Friedrich Kuhlau

Friedrich Daniel Rudolf Kuhlau ( born September 11, 1786 in Uelzen, † March 12, 1832 in Lyngby near Copenhagen ) was a German - Danish composer.

Life

As a child, he lost his right eye in an accident. Kuhlau was educated by Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke in Hamburg. In order to escape the French conscription, he fled in 1810 to Copenhagen. There he got a job as a chamber musician flutist. After his first performance, recorded with great acclaim two operas The robber castle and Elisha, he became the royal court composer ( Court Composer ) appointed. For the composition of the play Elverhøj he received a title of professor.

Friedrich Kuhlau died on 12 March 1832 in Lyngby and is at the assistant cemetery buried.

Work

Except other operas such as Lulu, The Magic Harp and Hugo and Adelheid he wrote a vocal compositions as well as instrumental and piano pieces, including many instructive, today estimated as teaching works sonatas. Franz Schubert once remarked about the Kuhlau Sonatinas: " These true masterpieces, even if they are only a few minutes, have a tremendous melody and power of expression! "

A good quarter of his oeuvre is dedicated to the flute, including sonatas for flute and piano, duo, trio, quartet for 4 flutes in E major, Op 103

Elverhøj

The incidental music to the drama Elverhøj ( German: The Elf Hill ), which was created for a wedding in the Danish royal family in 1828, he composed using a variety of Danish and Swedish folk tunes within five months. The text is by Johan Ludvig Heiberg. Part of the overture is also the Danish king anthem " Kong Christian stod ved Højen mast ", the now common melody Kuhlau had already published in 1817 as a piano composition. The premiere took place at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on November 6, 1828. The plant enjoys today great popularity in Denmark.

The overture to Elverhøj was slightly changed, in a film of the Olsen Gang, The Olsen Gang Sees Red (1976 ) was used. In it, the band blows to the music through the walls of the Royal Theatre and uses the rising of the audience while the king hymn to a theft.

List of Works

The biography of Carl Thrane, Friedrich Kuhlau (1886 ), contains a comprehensive catalog of works and is still fundamentally. There is a reprint from 1979 ..

Another work directory is the thematic and bibliographic catalog of Dan Fog, compositions by Friedrich Kuhlau (1977 ), ISBN 87-87099-09-8.

Others

In honor of Friedrich Kuhlau's city of Uelzen organizes every two years in November, an international flute competition.