Friedrich Ernst Fesca (15 February 1789 – 24 May 1826) was a German violinist and composer of instrumental music.

Life and career

He was born at

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second-largest city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is situated at the Elbe river. Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archdiocese of Magdebur ...

. His father, Johann Peter August Fesca, was the market judge of Magdeburg and active in the musical part in the city; he devoted much of his time to the practice of the violoncello and piano. His mother was a singer educated under

Johann Adam Hiller Johann Adam Hiller (25 December 1728, in Wendisch-Ossig, Saxony – 16 June 1804, in Leipzig) was a German composer, conductor and writer on music, regarded as the creator of the Singspiel, an early form of German opera. In many of these operas ...

and Marianne Podleska; she had been a professional vocalist in early life. Friedrich received his early musical education in Magdeburg and completed his studies at

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

under

August Eberhard Müller August Eberhard Müller (13 December 1767, Northeim – 3 December 1817, Weimar) was a German composer, organist and choir leader. Life Trained by his organist father, he made his first public performance aged eight. He then studied under Johann ...

. When he was but four years of age, he could perform pieces of moderate difficulty upon the piano, and began the study of the violin. At the early age of fifteen he appeared before the public with several

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typi ...

s for the violin, which were received with general applause, and resulted in his being appointed leading violinist of the

Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

. This position he occupied till 1806, when he became concertmaster to the duke

Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...

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. In 1808 he was appointed solo-violinist by King Jerome of

Westphalia Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants. The territory of the regio ...

at state theater of

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, and there he remained till the end of the

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occupation (1814), when he went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and soon afterwards to

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

, having been appointed concertmaster to the grand duke of

Baden Baden (; ) is a historical territory in South Germany, in earlier times on both sides of the Upper Rhine but since the Napoleonic Wars only East of the Rhine. History The margraves of Baden originated from the House of Zähringen. Baden is ...

. His failing health prevented him from enjoying the numerous and well-deserved triumphs he owed to his art, and in 1826 he died of

consumption Consumption may refer to: *Resource consumption *Tuberculosis, an infectious disease, historically * Consumption (ecology), receipt of energy by consuming other organisms * Consumption (economics), the purchasing of newly produced goods for curren ...

at the early age of thirty-seven. Fesca's son

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

also achieved some note as a composer.

Works

As a virtuoso, Fesca was ranked amongst the best masters of the German school of violinists, the school subsequently of

Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conducting, conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten Sy ...

and of

Joachim Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

. Especially as leader of a quartet he is said to have been unrivaled with regard to classic dignity and simplicity of style. Amongst his compositions, his quartets for stringed instruments and other pieces of chamber music are the most notable. His three symphonies (No. 1 in E♭, Op. 6; No. 2 in D, Op. 10; No. 3 in D, Op. 13) along with chamber works were still listed in Augener's catalog as late as 1861 His two operas, ''Cantemire'' and ''Omar and Leila'', were less successful. He also wrote some sacred compositions, and numerous songs and vocal quartets.

Notes

References

* *

External links

Friedrich Fesca String Quartet No.2, Op.1 No.2 Sound-bites & short bio
* 1789 births 1826 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical violinists 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians Concertmasters German classical violinists German male classical composers German male violinists German Romantic composers Male classical violinists Musicians from Magdeburg String quartet composers Tuberculosis deaths in Germany {{Germany-composer-stub