Heinrich Albert (16 July 1870 – 12 March 1950) was a German guitarist, composer and teacher – the most prominent German classical guitarist of his time.

Life

Heinrich Albert was born in

Würzburg Würzburg (; Main-Franconian: ) is a city in the region of Franconia in the north of the German state of Bavaria. Würzburg is the administrative seat of the ''Regierungsbezirk'' Lower Franconia. It spans the banks of the Main River. Würzburg is ...

and initially learned violin and horn, studying the latter at the Königliche Musikschule oyal Music SchoolWürzburg (1881–8). Following his studies he played in various orchestras in Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, and Russia. Between 1895 and 1900 he was a member of the Kaim Orchestra, the predecessor of the

Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic (german: Münchner Philharmoniker, links=no) is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Rad ...

, playing under such renowned conductors as

Felix Weingartner Paul Felix Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg (2 June 1863 – 7 May 1942) was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist. Life and career Weingartner was born in Zara, Dalmatia, Austria-Hungary (now Zadar, Croatia), to Austrian parents. T ...

Arthur Nikisch Arthur Nikisch (12 October 185523 January 1922) was a Hungarian conductor who performed internationally, holding posts in Boston, London, Leipzig and—most importantly—Berlin. He was considered an outstanding interpreter of the music of Br ...

Ferdinand Löwe Ferdinand Löwe (19 February 1865 – 6 January 1925) was an Austrian conductor. Biography Löwe was born in Vienna, Austria where along with Munich, Germany his career was primarily centered. From 1896 Löwe conducted the Kaim Orchestra, tod ...

, and

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and the modernism ...

. Around 1892 he began to teach himself the

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, aided, from about 1905, by

Luigi Mozzani is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

. His performing career, both as guitarist and as conductor of a mandolin orchestra, lasted from 1900 to 1943. In 1900 he began to establish himself as a full-time teacher of guitar and mandolin in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Among his most prominent pupils were

Luise Walker Luise Walker (9 September 1910 – 30 January 1998) was an Austrian classical guitarist and guitar composer – one of the most prominent female guitarists of her time. Life and career Walker was born in Vienna and began studying guitar at the age ...

and the comedian

Karl Valentin Karl Valentin (born Valentin Ludwig Fey, 4 June 1882 in Munich – 9 February 1948 in Planegg) was a Bavarian comedian. He had significant influence on German Weimar culture. Valentin starred in many silent films in the 1920s, and was sometimes c ...

. In 1909, he was appointed "Kammervirtuose" hamber virtuosoby Marie of Bavaria. Around 1910, he founded a unique guitar quartet following the principles of the

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

, using instruments in various sizes. Apart from his compositions and arrangements, Albert edited a number of guitar tutorials, notably the ''Moderner Lehrgang des künstlerischen Gitarrespiels'' (5 volumes, 1914–9). The increasing success of the Spanish approach to the guitar after 1920 seems to have frustrated him. The Hamburg-base
Heinrich Albert Duo
is named after him. In 2007, they issued a CD with the collected duos by Albert (see 'Selected recordings').

Music

As a teacher, composer and editor of guitar music around 1900, Heinrich Albert's only "rival" in Europe was

Francisco Tárrega Francisco de Asís Tárrega Eixea (21 November 185215 December 1909) was a Spanish composer and classical guitarist of the late Romantic period. He is known for such pieces as Capricho Árabe and ''Recuerdos de la Alhambra''. He is often called ...

. In comparison to Tárrega, Albert was more active in editing chamber music including the guitar, less so for solo guitar. He arranged and published 11 volumes of "Hausmusik" for flute or violin, viola and guitar and 23 volumes of ''Die Gitarre in der Haus- und Kammermusik vor 100 Jahren'' he guitar in home and chamber music 100 years ago(from 1918). Albert's 5-volume guitar method was unrivalled in German-speaking countries for several decades and have unjustly fallen into neglect, as several experts acknowledge their value to this day.Bork/Jewanski (2008), as above; also Libbert and Stevens, see Bibliography. As a composer, Albert was a

Classicist Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

, occasionally using a freer harmonic approach with an accessible degree of technical difficulty. Some of his music makes use of elements of Italian and Spanish folkmusic. His works were played by most major guitarists in the first half of the 20th century. He was then largely forgotten and has been rediscovered only after around 2000.

