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Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
,
Salieri Antonio Salieri (18 August 17507 May 1825) was an Italian classical composer, conductor, and teacher. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg monarch ...
and Clementi. He also knew
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 classic ...
and Schubert.


Life


Early life

Hummel was born as an only child (which was unusual for that period) in Pressburg,
Kingdom of Hungary The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...
(now
Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...
,
Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
). He was named after the Czech patron saint
John of Nepomuk John of Nepomuk (or John Nepomucene) ( cs, Jan Nepomucký; german: Johannes Nepomuk; la, Ioannes Nepomucenus) ( 1345 – 20 March 1393) was the saint of Bohemia (Czech Republic) who was drowned in the Vltava river at the behest of Wenceslaus ...
. His father, Johannes Hummel, was the director of the Imperial School of Military Music in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
; his mother, Margarethe Sommer Hummel, was the widow of the wigmaker Josef Ludwig. The couple married just four months beforehand. Hummel was a child prodigy. At the age of eight, he was offered music lessons by the classical composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was impressed with his ability. Hummel was taught and housed by Mozart for two years free of charge and made his first concert appearance at the age of nine at one of Mozart's concerts. Hummel's father then took him on a European tour, arriving in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
where he received instruction from Muzio Clementi and where he stayed for four years before returning to Vienna. In 1791
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...
, who was in London at the same time as young Hummel, composed a sonata for Hummel, who gave its first performance in the Hanover Square Rooms in Haydn's presence. When Hummel finished, Haydn reportedly thanked the young man and gave him a guinea. The outbreak of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
and the following
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First French Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public Capital punishment, executions took pl ...
caused Hummel to cancel a planned tour through Spain and France. Instead, he returned to Vienna, giving concerts along his route. Upon his return to Vienna he was taught by
Johann Georg Albrechtsberger Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (3 February 1736 – 7 March 1809) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist, and one of the teachers of Ludwig van Beethoven. He was a friend of Haydn and Mozart. Biography Albrechtsberger was born at ...
,
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...
, and Antonio Salieri. At about this time, young
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 classic ...
arrived in Vienna and also took lessons from Haydn and Albrechtsberger, thus becoming a fellow student and a friend. Beethoven's arrival was said to have nearly destroyed Hummel's self-confidence, though he recovered without much harm. The two men's friendship was marked by ups and downs, but developed into reconciliation and mutual respect. Hummel visited Beethoven in Vienna on several occasions with his wife Elisabeth and pupil Ferdinand Hiller. At Beethoven's wish, Hummel improvised at the great man's memorial concert. It was at this event that he made friends with
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 wo ...
, who dedicated his last three piano sonatas to Hummel. However, since both composers had died by the time of the sonatas' first publication, the publishers changed the dedication to
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 was still active at the time.


Career

In 1804, Hummel became ''
Konzertmeister The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signif ...
'' to Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy's estate at
Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg Empire's Kingdom ...
. Although he had taken over many of the duties of '' Kapellmeister'' because Haydn's health did not permit him to perform them himself, he continued to be known simply as the ''Konzertmeister'' out of respect to Haydn, receiving the title of ''Kapellmeister'', or music director, to the Eisenstadt court only after the older composer died in May 1809. He remained in the service of Prince Esterházy for seven years altogether before being dismissed in May 1811 for neglecting his duties. He then returned to Vienna where, after spending two years composing, he married the opera singer
Elisabeth Röckel Elisabeth Röckel (15 March 1793 – 3 March 1883) was a German soprano opera singer and the wife of the composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Life Röckel was born in Neunburg vorm Wald, Bavaria, and baptised Maria Eva. She was a sister of the op ...
in 1813. The following year, at her request, was spent touring Russia and the rest of Europe. The couple had two sons. The younger,
Carl Carl may refer to: * Carl, Georgia, city in USA * Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community *Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name * Carl², a TV series * "Carl", an episode of ...
(1821–1907), became a well-known landscape painter. The older, , worked as pianist, conductor and composer; he moved to the U.S. and died in
Troy, New York Troy is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Huds ...
. He was at Beethoven's funeral as a pallbearer. Hummel later held the positions of ''Kapellmeister'' in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the Sw ...
from 1816 to 1818 and in
Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...
from 1819 to 1837, where he formed a close friendship with
Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as tr ...
, learning among other things to appreciate the poetry of
Schiller Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (, short: ; 10 November 17599 May 1805) was a German playwright, poet, and philosopher. During the last seventeen years of his life (1788–1805), Schiller developed a productive, if complicated, friends ...
, who had died in 1805. During Hummel's stay in Weimar he made the city into a European musical capital, inviting the best musicians of the day to visit and make music there. He brought one of the first musicians' pension schemes into existence, giving benefit concert tours when the retirement fund ran low. Hummel was one of the first to agitate for musical copyright to combat intellectual piracy. In 1825, the Parisian music-publishing firm of
Aristide Farrenc Jacques Hippolyte Aristide Farrenc (9 April 1794 – 31 January 1865) was a French flautist, musicologist and music publisher. Biography Aristide Farrenc worked as a flautist at the Théâtre italien and founded the ''Éditions Farrenc'', a ...
announced that it had acquired the French publishing rights for all future works by Hummel. In 1830, Hummel gave three concerts in Paris; at one of them, a rondo by Hummel was performed by Aristide Farrenc's wife, the composer Louise Farrenc, who also "sought Hummel's comments on her keyboard technique." In 1832, at the age of 54 and in failing health, Hummel began to devote less energy to his duties as music director at Weimar. In addition, after Goethe's death in March 1832 he had less contact with local theatrical circles and as a result found himself in partial retirement from 1832 until his death in 1837.


