Adolf Jensen

Adolf Jensen (12 January 1837 – 23 January 1879) was a German pianist, composer and music teacher.

Biography

Jensen was born in Königsberg to a family of musicians. Although largely self-taught, he also had instruction from Louis Ehlert, Louis Köhler and Friedrich Marpurg (1825–1884). Marpurg was the director of the Königsberg Theater and the great-grandson of the music theorist Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg. In 1856, Jensen went to Russia to teach in the hope of earning enough money to take lessons with Robert Schumann with whom he had been in correspondence. However, Schumann had died in the interim. In 1857, he became was the music director of the Posen municipal theatre. From 1858 until 1860, he lived in Copenhagen and befriended Niels Gade. He returned Königsberg and composed much of his music during that time. He taught advanced piano at Carl Tausig's ''Schule des höheren Clavierspiels'' in Berlin from 1866 until 1868 when serious illness forced him to retire. He went to Dresden, then to Graz in 1870, and finally to Baden-Baden where he died of tuberculosis at the age of 42.

His brother was Gustav Jensen (1843–1895), a violinist and composer.

Works

Jensen wrote about 160 art songs as well as choral pieces. His music for piano includes a Sonata in F sharp minor (Op. 25), a set of 25 Études (Op. 32), and ''Erotikon'', Op. 44, seven pieces depicting scenes from Greek legends. He also wrote music for piano four hands.

His orchestral music consisted of a Concert Overture in E minor and a ''Geistliches Tonstück''. He started work on an opera, ''Die Erbin von Montfort'' in 1864-65, but did not finish it. After his death, Wilhelm Kienzl adapted the music to a new libretto, ''Turandot'', written by Jensen's daughter Elsbeth, who wrote under the pseudonym "Egbert Jensen".

References

Further reading

*Petty, Wayne C. (March–July 2003)
"Brahms, Adolf Jensen and the Problem of the Multi-Movement Work"
''Music Analysis'', Vol. 22, No. 1/2, pp. 105–137. Wiley

External links

*
Audio: "Lehn' deine Wang' an meine Wang'"
by Jensen sung by George Hamlin, recorded in 1912 on the Victor label (Library of Congress, requires Adobe Flash)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jensen, Adolf
1837 births
1879 deaths
Musicians from Königsberg
19th-century classical composers
19th-century classical pianists
19th-century deaths from tuberculosis
19th-century German composers
19th-century German male musicians
Composers for piano
German classical pianists
German male classical composers
German music educators
German Romantic composers
Male classical pianists
Piano pedagogues
Tuberculosis deaths in Germany