Wilhelm Friedrich Wieprecht (10 August 18024 August 1872) was a German musical conductor, composer and inventor.
Early life
Wieprecht was born at
Aschersleben
Aschersleben () is a town in the Salzlandkreis district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated approximately 22 km east of Quedlinburg, and 45 km northwest of Halle (Saale).
Geography
Aschersleben lies near the confluence of the r ...
, where his father was a town musician.
According to his autobiography, from a young age Wieprecht learned from his father to play on nearly all wind instruments. It was in violin-playing, however, that his father particularly wished him to excel; and in 1819 he went to
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
, where he studied composition and the violin to such good purpose that a year later he was given a position in the city orchestra of
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...
, playing also in those of the opera and the famous
Gewandhaus
Gewandhaus is a concert hall in Leipzig, the home of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Today's hall is the third to bear this name; like the second, it is noted for its fine acoustics.
History
The first Gewandhaus (''Altes Gewandhaus'')
The fi ...
. At this time, besides playing the violin and
clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound.
Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...
in the orchestra, he also gave solo performances on the
trombone
The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...
.
In 1824 he went to Berlin, where he became a member of the royal orchestra, and was in the same year appointed chamber musician to the king. His residence at Berlin gave Wieprecht ample opportunity for the exercise of his genius for military music, on which his fame mainly rests. Several of his marches were early adopted by the regimental bands, and a more ambitious military composition attracted the attention of
Gasparo Spontini
Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era.
Biography
Born in Maiolati, Papal State (now Maiolati Spontini, Province of Ancona), he spent most of his c ...
, at whose house he became an intimate guest.
Later career
It was now that he began to study
acoustics
Acoustics is a branch of physics that deals with the study of mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including topics such as vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician ...
, in order to correct the deficiencies in military musical instruments. As the result, he improved the valves of the brass instruments, and succeeded, by constructing them on more sound acoustic principles, in greatly increasing the volume and purity of their tone. Together with the instrument builder
Johann Gottfried Moritz
Johann Gottfried Moritz (1777 - 23 July 1840) was a German musical instrument builder, best known as one of the inventors of the modern tuba.
Biography
Moritz was born in Berlin in 1777. From 1799 he apprenticed as an instrument builder in Leip ...
, he also invented the bass
tuba
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
or
bombardon
The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...
in order to give greater richness and power to the bass parts. In recognition of these inventions he was, in 1835, honoured by the
Royal Academy of Berlin
The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
.
In 1838 he was appointed by the
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
n government director-general of all the guards' bands, and in recognition of the magnificent performance by massed bands on the occasion of the
emperor Nicholas I
, house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp
, father = Paul I of Russia
, mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg)
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire
, death_date =
...
's visit the same year, was awarded a special uniform. In 1843 he became director-general of the bands of the 10th Confederate army corps, and from this time exercised a profound influence on the development of military music throughout Germany, and beyond.
He was the first to arrange the symphonies and overtures of the classical masters for military instruments, and to organize those outdoor performances of concert pieces by military bands which have done so much to popularize band music in Germany and elsewhere. The performance arranged by him of
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
's "Battle of Vittoria", in which the bugle calls were given by trumpeters stationed in various parts of the garden and the cannon shots were those of real guns, created immense sensation.
Besides the great work he accomplished in Germany, Wieprecht, in 1847, reorganized the military music in
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
and, in 1852, in
Guatemala
Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...
. He composed military songs as well as numerous marches, and contributed frequently on his favourite subject to the Berlin musical papers. Wieprecht was a man of genial, kindly and generous nature, and was associated with many charitable foundations established for the benefit of poor musicians.
Ludwig Bussler
Ludwig Bussler (26 November 1838 – 18 January 1900) was a German musical instructor, critic and conductor. He was born in Berlin. His father, Robert Bussler, was a painter, author and privy counsellor. He was a pupil of A.E. Grell, Siegfried ...
was one of his pupils. Of the hundreds of mounted military bands reformed by Wieprecht or influenced by his ideas only the
Life Guards' Dragoon Music Corps
The Royal Swedish Cavalry Band ( sv, Livgardets dragonmusikkår, LDK) is one of three professional military bands in the Swedish Armed Forces. The band traces its ancestry back to the 1500s when King Gustav Vasa raised his first regiment of horse ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
remains.
Death
Wieprecht died on 4 August 1872 in Berlin.
Works for Military Band
* ''Armee-Marsch Nr. 133''
* ''Drei Märsche zur Einholung des Prinzen und der Prinzessin Friedrich Wilhelm von Preußen''
* ''Einholungsmarsch'' (für den Antritt von
Friedrich Wilhelm IV. am 21. September 1840 in Berlin)
* ''Friedrike-Gossmann-Polka''
* ''Grand Pas-Redoublé I und II''
* ''Huldigungsmarsch''
* ''Konzert für Klarinette''
* ''Marsch für Kavallerie Nr. 21''
* ''Marsch für Kavallerie Nr. 30''
* ''Mein erster Defiliermarsch''
* ''Militairische Trauerparade''
* ''Musikalische Erinnerungen an die Kriegsjahre 1813, 1814, 1815''
* ''Ouvertüre Militair''
* ''Pastillons-Polka''
* ''Sechs Märsche für Kavalleriemusik''
* ''Triumphmarsch nach Themen des 5. Klavierkonzerts Es-Dur von
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...
''
* ''Wilhelmsmarsch''
* ''40 Parademärsche für Cavallerie''
* ''31 Defiliermärsche für die Infanterie''
Literature
*Armeemärsche Band 1, Toeche-Mittler J., Förlag W. Spemann Stuttgart 1980
References
Attribution:
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wieprecht
1802 births
1872 deaths
German conductors (music)
German male conductors (music)
Military music composers
People from the Province of Saxony
19th-century German composers
19th-century conductors (music)