Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (20 February 1803 – 16 October 1836) was a Swiss early Romantic composer.

Biography

Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich was born in

Brugg Brugg (sometimes written as Brugg AG in order to distinguish it from other ''Brugg''s) is a Switzerland, Swiss Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality and a List of towns in Switzerland, town in the canton of Aargau and is the seat of the Bru ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

, Switzerland, the 6th child of a Swiss family living in Brugg. His older brother Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich was a priest, writer and politician. After completing the gymnasium in Zürich, he started studying jurisprudence in Basel and later in Berlin. In 1824 he returned to

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the d ...

because of illness. There he took lessons in musical composition under Michael Traugott Pfeiffer. In 1826–1828 he received a grant from the cantonal government of Aargau to go to Berlin and take musical lessons from

Carl Friedrich Zelter Carl Friedrich Zelter (11 December 1758 15 May 1832)Grove/Fuller-Datei:Carl-Friedrich-Zelter.jpegMaitland, 1910. The Zelter entry takes up parts of pages 593-595 of Volume V. was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music. Working in his ...

and

Bernhard Klein Bernhard Joseph Klein (6 March 1793 – 9 September 1832) was a German composer. Life Klein was born in Cologne. He married Lili Parthey (1800–1829) who was the sister of Gustav Parthey (1798–1872) and the granddaughter of Friedrich Nicolai ...

. In Berlin he met

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

. In 1830 he returned to Switzerland. Although Fröhlich had minor success in Berlin, he never received any recognition or support for his art in his home town of Aarau. He struggled financially and eventually marital trouble led to depression. On 16 October 1836 he committed suicide by jumping into the river

Aare The Aare () or Aar () is the main tributary of the High Rhine (its discharge even exceeds that of the latter at their confluence) and the longest river that both rises and ends entirely within Switzerland. Its total length from its source to i ...

Works

His work consists of over 700 compositions, of which more than 300 were for piano and more than 300 for choir.

Orchestral works

* Overture for Dyhrn's ''Konradin'' (1827) * Symphony in A major (1828) * Overture B major (1832) * Overture for a Passion in F minor (1835)

Chamber music

* Pastorale and rondo for oboe and piano (1824) * Three sonatas for violin and piano (1826) * Four string quartets (1826–32) * Sonata for cello and piano in F minor (1830) * Quintet for piano, 2 cellos and 2 horns (1833) * Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello (1835) * Fantasia for violin and piano (1832) * Fugue for string quartet (1828)

Piano works

* Sonata in A major, op. 11 (1831) * Six elegies, op. 15 (1833) * Waltzes and Ländler * Piano pieces for four hands

Vocal music

* ''Jesus, der Kinderfreund'',

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

(1834) * ''Der 137. Psalm'' (1827) * ''Canticum Simeonis'' (24 December 1829) * ''Totenfeier'' (1829) * Stabat mater (dt.) (1829) * Weihnachtskantate (1830) * ''Gesang der Geister über den Wassern'' (

Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

) (1831) * ''Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt'' (Goethe) (1831) * Passionskantate (1831) * ''Das Unser Vater'' (1832) * Litany (1832) * ''Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen'' (1833) * ''Preis der Liebe'' (1834) * 2nd Mass (1835) * ''Der 1. Psalm'' (1836) * ''Domine, Jesu Christe'' (1836) * Various pieces and Lieder for choirs of men, women and children

References

Bibliography

* Heinrich Nidecker: ''Theodor Fröhlich und seine Thurgauer Bekanntschaften.'' In: '' Thurgauer Jahrbuch'', Bd. 32, 1957, pp. 101–118
online version
* Edgar Refardt: ''Theodor Fröhlich, ein Schweizer Musiker der Romantik.'' Amerbach-Verlag, Basel 1947 * Pierre Sarbach: ''Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich.'' Winterthur 1984 * Michael Schneider: ''Fröhlich, (Friedrich) Theodor.'' In

Ludwig Finscher Ludwig Finscher (14 March 193030 June 2020) was a German musicologist. He was a professor of music history at the University of Heidelberg from 1981 to 1995 and editor of the encyclopedia '' Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart''. He is respect ...

(ed.): ''

Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'' (''MGG''; "Music in the Past and Present") is a German music encyclopedia. It is among the world's most comprehensive encyclopedias of music history and musicology, on account of its scope, content, wealth ...

'' (MGG). 2nd ed., Personenteil, Band 7, Kassel Basel 2002, {{DEFAULTSORT:Frohlich, Friedrich Theodor 1803 births 1836 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century male musicians 19th-century Swiss musicians Composers for piano Swiss male classical pianists Swiss classical composers Swiss classical pianists Swiss male classical composers 1830s suicides Suicides by drowning in Switzerland