchestra. In the following years he took time to travel extensively, including in the Near East, Naples, Milan, London, Prague, Berlin and Gotha. In 1846 he graduated in Leipzig Felix Mendelssohn acquaintance. In 1847 he was appointed in Vienna to the imperial chamber virtuoso. His tomb is located on the St. Marx Cemetery.

Importance

Parish Alvars enjoyed as a harp virtuoso an international reputation. He was one of the first who used the new possibilities of the double -action pedal harp successfully, and set new standards in the development of modern technique on this instrument. The French composer Hector Berlioz wrote of him:

In the " Wiener Allgemeine Musik-Zeitung " one reads in a critique at a given on January 2, 1848 Concert:

In Vienna Liesing ( 23rd district ) the Alvarsgasse is named in his honor since 1954.

Work

Parish Alvars composed especially for his instrument, including four concertos for harp and orchestra, a Concertino for Two Harps and Orchestra as well as numerous fantasies, variations, transcriptions and study works. But he also wrote a symphony in E minor (1845 ). His style is influenced by the contemporary Italian opera, but also took on influences of Felix Mendelssohn. Voyage d'un Harpiste en Orient, Op 62 for solo harp processed Turkish and Greek melodies he had met on his travels.