F.L.Æ. Kunzen
Friedrich Ludwig Æmilius Kunzen (* September 24, 1761 in Lübeck, † January 28, 1817 ) was a German composer and conductor who worked mainly in Denmark.
Life and work
Kunzen came from a family of musicians; his grandfather Johann Paul Kunzen like his father Adolf Karl Kunzen was organist at the Marienkirche in Lübeck. In 1781 he began studying law at the University of Kiel. However, his inclination was the music, and encouraged by Johann Abraham Peter Schulz and Carl Friedrich Cramer, he moved to Copenhagen in 1785 to devote himself to a musical career.
He initially joined on as a harpsichordist and pianist at the Danish court. His first success as a composer came with a memory cantata for Count Otto Thott and the wedding music for the wedding of Princess Louise Auguste Duke Friedrich Christian II (Schleswig -Holstein -Sonderburg- Augustenburg ) as well as compositions for the theater. In 1788 he met the young poet Jens Baggesen, and both created their opera Holger Danske. The premiere of this first opera created in Denmark in 1789 led to the so-called Holger feud, a literary and social theater feud, which resulted in Kunzen temporarily left Denmark.
The next two years lived Kunzen in Berlin, where Johann Friedrich Reichardt its supposed, with which he 1791, the magazine Musical weekly paper published, and then from 1792 to 1794 in Frankfurt am Main as music director of the new National Theatre, where among other things he Mozart Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute brought to the performance. It was here in 1793 with a libretto by Johann Jakob Ihlee ( 1762-1827 ), the opera The Vintage (also the Feast of vintners, or Who leads the bride home ), Kunzen greatest success. In particular, the wine, the wine is worth gold in the 19th century had almost folk-song character. In Frankfurt he married Johanna Margaretha Antonetta Zuccarini (1766-1842), one of the well-known stand opera singers of her time. In 1794 they moved to Prague, where he worked as an opera director. The following year he received the appointment as music director of the Royal Orchestra in Copenhagen to succeed his mentor Johann Abraham Peter Schulz, which he accepted immediately, so that he lived again in Copenhagen from 1795.
He continued to compose music for the court opportunity, the oratory Opstandelsen (Resurrection, 1796), the opera Erik Ejegod (1798 ), and various " Hymns " and singing games. In 1809 he was appointed professor in 1811 and a Knight of the Dannebrog and a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
On January 28, 1817, he died of a stroke. At his death he was in a bitter dispute with Jens Baggesen involved over plagiarism allegations regarding the opera Trylleharpen ( Magic Harp ). The opera of 1806 was also listed on German in Vienna and Hamburg under the title of Ossian harp, but without success.
Kunzen Hallelujah of Creation, which he had composed in 1796, two years before Haydn's Creation and that premiered in 1799 in Lübeck, was published in 1802 printed, was one of the most common works of the choral literature at the beginning of the 19th century. Nevertheless, he was soon largely forgotten after his death. A 2005 cpo ( a specialized first recordings of German classical label) brought out recording of his Symphony in G minor, made him in musicology and classical music fans known again. In November 2011, he dedicated the Musikhochschule Lübeck symposium.