Anton Urspruch (17 February 1850 – 11 January 1907) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

who belonged to the late German Romantic era.

Life and career

Urspruch was a pupil of Ignaz Lachner and

Joachim Raff Joseph Joachim Raff (27 May 182224 or 25 June 1882) was a German-Swiss composer, pedagogue and pianist. Biography Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitme ...

in Frankfurt, and later one of the favourite students of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

. In 1878 he was appointed one of the first teachers at the

Hoch Conservatory Dr. Hoch's Konservatorium – Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on 22 September 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for ...

in Frankfurt when it opened there, teaching

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

and

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography *Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include v ...

and had friendly communication with

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a ...

and

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

. After the death in 1882 of the Conservatory director

, Urspruch moved to the newly founded Raff-Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where he taught until his death. In 1883 Urspruch married Emmy Cranz, daughter of the music publisher August Cranz. In addition to his teaching, he produced a wide variety of compositions from piano solo, solo voice, choir, chamber music up to large orchestral works as well as two operas. Many of his works had successful performances in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Leipzig and Frankfurt. In the last years of his life Urspruch was part of the revival of

Gregorian Chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

, having contact with the

Beuron Archabbey Beuron Archabbey (in German Erzabtei Beuron, otherwise Erzabtei St. Martin; in Latin ''Archiabbatia Sancti Martini Beuronensis''; Swabian: ''Erzabtei Beira'') is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube va ...

and the cloister at

Maria Laach Abbey Maria Laach Abbey (in German: ''Abtei Maria Laach'', in Latin: ''Abbatia Maria Lacensis'' or ''Abbatia Maria ad Lacum'') is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See (Lake Laach), near Andernach, in the Eifel re ...

. In his lifetime Urspruch was highly recognised internationally as an advocate of the late romantic period. After his early death he was soon forgotten.

Works

* ''Der Sturm'' (opera), after

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

: ''The Tempest'', Frankfurt, 1888 * ''Das Unmöglichste von Allem'' (comic opera), after

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

: ''El mayor imposible'' (''The most imposible thing of all''), Karlsruhe, 1897 * Piano Concerto in E-flat major, Op. 9 (1882) (ded. Raff) * Symphony in E-flat major, Op. 14 * Piano Quintet * Piano Trio * Violin Sonata * Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 29 * Sonata quasi fantasia, for piano 4 hands * German Dances for two pianos

Recordings

Few of Urspruch's works are commercially available. Some of his songs have been released by the German label MDG (opp. 6, 8, 23 & 25), whilst the E flat major Symphony and the Piano Concerto have been recorded and released on CPO 555194. The pianist

Ana-Marija Markovina Ana-Marija Markovina (born in Osijek, 24 April 1970) is a Croatian classical pianist. She lives in Cologne with her husband, the psychologist , and their daughter. Life Ana-Marija Markovina was born in Osijek, Croatia. She received her first ...

has recorded his complete piano music for the label Genuin. His opera ''Das Unmöglichste von Allem'' was recorded live in 2012, conducted by Israel Yinon and released by the

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best abr ...

label in 2013. In September 2018, Urspruch's Piano Concerto in E flat major, opus 9, was released on Hyperion's 'The Romantic Piano Concerto' series (volume 77).

Writings

* Urspruch, Anton. ''Der gregorianische Choral'', 1901

Literature

* Peter Cahn: ''Das Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main (1878–1978)'', Frankfurt am Main: Kramer, 1979. * Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, (Nicolas Slonimsky, Ed.) New York: G. Schirmer, 1958.

External links

* * * 1850 births 1907 deaths German male composers German composers Academic staff of Hoch Conservatory German music educators Musicians from Frankfurt Pupils of Franz Liszt 19th-century German male musicians {{Germany-composer-stub