Friedrich Ernst Koch (3 July 1862 – 30 January 1927) 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 ...

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

Biography

He was born in Berlin and studied cello with

Robert Hausmann Robert Hausmann (13 August 185218 January 1909) was a notable 19th-century German cellist who premiered important works by Johannes Brahms (including the Double Concerto) and Max Bruch (including ''Kol Nidrei''). He was the cellist for the Joach ...

and composition with

Woldemar Bargiel Woldemar Bargiel (3 October 182823 February 1897) was a German composer. Life Bargiel was born in Berlin, and was the younger maternal half-brother of Clara Schumann. Bargiel’s father Adolph was a well-known piano and voice teacher while his mo ...

at the Berlin

Hochschule für Musik A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

. He served as a cellist in the Royal Orchestra of Berlin between 1882 and 1891, after which he accepted a position of music director (Kapellmeister) for the resort town of

Baden-Baden Baden-Baden () is a spa town in the states of Germany, state of Baden-Württemberg, south-western Germany, at the north-western border of the Black Forest mountain range on the small river Oos (river), Oos, ten kilometres (six miles) east of the ...

. A year later, he returned to Berlin, where he concentrated on composing and teaching, eventually becoming a professor and director of theory at the Musikhochschule where he had studied.

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fru ...

Pablo Sorozábal Pablo Sorozábal Mariezcurrena (18 September 1897 – 26 December 1988) was a Spanish composer of zarzuelas, operas, symphonic works, and the popular ''romanza'', " No puede ser". He was born in San Sebastián, in a working-class family. ...

Boris Blacher Boris Blacher (30 January 1975) was a German composer and librettist. Life Blacher was born when his parents (of German-Estonian and Russian backgrounds) were living within a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurian town of Niuzhuang () (he ...

and

Paul Kletzki Paul Kletzki (born Paweł Klecki; 21 March 1900 – 5 March 1973) was a Polish conductor and composer. Biography Born in Łódź, Kletzki joined the Łódź Philharmonic at the age of fifteen as a violinist. After serving in the First World Wa ...

were among his many students. His compositions, which were often based on German folk melodies and written in a late Romantic style, gained him considerable recognition and acclaim. His metier was the character piece at which he excelled. Although he did not write much in the way of chamber music, these works were among his best compositions. His

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cell ...

, op. 9, won the Mendelssohn Prize and his Wald-Idyll (Forest Idyll), Three Fantasy Pieces for

piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of musi ...

, op. 20, dating from 1902, enjoyed frequent concert performances right up until the Second World War. There is also a violin sonata in A minor (op. 47) published by C. F. Kahnt in 1925. He composed two symphonies, in D minor ''Von der Nordsee'' (op. 4) and G (op. 10, published 1891).

References

*The New Grove Dictionary of Music, Ed. Stanley Sadie, Macmillan, London, 1980. *Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, Oxford University Press, London, 1963.

External links

Friedrich Koch Wald-Idyll for Piano Trio, Op.20 sound-bites and discussion of work
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koch, Friedrich 1862 births 1927 deaths 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians German composers German male composers German classical cellists Mendelssohn Prize winners Musicians from Berlin