Ernst Leopold Christian Mielck (24 October 187722 October 1899) was a Finnish composer and pianist of the late

Romantic period Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...

. A precocious but sickly youth, his promising career was cut short in its infancy when he died of consumption in

Locarno , neighboring_municipalities= Ascona, Avegno, Cadenazzo, Cugnasco, Gerra (Verzasca), Gambarogno, Gordola, Lavertezzo, Losone, Minusio, Muralto, Orselina, Tegna, Tenero-Contra , twintowns =* Gagra, Georgia * Karlovy Vary, Czech Republic ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, two days before his twenty-second birthday. As a result, Mielck's is small; his most acclaimed compositions are the Symphony in F minor (Op. 4; 1897) and the ''Dramatic Overture'' (Op. 6; 1898).

Life

Mielck was born in Viipuri (Vyborg). He started

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 ...

lessons at the age of ten; in 1891 he was sent to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

, where he studied under Max Bruch, one of the leading composers of the period. Bruch said of Mielck that he had "an easy, felicitous, and remarkable flair for invention."Bruch quoted by

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

presenter during ''Through the Night'' program of January 31, 2010 Mielck returned to Finland in 1896. Three years later he died of tuberculosis in Switzerland, just two days before his 22nd birthday.

Music

Mielck composed all his works in the short span of four years. His catalogue includes a number of works in the field of

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 ...

, including a string quintet and a string quartet. He also composed the Symphony in F minor (1897), two overtures, a concert piece for piano and orchestra, as well as one for violin and orchestra, the ''Finnish Suite'', and two major vocal works in the German language. Mielck faced disappointment in his home country for the lack—with the exception of the ''Finnish Suite''—of nationalistic (political) tendencies; his interest in the culture of his ancestral Germany made him rather a foreigner in the Finnish music scene. It was in Germany, shortly before his death, that Mielck found his greatest success. The enthusiasm aroused in the critics—mainly in '—by the premiere of Mielck's symphony, on 20 October 1897, conducted by Robert Kajanus, was a motivation that prompted

Jean Sibelius Jean Sibelius ( ; ; born Johan Julius Christian Sibelius; 8 December 186520 September 1957) was a Finnish composer of the late Romantic and 20th-century classical music, early-modern periods. He is widely regarded as his country's greatest com ...

to try his hand at his a symphony.

List of works

With opus number

* Op. 1: String Quartet in G minor, for two violins, viola, and cello (1895) * Op. 2: (''Macbeth Overture''), for orchestra (1896) * Op. 3: String Quintet in F major, for two violins, two violas, and cello (1897) * Op. 4: Symphony in F minor, for orchestra (1897) * Op. 5: (''Old Bohemian Christmas Song''), cantata for mixed chorus and orchestra (1898) * Op. 6: (''Dramatic Overture''), for orchestra (1898) * Op. 7: (''Old German Yule Feast''), cantata for baritone, male chorus, and orchestra (1898) * Op. 8: Concert Piece in D major, for violin and orchestra (1898) * Op. 9: Concert Piece in E minor, for piano and orchestra (1898) * Op 10: (''Finnish Suite''), for orchestra (1899)

Without opus number

* ''Romance'', for cello and piano (1894) * ''Three Fantasy Pieces on Finnish Polska Motifs'' (1895) * ''En blomma'', ''Morgenlied'', ''Stjernorna'', and ''Wanderlied'', for male chorus (1897) * ''Two Impromptus'', for piano (1899) * ''Sarabande'' in G minor, for piano (1899)

Songs for voice and piano

* ''Das Fischermädchen'' (Text:

Theodor Fontane Theodor Fontane (; 30 December 1819 – 20 September 1898) was a German novelist and poet, regarded by many as the most important 19th-century German-language realist author. He published the first of his novels, for which he is best known toda ...

) * ''Letzter Wunsch'' (Text:

Julius Sturm Julius Sturm (21 July 1816 - 2 May 1896), German poet, was born at Köstritz in the principality of Reuss. He studied theology at Jena from 1837 to 1841, and was appointed preceptor to the hereditary prince Heinrich XIV, Prince Reuss Younger Lin ...

) * ''Frage'' (Text: Julius Wolff) * ''Heimath'' (Text: Theodor Fontane)

References

External links

Biography on ToccataMusic finland with scores to check

Some information about Mielck's chamber music provided by Kimmo Korhonen (this link is dead)Article about Mielck dd Sep. 2012 by Kimmo Korhonen
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mielck, Ernst 1877 births 1899 deaths Musicians from Vyborg People from Viipuri Province (Grand Duchy of Finland) Finnish people of German descent Finnish classical composers Romantic composers 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis Baltic-German people Tuberculosis deaths in Switzerland 19th-century classical composers Finnish male classical composers 19th-century male musicians 20th-century Finnish composers