Alfred Dörffel (24 January 1821 – 22 January 1905) was a German pianist, music publisher and librarian.

Career

Dörffel was born in Waldenburg, Saxony, the son of August Friedrich Dörffel and his wife Christiane Charlotte, née Kröhne. He received his first musical training by the Waldenburg organist Johann Adolf Trube. He later studied in Leipzig with Gottfried Wilhelm Fink,

Felix Mendelssohn 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 music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

and

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

. Dörffel was editor for

Breitkopf & Härtel Breitkopf & Härtel () is a German Music publisher, music publishing house. Founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf, it is the world's oldest music publisher. Overview The catalogue contains over 1,000 composers, 8,000 works ...

and

Edition Peters Edition Peters is a classical music publisher founded in Leipzig, Germany in 1800. History The company came into being on 1 December 1800 when the Viennese composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) and the local organist Ambrosius Kühn ...

. He published a ' (Guide to the musical world), translated the ' (Instruction on scoring) by

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

, published in 1864. He edited several volumes of the first complete edition of the Works of Johann Sebastian Bach by the ''

Bach-Gesellschaft The German Bach-Gesellschaft (Bach Society) was a society formed in 1850 for the express purpose of publishing the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach without editorial additions. The collected works are known as the Bach-Gesellschaft-Aus ...

'', known as the ', beginning with

cantatas A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning ...

in 1876 and ending with the '' '' (then attributed to Bach) in 1898. He wrote reviews for the ' and the ''Musikalisches Wochenblatt'' (Musical weekly). In 1881, Dörffler wrote the review of 100 years

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 ...

for the centenary of the concert hall, ', including a statistic of the concerts during this period. Dörffler founded a library for literature on music, which became part of the ', opened in 1894. He also worked as curator for the music section of the ' (Leipzig municipal library). The Universität Leipzig awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1885.

Gustav Flügel Carl Gustav Flügel (2 July 1812 – 15 August 1900) was a German composer. Life and work Ancestors and childhood Flügel was born on 2 July 1812 in Nienburg an der Saale as the son of the ducal ferryman Johann Karl Flügel (1770–1828) a ...

dedicated his ', Op. 38 (1856, Leipzig, Merseburger) to Dörffel. Dörffler was a member of the

Masonic Lodge A Masonic lodge (also called Freemasons' lodge, or private lodge or constituent lodge) is the basic organisational unit of Freemasonry. It is also a commonly used term for a building where Freemasons meet and hold their meetings. Every new l ...

' from 1842 and composed several works for their meetings, often on texts by . He was married to Charlotte Louise Benigna, née Trabert, they had several children. He died in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

References

External links

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Bach Bibliographie / Dörffel, Alfred
bw.edu {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorffel, Alfred 19th-century German pianists German music publishers (people) German Freemasons German librarians 1821 births 1905 deaths People from the Kingdom of Saxony