Joseph Heinrich Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (9 April 1855 – 26 April 1907), also known as Pepi Hellmesberger, was an
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
n
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 ...
,
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist and
conductor.
Biography
Hellmesberger was born in Vienna and was the son of violinist and conductor
Joseph Hellmesberger Sr.
Josef Hellmesberger Sr. (3 November 182824 October 1893) was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.
Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (1800–1873), and was taught violin by his fath ...
(1828–1893), who was his first teacher. Among his family of notable musicians were: grandfather,
Georg Hellmesberger Sr.
Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (24 April 1800Zwei lexikalische Werke (ÖBL, Czeike) geben das Geburtsdatum mit 24. Februar 1800 an. – 16 August 1873) was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.
He was born in Vienna. His first music lesson wa ...
(1800–1873); uncle,
Georg Hellmesberger Jr. (1830–1852); and brother,
Ferdinand Hellmesberger (1863–1940).
In 1875 Hellmesberger became a member of his father's
Hellmesberger Quartet
The Hellmesberger Quartet was a string quartet formed in Vienna in 1849. It was founded by Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. and was the first permanent named String Quartet.
Composition
Violinist Leopold Jansa had started a string quartet in 1845. Hellme ...
, while in 1891 he became leader. In 1878 Hellmesberger became solo violinist of the
Vienna Court Chapel and professor at the
Vienna Conservatory. In 1890 he was the first ''
hofkapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
'' at the
Vienna Court Opera
The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Si ...
, and from 1901 to 1903 he was principal conductor of the
Vienna Philharmonic
The Vienna Philharmonic (VPO; german: Wiener Philharmoniker, links=no) is an orchestra that was founded in 1842 and is considered to be one of the finest in the world.
The Vienna Philharmonic is based at the Musikverein in Vienna, Austria. It ...
.
In 1904 and 1905 he was
Kapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
at the
Stuttgarter Hoftheater
His compositions include 22
operetta
Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...
s, 6
ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
s, dance music and ''
lied
In Western classical music tradition, (, plural ; , plural , ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music to create a piece of polyphonic music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German, but among English and French s ...
er.''
Hellmesberger died of
kidney failure
Kidney failure, also known as end-stage kidney disease, is a medical condition in which the kidneys can no longer adequately filter waste products from the blood, functioning at less than 15% of normal levels. Kidney failure is classified as eit ...
, in Vienna at age 52.
References
*
Josef Hellmesberger Jr. biographyat the ''Tribal Smile Music Encyclopedia''
at ''
aeiou Encyclopedia
Austria-Forum is a freely accessible online collection of reference works in both German language, German and English language, English about Austria-related topics.
Background
The predecessor of Austria-Forum, the AEIOU project was launched in ...
''
Biographies of members of the Hellmesberger family(in German)
1855 births
1907 deaths
Austrian classical violinists
Male conductors (music)
Austrian male classical composers
Austrian opera composers
Austrian Romantic composers
Hellmesberger family
Male opera composers
Male classical violinists
20th-century Austrian conductors (music)
20th-century Austrian male musicians
19th-century male musicians
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