August Schmidt (9 September 1808 – 13 October 1891) was an Austrian music writer, journalist, association organizer and musician.

Life

Education and career

Born in Vienna, August Schmidt, son of the musician as well as civil servant Adam August Schmidt (1777-1847), took the school-leaving examination at the Viennese in 1824. Schmidt, who had already received violin lessons from his father at the age of five, was subsequently trained as a singer by Johann Baptist Henneberg and Ludwig Schwarzböck. In 1828 he began his military service, and in 1834 he was transferred to the national debt register in the position of a cash officer. After he had been promoted there, he retired in 1870.

Activities

The active musician and composer of

Lied In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...

ern, Waltzs and concert pieces for violin made a name for himself as a music writer, journalist and organiser of associations. August Schmidt played a leading role in the founding of the

Vienna Philharmonic The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world. The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...

. (1842), of the

Wiener Männergesang-Verein The Wiener Männergesang-Verein ("Vienna Men's Choral Society" or "Vienna Male Voice Choir") is a men's choir in Vienna, Austria, founded in 1843. The choir has regularly appeared with the Vienna Philharmonic, and has performed worldwide. Notable ...

(1843) and the mixed choir association

Wiener Singakademie The Wiener Singakademie is a choir in Vienna, Austria. History As the first mixed choir in Vienna, the Wiener Singakademie was founded in 1858 to establish a "Singübungsanstalt" - an institution for the training of voices. It aims to promote th ...

(1858). Schmidt, who had been publishing poems, stories and travelogues in newspapers and magazines since 1836, founded the "Allgemeine Wiener Musikzeitung" in 1841, which was influential in the development of Viennese musical life, and he was its publisher and editor until 1847. Afterwards he was correspondent of the ''Süddeutsche Musik-Zeitung'' from 1852 to 1854 and from 1856 to 1872 music advisor of the ''Wanderer''. Schmidt published, among other things, his music biographical compilation ''Denksteine'' in 1848, ''Geschichte des Wiener Männergesang-Vereins'' in 1860 and ''Monographie des Madrigals'' in 1890. His grave is located at the

Vienna Central Cemetery The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

Wiener Zentralfriedhof - Gruppe 33A - August Schmidt

Honors

In 1839 the philosophical faculty of the

Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

awarded Schmidt an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

(Dr. phil.) in recognition of his services. On 24 February 1840, the same university also awarded

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 ...

this title.

Work

* ''Orpheus. Musikalisches Album'', Vienna: Volke 1840–1842
Orpheus : musikalisches Album
on Heinrich Heine Universität) * ''Denksteine. Biographien'', Vienna 1848
Numerized
* ''Der Wiener Männergesang-Verein. Geschichtliche Darstellung seines Entstehens und Wirkens zur Feier seines fünfundzwanzigjährigen Jubiläums'', Vienna 1868
Numerized

Bibliography

Constantin von Wurzbach Constantin Wurzbach Ritter von Tannenberg (11 April 1818 – 17 August 1893) was an Austrian biographer, lexicographer and author. Biography He was born in Laibach, Carniola (present-day Ljubljana, Slovenia).He later went on to complete a cou ...

August
In the

Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich ''Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich'' (English, ''Biographical Encyclopedia of the Austrian Empire'') (abbreviated ''Wurzbach'' from the author's surname) is a 60-volume work, edited and published by Constantin von Wurzbach, cont ...

, 30th part. Kaiserlich-königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1875, * *

Walther Killy Walther Killy (26 August 191728 December 1995) was a German literary scholar who specialised in poetry, especially that of Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl. He taught at the Free University of Berlin, the Georg-August-Universität Göttinge ...

and

Rudolf Vierhaus Rudolf Vierhaus (29 October 1922 – 13 November 2011) was a German historian who mainly researched the Early modern period. He had been a professor at the newly founded Ruhr University Bochum since 1964. From 1971, he was director of the in Göt ...

(ed.): ''

Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie The ''Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopädie'' (''DBE'') is a biographical dictionary published by Walther Killy and Rudolf Vierhaus (from the third to fourth volume), the first edition of which was published from 1995 to 2003 in 13 volumes by K. G ...

.'' vol. 9, K.G. Saur Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich, 1996 ,

External links

Wikisource August Schmidt

Schmidt, August
on Austria Forum Austriaforum * Kurzartikel z

in Nachlässe in Österreich – Personenlexikon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmidt, August Austrian male writers Austrian journalists Austrian composers 1808 births 1891 deaths Writers from Vienna