Last years and legacy

At the end of his life, Hummel saw the rise of a new school of young composers and virtuosi, and found his own music slowly going out of fashion. His disciplined and clean Clementi-style technique, and his balanced classicism, opposed him to the rising school of tempestuous bravura displayed by the likes of Liszt. Composing less and less, but still highly respected and admired, Hummel died peacefully in Weimar in 1837. A
freemason Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
(like Mozart), Hummel bequeathed a considerable portion of his famous garden behind his Weimar residence to his masonic lodge. His grave is in the
Historical Cemetery, Weimar The Klassik Stiftung Weimar (''Classical Foundation Weimar'') is one of the largest and most significant cultural institutions in Germany. It owns more than 20 museums, palaces, historic houses and parks, as well as literary and art collections, ...
. Although Hummel died famous, with a lasting posthumous reputation apparently secure, he and his music were quickly forgotten at the onrush of the
Romantic period Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
, perhaps because his classical ideas were seen as old-fashioned. Later, during the classical revival of the early 20th century, Hummel was passed over. Like Haydn (for whom a revival had to wait until the second half of the 20th century), Hummel was overshadowed by Mozart and especially Beethoven, his contemporary. Due to a rising number of available recordings and an increasing number of live concerts across the world, his music is now becoming reestablished in the classical repertoire. Notable students include Ferdinand Hiller and Alexander Müller.


Music

Hummel's music took a different direction from that of Beethoven. Looking forward, Hummel stepped into modernity through pieces like his Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 81, and his Fantasy, Op. 18, for piano. These pieces are examples where Hummel may be seen to both challenge the classical harmonic structures and stretch the sonata form. His main
oeuvre Oeuvre(s) or Œuvre(s) may refer to: * A work of art; or, more commonly, the body of work of a creator Books * ''L'Œuvre'', a novel by Émile Zola * ''Œuvres'', a work by Emil Cioran * ''Œuvres'', a work by Auguste Brizeux * ''Oeuvres'', a wo ...
is for the piano, on which instrument he was one of the great virtuosi of his day. He wrote eight piano concertos, a
double concerto A double concerto (Italian: ''Doppio concerto''; German: ''Doppelkonzert'') is a concerto featuring two performers—as opposed to the usual single performer, in the solo role. The two performers' instruments may be of the same type, as in Bach's ...
for violin and piano, ten piano sonatas (of which four are without opus numbers, and one is still unpublished), eight
piano trio A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music. The term can also refer to a group of m ...
s, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, a wind octet, a cello sonata, two piano septets, a mandolin concerto, a mandolin sonata, a Trumpet Concerto in E major written for the
keyed trumpet The keyed trumpet is a brass instrument that makes use of keyed openings in its bore rather than extensions of the length of the bore as the means of playing all the notes of the chromatic scale. The instrument's popularity reached its high-point ...
(usually heard in the more convenient E-flat major), a "Grand Bassoon Concerto" in F, a quartet for
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 pitch ...
,
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 regu ...
,
viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...
, and
cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...
,
four hand piano Piano four hands (french: À quatre mains, german: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, it, a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is ...
music, 22
opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
s and
Singspiel A Singspiel (; plural: ; ) is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and aria In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plur ...
s, masses, and much more, including a variation on a theme supplied by
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 ...
for part 2 of '' Vaterländischer Künstlerverein''. Although thought of in terms of the piano in modern times, Hummel was seriously and constantly interested in 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 string ...
, and he was talented with the instrument. He was prolific in his writing, and his compositions for it begin with opus 7 and finish with opus 93. Other guitar works include Opp. 43, 53, 62, 63, 66, 71 and 91, which are written for a mixture of instruments.Philip J. Bone, ''The Guitar and Mandolin, biographies of celebrated players and composers for these instruments'', London: Schott and Co., 1914.
/ref> Hummel's output is marked by the conspicuous lack of a
symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...
. Of his eight piano concertos the first two are early Mozartesque compositions (S. 4/ WoO 24 and S. 5) and the later six were numbered and published with opus numbers (Opp. 36, 85, 89, 110, 113, and posth.) A full list of Hummel's works is available online.


