Eduard Stein (16 October 1818 – 16 March 1864) was a German conductor,

music director A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

and Prince's court conductor of the (later so called)

Loh-Orchester Sondershausen The Loh-Orchester Sondershausen is an orchestra from Sondershausen founded around 1600. It influenced Music in Germany in the 19th century by helping the music of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt to achieve a breakthrough. Since 1991, the Loh-Orch ...

in the residence town of the principality of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county (earldom) until 1697. In that year, it became a principal ...

Life

Childhood and education

Stein was born in 1818 as the son of the farmer Johann Traugott Stein in near

Freiberg Freiberg () is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany, with around 41,000 inhabitants. The city lies in the foreland of the Ore Mountains, in the Saxon urbanization axis, which runs along the northern edge of the Elster and ...

in Saxony. He attended the grammar school in Freiberg, where his musical inclination was also encouraged by August Ferdinand Anacker, the founder of the Singakademie and conductor of the Bergmusikchor, which had previously been discovered by the local pastor. He then began to study theology at the

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, but under the influence of

Heinrich Marschner Heinrich August Marschner (16 August 1795 – 14 December 1861) was a German composer best known for his operas. He is considered to be the most important composer of German opera between Weber and Wagner.Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 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 period. Mendelssohn's compositions include symphonie ...

he abandoned this in favour of musical training.

Professional career

After dropping out of university and completing a musical education, Stein was music director of a travelling theatre company in

Bautzen Bautzen () or Budyšin (), until 1868 ''Budissin'' in German, is a town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and the administrative centre of the Bautzen (district), district of Bautzen. It is located on the Spree (river), Spree river, is the eighth most ...

until 1845. He then went to

Frankfurt (Oder) Frankfurt (Oder), also known as Frankfurt an der Oder (, ; Central Marchian: ''Frankfort an de Oder,'' ) is the fourth-largest city in the German state of Brandenburg after Potsdam, Cottbus and Brandenburg an der Havel. With around 58,000 inh ...

and first became director of the opera. Later he worked as the conductor of the symphony concerts, the Liedertafel and the

Singakademie A Singakademie – originally a phenomenon of the German-speaking German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and official (or co-official) la ...

. In response to his application for the position of Fürstlicher Hofkapellmeister in

Sondershausen Sondershausen () is a town in Thuringia, central Germany, capital of the Kyffhäuserkreis district, situated about 50 km (30 mi) north of Erfurt. On 1 December 2007, the former municipality Schernberg was merged with Sondershausen. Until 1918 i ...

, he was entrusted with this post in January 1853; he held it until his death on 16 March 1864 at the age of 45. During his time in Sondershausen he also taught, among others, the later Scottish conductor and composer Alexander Mackenzie.

Family

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

, Stein met Eleonore Natalie Richter (b. 1818), the daughter of a Dresden dance teacher, who came from Annaberg. On 4 October 1842, they married in Bautzen. The marriage produced a son and a daughter, whose traces, however, disappear after Eduard's death.

Creating in Sondershausen

As a conductor, Stein succeeded in raising the Hofkapelle, which had been developed into a symphony orchestra by Gottfried Herrmann, to the qualitative level of important orchestras of musically influential German centres. Very early on, he introduced the so-called (also called

New German School The New German School (, ) is a term introduced in 1859 by Franz Brendel, editor of the ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'', to describe certain trends in German music. Although the term has frequently been used in essays and books about music histo ...

) of

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

and

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

, which was still very unusual at the time. In 1856, he tried to get the public in the mood for the innovations by advertising them in the ''Deutsch''. An early performance of ''

Lohengrin Lohengrin () is a character in German Arthurian literature. The son of Parzival (Percival), he is a knight of the Holy Grail sent in a boat pulled by swans to rescue a maiden who can never ask his identity. His story, which first appears in Wo ...

'' on 26 March 1858 gained from Laue an enthusiastic review that prompted Wagner to write to Stein on 3 May: Dear Herr Kapellmeister! I have just read a report on your performance of my ''Lohengrin'', and I see from it that I was so happy to meet in you one of those rare friends whose beautiful and uplifting participation is the only thing that does not make me regret having presented my works to the public, where they so often and usually experience the fate of maltreatment and ridicule. Encounters such as yours are the only things that console me about my fate, which without them would have to be one of the most deplorable in existence. Greet Mr. Pichon - despite his misfortune at the first performance - most sincerely, and thank him on my behalf for having drawn my attention with beautiful warmth some time ago to your great devotion to my work. ..To your honoured orchestra, as well as to the singers unknown to me, who distinguished themselves so much in ''Lohengrin'', my greatest thanks and best regards! Hopefully I will also see you one day: then let my handshake complete what I am saying today in brief, but with emphatic, heartfelt emphasis: - Thank you, thank you for the pleasure you have given me! : Yours, Richard Wagner." To Stein's rejoinder, Wagner replied on 3 July: : "Dear friend! Please take this opportunity to thank me in brief for your exceptionally friendly letter, and, if you please, also inform Herr Laue of my joy at having won such an affectionate heart in him, as well as in you! : ..Your most devoted Richard Wagner." The programming and performance practice met with Franz Liszt's admiration and prompted him to come to Sondershausen three times to experience concerts under Stein. Even after Stein's death, further visits followed. With Liszt, the pianist, conductor and feared critic

Hans von Bülow Freiherr Hans Guido von Bülow (; 8 January 1830 – 12 February 1894) was a German conductor, pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. As one of the most distinguished conductors of the 19th century, his activity was critical for establishi ...

and the journalist and editor of the ''

Neue Zeitschrift für Musik The New Journal of Music (, and abbreviated to NZM) is a music magazine, co-founded in Leipzig by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, Julius Knorr and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke. Its first issue appe ...

'' in Leipzig,

Franz Brendel Karl Franz Brendel (26 November 1811 – 25 November 1868) was a German music critic, journalist and musicologist born in Stolberg, Saxony-Anhalt, Stolberg, the son of a successful mining engineer named :de:Christian Friedrich Brendel, Christian ...

, also came to the residential city. With their praising reports, they made the town of Sondershausen and the orchestra widely known in the music world.

Legacy

To commemorate the year on 16 March 1865, a marble stone with the inscription "EDUARD STEIN , † , XVI MAERZ MDCCCLXIV" was ceremoniously unveiled on the grave (in what was then the Rosengarten cemetery). This gravesite was levelled in 1952. Since 2012, there has been a stele with Stein's portrait and life data on the Alten Gottesacker.Vgl
Grave site
an
Ensemblesicht Complete view
Until the demolition of the Loh Hall in 1973, Stein's name stood alongside other bandmasters of the Loh Orchestra in a surrounding frieze in the concert shell. Today, a replica of this frieze can be found in the music department of the Sondershausen Palace. His name can also be read in the foyer of the concert hall ''Haus der Kunst'' in Sondershausen.

Footnotes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stein, Eduard German conductors (music) 1818 births 1864 deaths Musicians from Freiberg Leipzig University alumni