August Joseph Norbert Burgmüller (8 February 1810 – 7 May 1836) was a German composer.

Life

Burgmüller was born in

Düsseldorf Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in ...

, the youngest son in a musical family. His father, August Burgmüller, was the director of a theatre. His mother, Therese von Zandt, was a singer and piano teacher. He had two brothers, Franz and Friedrich. Friedrich was also a composer. After the death of their father, the family had financial troubles. They were given support from Count . Burgmüller studied with

Joseph Kreutzer Joseph Kreutzer (11 November 1790 – 16 June 1840) was a German composer, conductor, guitarist, and violinist. Kreutzer was born in Aachen, the son of a local music teacher. He lived in Düsseldorf from about 1805, where he established himself amo ...

in Düsseldorf, and

Louis Spohr Louis Spohr (, 5 April 178422 October 1859), baptized Ludewig Spohr, later often in the modern German form of the name Ludwig, was a German composer, violinist and conducting, conductor. Highly regarded during his lifetime, Spohr composed ten Sy ...

and Spohr's pupil

Moritz Hauptmann Moritz Hauptmann (13 October 1792, Dresden – 3 January 1868, Leipzig), was a German music theorist, teacher and composer. His principal theoretical work is the 1853 ''Die Natur der Harmonie und der Metrik'' explores numerous topics, particula ...

Kassel Kassel (; in Germany, spelled Cassel until 1926) is a city on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Regierungsbezirk Kassel and the district of the same name and had 201,048 inhabitants in December 2 ...

. After his study he became their piano teacher. He became engaged to Sophia Roland, but in 1830 the relationship ended, to Norbert's distress. He became

epileptic Epilepsy is a group of non-communicable neurological disorders characterized by recurrent epileptic seizures. Epileptic seizures can vary from brief and nearly undetectable periods to long periods of vigorous shaking due to abnormal electrical ...

and began to drink excessively. In the same year he returned to Düsseldorf to live with his mother. There he befriended Felix Mendelssohn. He became engaged to Josephine Collin, but this relationship ended too. After Mendelssohn left for

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 ...

in 1835, Burgmüller made plans to leave for Paris, where his brother Friedrich had gone. In 1836 he went to a

spa A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneothe ...

in Aachen, where he drowned during an epileptic seizure.

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

, who arranged for the posthumous publication of Burgmüller's two symphonies, and completed the orchestration of the

scherzo A scherzo (, , ; plural scherzos or scherzi), in western classical music, is a short composition – sometimes a movement from a larger work such as a symphony or a sonata. The precise definition has varied over the years, but scherzo often ...

of the unfinished Symphony No. 2, wrote in a memorial notice that no death was more deplorable than that of Norbert Burgmüller since the early death of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

.Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 5th ed. 1954,

Eric Blom Eric Walter Blom (20 August 188811 April 1959) was a Swiss-born British-naturalised music lexicographer, music critic and writer. He is best known as the editor of the 5th edition of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' (1954). Biogr ...

, ed.

Works

The opus numbers do not correspond with the order of composition.

Orchestral works

* Piano Concerto in F-Sharp Minor, Op 1 (1829) * Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 2 (1831–33) * Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 11 (1834/35, unfinished - the third part of this symphony, Scherzo, was completed by Robert Schumann: there is no Finale). * Ouvertüre in F minor, Op. 5 (1825) * 4 Entr'actes

Vocal works

* "Dionys", Opera after Schiller's Ballad "

Die Bürgschaft "The Pledge" (German: "Die Bürgschaft", ) is a ballad published by the German poet Friedrich Schiller in his 1799 ''Musen-Almanach''. He took the idea out of the ancient legend of Damon and Pythias issuing from the Latin ''Fabulae'' by Gaius Ju ...

" (1832/34, Fragment) * 6 Songs, Op. 3 (pub. 1838) * 5 Songs, Op. 6 (pub. 1839) * 5 Songs, Op. 10 (pub. 1840) * 5 Songs, Op. 12 (pub. 1864) * Frühlingslied in G major (pub. 1840) * Morgenlied in E flat major (1834, Fragment)

Chamber music

* String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 4 (1825) * String Quartet No. 2 in D minor, Op. 7 (1825/26) * String Quartet No. 3 in A flat major, Op. 9 (1826) * String Quartet No. 4 in A minor, Op. 14 (1835) * Ständchen in E flat major for clarinet (or cello), viola and guitar (1825) * Duo in E flat major for clarinet and piano, Op. 15 (1834)

Piano music

* Sonata in F minor, Op. 8 (1826) * Waltz in E flat major (1827) * Mazurka in E flat major * Polonaise in F major, Op. 16 (1832) * Rhapsody in B minor, Op. 13 (1834)

Lost works

* Instrumentation of Karl Blum's Quodlibet "Die Wiener in Berlin" (1827) * Psalm 117 (1828) * Song: In des Irrtisch weisse Fluten (1831) * Male chorus for the "Epilog to Goethe's funeral eulogy" (1832) * Incidental Music to "Albrecht Dürer's Dream" (1833) * Festival chorus for the All-Highest Birthday Celebration of His Majesty (1834) * Easter Cantata (1836)

Recordings

* Carus 83.226: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2. Performers: Hofkapelle Stuttgart, conducted by Frieder Bernius (2010) * Carus 83.297: Piano Concerto Op. 1, Overture Op. 5 & Entr'actes Op. 17. Performers: Hofkapelle Stuttgart, conducted by Frieder Bernius (2013) * Genuin 86061: Complete Works for Piano (Op. 8, 13, 15, 16, Mazurka & Waltz). Performer: Tobias Koch. (2006) * MDG Gold 335 0817: Orchestral Works. Piano Concerto Op. 1, Symphony No. 2 & Overture Op. 5. Performers: Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Gernot Schmalfuss. (1998) * MDG Gold 336 0993: String Quartets Op. 7 & 14. Performers: Mannheimer Streichquartett. (2000) * MDG Gold 336 0994: String Quartets Op. 4 & 9. Performers: Mannheimer Streichquartett. (2003) * Querstand 0916: Songs & Chamber Music. Complete Songs Op. 3, 6, 10, 12 & Frühlingslied; Op. 13, 15 (version for violin) & Ständchen for clarinet, viola & guitar. Performers: Ulrike Fulde, soprano; Manja Raschka, mezzo-soprano; Andreas Fisher, tenor; Felix Plock, bass & Kristin Henneberg, piano. (2010)

References

External links

* * * http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/10918.html#tvf=tracks&tv=music * http://www.brilliantclassics.com/release.aspx?id=FM00430953 * http://www.cduniverse.com/sresult.asp?HT_Search=XARTIST&HT_Search_Info=N.+Burgmuller {{DEFAULTSORT:Burgmuller, Norbert 1810 births 1836 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians Accidental deaths in Germany Deaths by drowning German male classical composers German Romantic composers Musicians from Düsseldorf People with epilepsy String quartet composers