Gebrüder Müller

The Brothers Mueller were two famous string quartets of the 19th century.

The first quartet

The first quartet consisted of the four sons of the Brunswick chamber musician Aegidius Müller ( * July 2, 1766 at Görsbach near Nordhausen; † August 14, 1841 in Braunschweig), who also trained them first. The Quartettisten were active in the Brunswick opera house.

• Karl Friedrich Müller ( born November 11, 1797 † April 4, 1873 ) played the first violin in the quartet. He was hired at age 14 in Berlin at the Royal Chapel and trained by Karl Moser on, in 1815 a member of the Brunswick court orchestra and later concertmaster. As a teacher, he influenced a whole generation of violinists. After 60 years of service he retired on 1 January 1872.

• Georg Franz Ferdinand Müller ( born August 29, 1808 † May 22, 1855 ) played in the second violin quartet. In the chapel, he was hired in 1842 as the successor of Albert Methfessel as Kapellmeister only as a chamber musician, then as music director and after a study trip to Paris. Under his leadership, the Brunswick Orchestra was formed from one of the first in Germany and enjoyed the recognition of contemporary composers such as Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Friedrich Schneider, Louis Spohr, Conradin Kreutzer and Giacomo Meyerbeer, who performed their works here. In addition, George also has several of its own works composed. His great opera di Porto Pino measured Spohr at major musical value, but it failed by the text of Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl.

• Gustav Heinrich Theodor Müller ( * December 13, 1799, † September 7, 1855 ) conducted in the chapel of the Zwischenaktsmusik titled Symphony Director and played in a quartet, the viola.

• August Theodor Müller ( * September 27, 1802, † October 20, 1875 ) played the cello and was also active as a teacher.

The first quartet ended in 1855 with the death of Georg and Gustav.

The second quartet

The second quartet was formed by four sons of Charles Frederick and existed from 1855 to 1873.

• 2nd violin: Hugo Müller ( born September 21, 1832 † June 26, 1886 )

• Viola: Bernhard Müller ( born February 24, 1825; † September 4, 1895, Rostock )

• Cello: Wilhelm Müller ( born June 1, 1834 † September 1897, New York). He played from 1869 also in the Joachim Quartet; In 1873 he was principal cellist in the royal chapel Berlin and professor at the Berlin Academy of Music.

Criticism and meaning

The French composer Hector Berlioz said after a visit to Brunswick in 1843, through the Quartet and Orchestra: I must say at this point that I, to this day, never, neither in France nor in Belgium, else in Germany outstanding artists have seen assembled, who so happened, would have been attentive and enthusiastic about their task ....