Adolf Jensen (12 January 1837 – 23 January 1879) was a German pianist, composer and music teacher.
Biography
Jensen was born in
Königsberg
Königsberg (, ) was the historic Prussian city that is now Kaliningrad, Russia. Königsberg was founded in 1255 on the site of the ancient Old Prussian settlement ''Twangste'' by the Teutonic Knights during the Northern Crusades, and was named ...
to a family of musicians. Although largely self-taught, he also had instruction from
Louis Ehlert,
Louis Köhler
Christian Louis Heinrich Köhler (5 September 1820 – 16 February 1886) was a German composer, conductor and piano teacher.
Biography
Köhler was born in Braunschweig. He studied piano in Vienna under Carl Maria von Bocklet, Simon Sechter and I ...
and Friedrich Marpurg (1825–1884). Marpurg was the director of the Königsberg Theater and the great-grandson of the music theorist
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg
Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg (21 November 1718 – 22 May 1795) was a German music critic, music theorist and composer. He was friendly and active with many figures of the Enlightenment of the 18th century.
Life
Little is known of Marpurg's earl ...
. In 1856, Jensen went to Russia to teach in the hope of earning enough money to take lessons with
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
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
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
and befriended
Niels Gade
Niels Wilhelm Gade (22 February 1817 – 21 December 1890) was a Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist and teacher. Together with Johan Peter Emilius Hartmann, he was the leading Danish musician of his day.
Biography
Gade was born ...
. He returned Königsberg and composed much of his music during that time. He taught advanced piano at
Carl Tausig
Karl Tausig (sometimes "Carl"; born Karol Tausig; 4 November 184117 July 1871) was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer. He is generally regarded as Franz Liszt's most esteemed pupil, and one of the greatest pianists of all time.
Life ...
's ''Schule des höheren Clavierspiels'' in Berlin from 1866 until 1868 when serious illness forced him to retire. He went to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, then to
Graz
Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...
in 1870, and finally to
Baden-Baden
Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...
where he died of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
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
Wilhelm Kienzl (17 January 1857 – 3 October 1941) was an Austrian composer.
Biography
Kienzl was born in the small, picturesque Upper Austrian town of Waizenkirchen. His family moved to the Styrian capital of Graz in 1860, where he studied ...
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
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
label (
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...
, requires
Adobe Flash
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)
{{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