Heinrich de Ahna (22 June 1832 – 1 November 1892) was an Austrian violinist.
Life and career
Ahna, who was born in Vienna probably in 1832 (other sources give his year of birth as 1834 or 1835), received violin lessons from the age of seven. At the age of ten, he became a pupil of
Joseph Mayseder
Joseph Mayseder (27 October 1789 – 21 November 1863) was an Austrian violin virtuoso and composer.
Biography
Mayseder showed musical promise from an early age, and was a student of Joseph Suche (1797), Paul Wranitzky (1798) and Ignaz Schuppanz ...
, later receiving lessons from Mildner (1812–1865) in Prague. His first public appearance as a soloist was in 1846 at the Vienna Opera House. With his father, the boy undertook concert tours through Germany and England. In 1849,
Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Ernest II (german: Ernst August Karl Johann Leopold Alexander Eduard, link=no; 21 June 181822 August 1893) was Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 29 January 1844 to his death in 1893. He was born in Coburg to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld ...
awarded him the title of "chamber virtuoso". In 1851, Ahna joined the Austrian army, soon became an officer and in 1859 took part in the
Second Italian War of Independence as ''Oberleutnant''.
From 1863 to 1869, he was a
lecturer
Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...
at the
Stern Conservatory.
After successful art tours through Holland and Germany, Ahna became a member of the royal orchestra in Berlin in 1862 and succeeded the first concertmaster
Hubert Ries
Pieter Hubert Ries (1 April 1802 – 14 September 1886) was a German violinist and composer.
Life and career
Ries was born in Bonn, the son of Franz Anton Ries and younger brother of Ferdinand Ries; after studying with his father, Hubert stu ...
after his retirement in 1869. He also held a violin professorship at the Royal Academy of Music.
Together with
Joseph Joachim (1st violin),
Emanuel Wirth
Emanuel Wirth (18 October 18425 January 1923) was a German violinist and violist.
Wirth was born in Žlutice (German: Luditz) in western Bohemia. As Joseph Joachim's assistant at the Hochschule für Musik (Berlin), he taught violin and viola. ...
(viola) and
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 ...
(violoncello), de Ahna formed the famous Joachim String Quartet from 1879.
Ahna was considered one of the best violinists of his time. His playing was praised for its "blooming, soul-saturated tone, perfect, never-failing technique, hair-sharp intonation and artistic, noble and stylish conception".
Ahna died in Berlin in 1890 at the age of 60 and, like his sister
Eleonore who died at an early age, was buried in the St. Hedwig cemetery in the there. The tomb has not been preserved.
[Hans-Jürgen Mende: ''Lexikon Berliner Grabstätten''. Haude & Spener, Berlin 2006. .]
Further reading
* Biography in NN.: "Das Joachim’sche Streichquartett" ''Musikalisches Wochenblatt'' Jg. 16, No. 3 (8 January 1885) S. 31.
*
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ahna, Heinrich de
Austrian classical violinists
19th-century classical violinists
Male classical violinists
1832 births
1892 deaths
Musicians from Vienna
19th-century Austrian male musicians