Friedrich Robert Volkmann (6 April 1815 – 30 October 1883) was a German composer.

Life

Robert Volkmann was born in

Lommatzsch Lommatzsch (; hsb, Hłomač) is a municipality located in the district of Meißen in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. Geography Lommatzsch lies amidst the so-called ''Lommatzscher Pflege'', an area of land featuring high quality loessic soi ...

near Meißen, Germany. His father, a music director for a church, trained him in music to prepare him as a successor. Thus, Volkmann learned to play the organ and the piano with his father, studied violin and cello with Friebel, and by age 12, he was playing the cello part in string quartets by

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 led ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

. In 1832, he entered the Freiberg Gymnasium for the purpose of becoming a teacher. There he studied music with August Ferdinand Anacker, who encouraged him to devote himself to music more fully. From there he went on to

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 1836 to study with Carl Ferdinand Becker. In Leipzig, he met

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 encouraged him in his studies. They met again several times after that. When he finished his studies, he began working as voice teacher at a music school in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He did not stay there long, and in 1841 he moved to

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

,Viktor von Herzfeld, "Robert Volkman", in ''The Musical Quarterly'' vol. 1 (1915) no. 3, pp. 336–349. where he was employed as a piano teacher and a reporter for the ''Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung''. After a short period of freelance work, he became the choirmaster and organist of a Reform synagogue in 1848.''Austrian Music Dictionary''
(German) He composed in virtual obscurity until 1852, when his

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 ...

in B-flat minor caught the ears of

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 ...

and Hans von Bülow, who proceeded to play it several times all over Europe. In 1854, Volkmann moved to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, only to return to Budapest in 1858. Thanks to the publisher Gustav Heckenast, who in 1857 bought the rights to publish all Volkmann's works in exchange for regular income regardless of sales, Volkmann was able to fully dedicate himself to composition, until Heckenast closed down his Budapest publishing house in the early 1870s. While visiting Vienna in 1864, Volkmann became acquainted with

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

, and they became close friends. In letters they addressed each other as "''lieber Freund''" ("dear friend"). From the 1870s Volkmann slowed down and composed very little. From 1875 until his death, he was professor of harmony and counterpoint at Budapest's National Academy of Music, where Liszt was the director. Volkmann died in Budapest aged 68.

Compositions

References

External links

Robert Volkmann String Quartet Nos. 1, 4 & 5, & Piano Trio No. 1
Soundbites & Information. * * 1815 births 1883 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century German composers 19th-century Hungarian people 19th-century German male musicians German male classical composers German Romantic composers Hungarian classical composers Hungarian people of German descent People from Lommatzsch People from the Kingdom of Saxony {{Composer-stub