![Carl_Gottlieb_Reissiger](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/Carl_Gottlieb_Reissiger.jpg)
Carl Gottlieb Reißiger (also ''Karl Reissiger'', ''Carl Reissiger'', ''Karl Reißiger'') (31 January 1798 – 7 November 1859) was a German
Kapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
and
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 ...
.
Biography
Born in
Belzig
Bad Belzig (), until 2010 Belzig, is a historic town in Brandenburg, Germany located about southwest of Berlin. It is the capital of the Potsdam-Mittelmark district.
Geography
Bad Belzig is located within the Fläming hill range and in the ce ...
, Reissiger attended the
Thomasschule zu Leipzig
St. Thomas School, Leipzig (german: Thomasschule zu Leipzig; la, Schola Thomana Lipsiensis) is a co-educational and public boarding school in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. It was founded by the Augustinians in 1212 and is one of the oldest schools i ...
and was the pupil of
Johann Gottfried Schicht
Johann Gottfried Schicht (29 September 1753 – 16 February 1823) was a German composer and conductor.
Schicht was born in Reichenau, in the Electorate of Saxony. He trained as a lawyer, studying from 1776 at Leipzig. He was the conductor ...
and
Peter von Winter
Peter Winter, later Peter von Winter, (baptised 28 August 1754 – 17 October 1825) was a German violinist, conductor and composer, especially of operas. He began his career as a player at the Mannheim court, and advanced to conductor. When the ...
. In 1821, he followed the example of the young
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
and went to
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, registration_plate = W
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, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to study with
Antonio Salieri
Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarchy ...
and also studied
theology
Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
at the
University of Leipzig
Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...
. Reissiger continued his musical studies in
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
in 1824, under the sponsorship of the
Prussian
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...
Ministry of Cultural Affairs. After working for two years as the musical director of the Dresden Opera, he succeeded
Carl Maria von Weber
Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (18 or 19 November 17865 June 1826) was a German composer, conductor, virtuoso pianist, guitarist, and critic who was one of the first significant composers of the Romantic era. Best known for his opera ...
as the Kapellmeister of the Dresden
Court
A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...
in 1828, and would hold this office until his death in 1859. A famous piece known as ''Weber's Last Waltz'' was actually written by Reissiger (one of his ''Danses brillantes'', op. 26) and is mentioned in
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wide ...
's ''
The Fall of the House of Usher
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is a short story by American writer Edgar Allan Poe, first published in 1839 in ''Burton's Gentleman's Magazine'', then included in the collection ''Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque'' in 1840. The short story ...
'' (1839) as one of Roderick Usher's favorite pieces of music; it is also the title of a 1912 film.
![Cr125ivl2page3](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Cr125ivl2page3.png)
Reissiger left behind an extensive oeuvre that was distinguished above all by his
vocal music
Vocal music is a type of singing performed by one or more singers, either with musical instruments, instrumental accompaniment, or without instrumental accompaniment (a cappella), in which singing provides the main focus of the piece. Music which ...
, which included nine
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
s, one
oratorio
An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...
, nine Latin
masses and another four in
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
, as well as sixty ''
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 ...
er''. Besides his own works, he also won fame for conducting the premiere of
Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...
's opera ''
Rienzi
' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an early opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi ...
'' in 1842. Reissiger's most successful compositions were the operas ''Didone'', ''Der Ahnenschatz'', ''Libella'', ''Die Felsenmühle'', and ''Adèle de Foix'', and the
melodrama
A modern melodrama is a dramatic work in which the plot, typically sensationalized and for a strong emotional appeal, takes precedence over detailed characterization. Melodramas typically concentrate on dialogue that is often bombastic or exces ...
''Yelva''. His great masses, composed for
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
services at Court, carry rich
melodies
A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...
and warm feeling. The same can be said of his
hymn
A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hymn'' ...
s,
motet
In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Margar ...
s, and ''lieder'', which have been included in many collections, as well as of his oratorio ''David''.
In addition, Reissiger wrote and published various
forms
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form also refers to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data
* ...
of
orchestra
An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families.
There are typically four main sections of instruments:
* bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...
l and
chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...
. While these works revealed his skill and inventiveness, they fell out of taste after his death. One of his leading pupils was
Hermann Berens
Hermann Berens (7 April 1826 in Hamburg – 9 May 1880 in Stockholm) was a German-born Swedish Romantic composer famous mainly for his piano music, some of which is included in the Royal Conservatory of Music's Syllabus.
He was the son of a flute ...
.
He was a good friend of
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 ...
during the latter's years in
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 ...
. Reissiger died in Dresden.
References
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*
Bibliography
*
*
External links
Homepage of The Reißiger Society (in German and English)*
1798 births
1859 deaths
19th-century classical composers
19th-century German composers
19th-century German male musicians
German conductors (music)
German male classical composers
German male conductors (music)
German opera composers
German Romantic composers
Male opera composers
People from Bad Belzig
People from the Electorate of Saxony
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