Friedrich Curschmann

Carl Friedrich Curschmann ( born June 21, 1805 in Berlin, † August 24 1841 in Long Fuhr, now part of Gdansk / Poland ) was a German composer and singer.

Life

Although Curschmann already discovered as a schoolboy his talent as a singer, he initially began in 1824 to study law in Berlin and Göttingen, but then decided yet for a life as a musician. For this purpose he went to Kassel and was mediated by Louis Spohr, in his former pupil Moritz Hauptmann theory lessons. Curschmann became famous initially by church compositions, he had success but also with the 1828 listed in the Electoral Court Theatre and Operetta Abdul Erinnieh or the dead.

After four years in Kassel Curschmann returned to Berlin, where he did not need a day job thanks to the financial circumstances of his family. With only a few interruptions, he lived since 1837 with Rose Behrend, daughter of Danzig Kommerzienrat and herself a singer, married in Berlin and was very active in the Berlin music scene. He was a member of the Academy of Music since 1836. With his then manager Eduard Grell, he was a friend. Curschmann died unexpectedly and early appendicitis.

Primarily Curschmann composed songs that were in his time in Berlin, but also beyond, especially in northern Germany, popular. Below are settings of poems by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schiller, Heinrich Heine and Friedrich Rückert. Although they were treated quite well received by contemporary critics, they hold today the historical comparison with the songs of Franz Schubert, for example, no longer stood. In addition Curschmann also wrote sacred vocal music.