Influence

While in Germany, Hummel published ''A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instruction on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte'' (1828), which sold thousands of copies within days of its publication and brought about a new style of fingering and of playing ornaments. Later 19th century pianistic technique was influenced by Hummel, through his instruction of Carl Czerny who later taught
Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...
. Czerny had transferred to Hummel after studying three years with Beethoven. Hummel's influence can also be seen in the early works of
Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...
and
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 ...
, and the shadow of Hummel's Piano Concerto in B minor as well as his
Piano Concerto in A minor The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 16, composed by Edvard Grieg in 1868, was the only concerto Grieg completed. It is one of his most popular works and is among the most popular of the genre. Structure The concerto is in three movements: ...
can be particularly perceived in Chopin's concertos. This is unsurprising, considering that Chopin must have heard Hummel on one of the latter's concert tours to Poland and Russia, and that Chopin kept Hummel's piano concertos in his active repertoire. Harold C. Schonberg, in ''The Great Pianists'', writes "...the openings of the Hummel A minor and Chopin E minor concertos are too close to be coincidental". In relation to Chopin's Preludes, Op. 28, Schonberg says: "It also is hard to escape the notion that Chopin was very familiar with Hummel's now-forgotten Op. 67, composed in 1815 – a set of twenty-four preludes in all major and minor keys, starting with C major".
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 ...
also practiced Hummel (especially the Sonata in F-sharp minor, Op. 81), and considered becoming his pupil. Liszt's father Adam refused to pay the high tuition fee Hummel was used to charging (thus Liszt ended up studying with Czerny). Czerny, Friedrich Silcher, Ferdinand Hiller,
Sigismond Thalberg Sigismond Thalberg (8 January 1812 – 27 April 1871) was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century. Family He was born in Pâquis near Geneva on 8 January 1812. According to his own account, h ...
, and
Adolf von Henselt Georg Martin Adolf von Henselt (9 or 12 May 181410 October 1889) was a German composer and virtuoso pianist. Life Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Josephe v ...
were among Hummel's most prominent students. He also briefly gave some lessons to
Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...
.Joel Sachs, "Hummel, Johann Nepomuk", §6 'Performance and teaching', Oxford Music Online (subscription only), accessed 29 May 2011


References

Notes Sources * * Further reading * ''Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Der Mensch und Künstler''. Karl Benyovszky, Breslau: Eos-Verlag 1934. * ''Zwischen Klassik und Klassizismus. Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Wien und Weimar''. Anselm Gerhard, Laurenz Lütteken (editors), Kassel: Bärenreiter 2003. * * Lorenz, Michael
"Maria Eva Hummel. A Postscript"
Vienna 2013 * ''Kapellmeister Hummel in England and France''. Joel Sachs, Detroit: Information Coordinators 1977. * ''Johann Nepomuk Hummel und Weimar. Komponist, Klaviervirtuose, Kapellmeister 1778–1837''. Kurt Thomas, Weimar: Rat der Stadt 1987 * Dieter Zimmerschied. ''Die Kammermusik Johann Nepomuk Hummels''. Mainz 1966. * Dieter Zimmerschied. ''Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Johann Nepomuk Hummel''. Hofheim am Taunus: Hofmeister 1971.


External links

* *
The Hummel Project
biographical information, videos, audio samples and scores, information on performances of Hummel's works *
Hummel Gesellschaft Weimar
(Hummel society in Weimar) (German)
Hummel's House in Marienstrasse 8, Weimar
Official website of the Hummel House (owned by the Lückhoff Institute)
musicalics.com

8notes biography and commentary



Hummel
on Hyperion Records; many of the individual CD pages have a further link to sound samples and/or the CD booklet notes.
Hummel medallion
by David d'Angers, 1834.
Hummel notes written in Japanese by Mikio Tao
* , animated score {{DEFAULTSORT:Hummel, Johann Nepomuk 1778 births 1837 deaths 18th-century Austrian people 18th-century classical composers 18th-century classical pianists 18th-century keyboardists 18th-century Austrian male musicians 19th-century Austrian people 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists 19th-century keyboardists 19th-century male musicians Austrian Classical-period composers Austrian classical pianists Austrian Freemasons Austrian male classical composers Austrian Romantic composers Composers for piano Composers for the classical guitar Honorary Members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Male classical pianists Musicians from Bratislava Pupils of Antonio Salieri Pupils of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger String quartet composers