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Marschner, Heinrich (1795 - 1861, Germany)

Tuesday, 9 September, 2008

Biography

Heinrich Marschner (16 August 1795, Zittau - 16 December 1861, Hannover) was a German composer of 23 operas and many pieces of chamber music.

Although his work has been generally neglected in the 20th century, Heinrich Marschner was widely regarded as one of the most important composers in Europe from about 1830 until the end of the 19th century.

He was born in Zittau, in 1795, and although studied law at the University of Leipzig, spent a considerable time developing his love of music.
His father was a craftsman, but was a man who also had an abiding interest in music, and allowed his son the liberty to develop his considerable talent.

At the end of his schooltime in 1813 he has composed his works for guitar, but only his "12 Bagatellen" survived. He has never written any music for guitar later.

A meeting with a Hungarian nobleman, Count Thaddaeus Amadée de Varkony, led to an attempt to induce Beethoven to accept Marschner as a pupil, in 1815. The following year Marschner became music teacher in the household of Count Johann Nepomuk Zichy, whose principal residence was in Pressburg (the modern Bratislava).

There he undertook further study with Heinrich Klein, a leading figure in the music of the place. It was in Pressburg that he turned his more serious attention to the theatre with an opera.
In 1817, Marschner married, but became a widower within months, his wife dying of gangrene. Throughout his life, he was married three more times.

He was a rival of Weber and friend of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Even today, he is generally acknowledged as the leading composer of German opera between Weber's death and Wagner, producing many fairy or magic operas with thematic material based on folksong, a genre that had been introduced with Weber's "Der Freischütz" (1821).
His last-mounted production was "Austin" in 1852, after which the rising star of Richard Wagner eclipsed Marschner.
Though he considered himself primarily a composer of opera, he wrote many songs, seven piano trios, and two piano quartets.
These did not escape the notice of Robert Schumann, who praised the piano trios lavishly and for good reason.
Marschner did not just toss off these works as an afterthought but clearly devoted considerable time and effort writing them. He gave the title "Grand Trio" to each of his works for piano, violin and cello, indicative of the importance he attached to them. In these fine works, one finds all of the emotions prevalent in the romantic movement during the mid-19th century expressed in a fresh, original and captivating manner.
His work has a freshness, and his harmonic palette is unequalled in his contemporaries.
He is not one to languish in moods or ask for prolonged contemplation of atmospherics.
He is decisive and always approachable: his music is a tonic to the heavier Germanic composers; perhaps the most applicable parallel is Wagner's "Die Meistersinger" with its blend of humor and stolid seriousness in its presence.

Marschner died in Hannover in 1861.

Allen Dean Palmer published in 1980 a study about Marschners biography and works, where whe also wrote about the interest in Marschners guitar compositions: „The Bagatellen have attracted as much attention in the twentieth century as any of Marschner‘s operas“.

literature:

Gitarre & Laute XVIII/1996/Nº 6, S. 45-52 http://www.gitarre-und-laute.de/Service/Download/Download_Artikel_BACK_ISSUES/Marschner_Huck_Bagatellen.html
http://www.jmucci.com/opera/marshbio.htm

Works for Guitar

Liedern von Matthisson op. 1
Variationen op. 2
Ballade "Die Kindsmörderin" op. 3
12 Bagatellen Op. 4 ( Twelve Bagatelles / Douze Bagatelles )
Zwölf Lieder mit Begleitung der Guitarre op. 5

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