August Freyer (15 December 1801 – 28 May 1883) was a Polish musician and composer, specializing in both performance and composition on the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

Biography

August was born in Saxony in 1801. He moved to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and began his musical career there as a

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

player. He became organist at the Warsaw Evangelical Church, had the organ rebuilt, and turned his church into a prominent musical location while becoming the prominent organist and organ teacher in Warsaw. He made a tour of northern Germany as an organist, from which he received wide acclaim. August was a musical pupil of

Józef Elsner Józef Antoni Franciszek Elsner (sometimes ''Józef Ksawery Elsner''; baptismal name, ''Joseph Anton Franz Elsner''; 1 June 176918 April 1854) was a composer, music teacher, and music theoretician, active mainly in Warsaw. He was one of the firs ...

. He became a close associate of

Adolf Friedrich Hesse Adolf Friedrich Hesse (30 August 1809 – 5 August 1863) was a German organist and composer. Life Hesse was born and died in Breslau. He studied in his home town with the organists Friedrich Wilhelm Berner and Ernst Köhler (1799–1847). He wa ...

. He promoted Hesse's music to

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, link=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka., mʲɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recogni ...

, successful in his performance to the point of reducing his listener to tears. At an early age

Stanisław Moniuszko Stanisław Moniuszko (; May 5, 1819 – June 4, 1872) was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. He wrote many popular art songs and operas, and his music is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish–Lithuania ...

became his pupil, his parents relocated to Warsaw to have Stanisław study with Freyer. He died in 1883.

Style

Freyer was largely responsible for the revival of organ music in Poland. He was a master at music balance, both homophonic and polyphonic. His playing was appreciated by

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sy ...

and

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten symphonies, ...

. In addition to the aforementioned German concerts, he toured Paris to an enthusiastic reception. His most famous composition was a set of ''Concert Variations'' of which the final-movement fugue is the most recognized.

References

External links

Scores by August Freyer
in digital library

Polona Polona is a Polish digital library, which provides digitized books, magazines, graphics, maps, music, fliers and manuscripts from collections of the National Library of Poland and co-operating institutions. It began its operation in 2006. Colle ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Freyer, August 1801 births 1883 deaths Polish organists Male organists Polish Romantic composers Musicians from Warsaw Place of birth missing 19th-century male musicians 19th-century organists