Selected compositions

Original compositions * for guitar: 2 solo sonatas, 2 solo sonatinas, 8 duos, 4 trios, 2 quartets * chamber music with guitar: ''Hausmusik'' (11 vols.) for flute/violin, viola, guitar; 4 chamber trios for the same * songs with guitar accompaniment, e.g. ''Moderne Gitarre- und Lautenlieder'' (5 vols., Leipzig & Berlin, 1919) Methods *''Moderne Lauten- oder Gitarre-Schule'' (2 vols.; Leipzig, 1912 and 1923) *''Neue Mandolinenschule'' (Leipzig, 1913) *''Moderner Lehrgang des künstlerischen Gitarrespiels'' (5 vols.; Munich, 1914–9) *''Gitarre. Solospiel-Studien'' (Leipzig, 1923) *''Gitarre. Etüden-Werk'' (6 vols.; Leipzig 1927–8) *''Der junge Gitarrist'' (Berlin, 1937) *''Der junge Mandolinist'' (Berlin, 1937) Editions *23 volumes of ''Die Gitarre in der Haus- und Kammermusik vor 100 Jahren'' (Berlin, 1918 ff.); incl. works for guitar and piano; ; for violin and guitar; for flute, viola and guitar; for 3 guitars; for guitar and string quartet, by

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major European ...

, Leonhard von Call,

Ferdinando Carulli Ferdinando Maria Meinrado Francesco Pascale Rosario Carulli (9 February 1770 – 17 February 1841) was an Italian composer for classical guitar and the author of the influential ''Méthode complète pour guitare ou lyre'', op. 27 (1810), which co ...

Anton Diabelli Anton (or Antonio) Diabelli (5 September 17818 April 1858) was an Austrian music publisher, editor and composer. Best known in his time as a publisher, he is most familiar today as the composer of the waltz on which Ludwig van Beethoven wrote ...

Mauro Giuliani Mauro Giuseppe Sergio Pantaleo Giuliani (27 July 1781 – 8 May 1829) was an Italian guitarist, cellist, singer, and composer. He was a leading guitar virtuoso of the early 19th century. Biography Although born in Bisceglie, Giuliani's cent ...

, Filippo Gragnani, Joseph Kreutzer, Wenzel Matiegka,

Francesco Molino Francesco Molino (also known as François Molino) (4 June 1768 – 1847) was an Italian guitarist, violinist, and composer. Biography Molino was born in Ivrea near Turin. He often travelled to Spain to give concerts. He was orchestral conducto ...

Selected recordings

*''Heinrich Albert: Ausgewählte Werke für Gitarre solo'', performed by Andreas Stevens, on: Aurea Vox 2009-4 (CD, 2006). Contains 22 works for solo guitar. *''Heinrich Albert: 8 Duos for Guitars'', performed by Heinrich Albert Duo (Joachim Schrader & Jan Erler), on: Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm MDG 603 1429-2 (CD, 2007) *''SoloDuoTrioQuartett'', performed by Volker Höh (solos) and the Cantomano Quartet, on: Naxos Deutschland 8.551291 (CD, 2012). Contains: ''Sonate Nr. 1'' (1920) and ''Walzer'' (1947) for guitar solo and the Quartet no. 2 in C minor (1913), also works by

Bruno Henze Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters *Bruno (name), including lists of people and fictional characters with either the given name or surname * Bruno, Duke of Saxony (died 880) * Bruno the Great (925–965), Archbishop of Cologne, ...

(1900–1978) and Simon Schneider (1886–1971). *''Gitarrenmusik der deutschen Romantik'', performed by David Silvan Weiß, on: Vitula Musik o catalogue number Contains: ''Sechs Konzert-Etüden'' (Six Concert Studies) (1928), also works by

Eduard Bayer Johann Gottfried Eduard Bayer (20 March 1822 – 23 March 1908), usually known as Eduard Bayer, was a German composer for the classical guitar and a virtuoso performer on the guitar, harp guitar, mandolin and zither. Biography Bayer was born in ...

and

Adam Darr Adam Darr (29 September 1811 – 2 October 1866) was a German classical guitarist, singer, zither player and composer. Biography Adam Darr was born in Schweinfurt, Germany, and started playing the guitar as a youth. Sometime after the age of 23 ...

. *''Fogli d'album'', performed by Alberto La Rocca (10-string guitar) on CD GuitArt 10/2015. Contains: ''Sonata no. 1''.

Bibliography

* Philipp Schweitzer: "Heinrich Albert", in: ''Die Zupfmusik'', no. 2, June 1970. * Luise Walker: ''Ein Leben mit der Gitarre. Hommage für Heinrich Albert'' (Frankfurt: Zimmermann, 1989). * Jürgen Libbert: "In memoriam Heinrich Albert", in: ''Gitarre aktuell'' 21 (2000), no. 1, p. 50–5. * Andreas Stevens: "Heinrich Albert und die Volksmusik", in: ''Sänger & Musikanten'' 48 (2005) no. 1. * Andreas Stevens: "Heinrich Albert und die Mandoline", in: ''Concertino'' 59 (2006) no. 4, p. 202–6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Albert, Heinrich (guitarist) 1870 births 1950 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century German composers 20th-century German male musicians 20th-century guitarists Composers for the classical guitar German classical composers German classical guitarists German male classical composers German male guitarists German mandolinists Musicians from Würzburg