Christoph(er) Ernst Friedrich Weyse (5 March 1774 – 8 October 1842) was a

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish ance ...

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 ...

during the

Danish Golden Age The Danish Golden Age ( da, Den danske guldalder) covers a period of exceptional creative production in Denmark, especially during the first half of the 19th century.Kulturnet DanmarkGuide to the Danish Golden Age Although Copenhagen had suffered ...

Biography

Weyse was born at Altona in Holstein, which was in a

personal union A personal union is the combination of two or more states that have the same monarch while their boundaries, laws, and interests remain distinct. A real union, by contrast, would involve the constituent states being to some extent interlink ...

with

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. He gained much interest in music in his hometown and Hamburg, where

C.P.E. Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German Classical period musician and composer, the fifth child and sec ...

was the municipal director of music. At age fifteen (1789), Weyse was sent to live with his uncle 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 ...

to be educated, and lived there for the rest of his life. While in Copenhagen he studied music with

Johann Abraham Peter Schulz Johann Abraham Peter Schulz (31 March 1747, Lüneburg – 10 June 1800, Schwedt) was a German musician. He is best known as the composer of the melody for Matthias Claudius's poems "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" and " Wir pflügen und wir streuen", ...

. Schulz helped Weyse get an unpaid internship at the

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Cal ...

in Copenhagen. In 1794, he was appointed organist at the same church following the former organist's death. He later served in the same post at the Vor Frue Kirke after 1805. In 1819, he was appointed Court composer. He died in Copenhagen.

Works

He was best known for his vocal works, which included numerous

singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like ...

en, Christmas carols, a setting of the

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

and of the Miserere, over 30

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of t ...

, and above all,

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 after poems by Matthias Claudius, Johann Heinrich Voss and Ludwig Heinrich Christoph Hölty. He also composed seven

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

and numerous pieces for solo

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 ...

. A part of one of his works opens the ‘Cat's Duet’ or

Duetto buffo di due gatti The "Duetto buffo di due gatti" (humorous duet for two cats) is a performance piece for two sopranos and piano. Often performed as a comical concert encore, it consists entirely of the repeated word ''miau'' ("meow") sung by the singers. It is some ...

usually attributed to

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

Cantatas

Unlike

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

’s cantatas, Weyse's cantatas were designed to be played after the service, rather than used as liturgical music during the service. His Easter Cantata No. 1, ''Hil dig, hil dig, livets morgenrøde'', was written in 1836 and its words are based on works by poet

Thomas Thaarup Thomas Thaarup (21 August 1749 – 12 July 1821) was a Danish poet. Thomas Thaarup was born in Copenhagen, where his father, Niels Thaarup, owned a hardware store. His mother's name was Anna Margaretha and her maiden name was Stupsack. Educati ...

. The work premiered on Sunday 22 April in Trinitatis Church.

Singspiel

*''Sovedrikken'' (1809) *''Faruk'' (1812) *'' :da:Ludlam’s Hule'' (1816) *''Floribella'' (1825) *''Et eventyr i Rosenborg Have'' (1827) *''Festen på Kenilworth'' (1836)

References

External links

from the Royal Danish Library
Opera Glass
* 1774 births 1842 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century Danish composers 18th-century male musicians 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Danish composers 19th-century male musicians Danish classical composers Danish male classical composers Danish opera composers Male opera composers {{Denmark-composer-stub