Adalbert von Goldschmidt (5 May 1848, Vienna - 21 December 1906, Vienna) was an Austrian composer,

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems ( oral or wr ...

and

satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-1960 ...

of Jewish origin. Being a friend of

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late R ...

and Anton Bruckner and trained at the

Vienna Conservatory Vienna Conservatory may refer to: *University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university ...

, he first drew wide acclaim for his work ''Die sieben Todsünden (The seven deadly sins),'' the first oratorio in the history of music using

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

s orchestration and techniques. He was a scholar of Franz Liszt and created a trilogy of

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 libre ...

s; the first of which, ''Helianthus'', premiered successfully in

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 1884. He also composed numerous songs (on poems by Goethe, Mörike, Brothers Grimm, Lord Byron, Victor Hugo Paul Verlaine) and some works for solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

. His grand-nephew was the conductor

Nicholas Goldschmidt Nicholas Goldschmidt, (December 6, 1908 – February 8, 2004) was a Canadian conductor, administrator, teacher, performer, music festival entrepreneur and artistic director. He was the grand-nephew of famed composer Adalbert von Goldschmidt (1848- ...

. In 2020 a first book about his long forgotten work got published:
Der Unsterblichkeitsclown: Adalbert von Goldschmidt - Ein Dichterkomponist im Wiener Fin de Siècle
, written by Christian Filips. A blog on his life and work contain
audios and videos of his songs
i.e. his songs after the fairy tales by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

, the German poets

Eduard Mörike Eduard Friedrich Mörike (8 September 18044 June 1875) was a German Lutheran pastor who was also a Romantic poet and writer of novellas and novels. Many of his poems were set to music and became established folk songs, while others were used by c ...

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 t ...

and the French poets

Paul Verlaine Paul-Marie Verlaine (; ; 30 March 1844 – 8 January 1896) was a French poet associated with the Symbolist movement and the Decadent movement. He is considered one of the greatest representatives of the ''fin de siècle'' in international and F ...

and

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

References

1848 births 1906 deaths Austrian classical composers Austrian opera composers Male opera composers Austrian male classical composers 19th-century male musicians {{austria-composer-stub