Ferdinand Hummel (September 6, 1855 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

– April 24, 1928 in Berlin) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

, harp player,

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

.Ferdinand Hummel. ''

Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'' is a major reference work in the field of music, originally compiled by Theodore Baker, PhD, and published in 1900 by G. Schirmer, Inc. The ninth edition, the most recent edition, was published in ...

'' (Schirmer; 2001) Hummel started as a child prodigy, and his father, who was a flute player in the Royal Orchestra in Berlin, took care of his son's first musical training instructing him in both the piano and the harp from the age of four (some say seven) gaining a ''King Wilhelm von Preussen Stipendium'', so he could study with Antonio Zamara at the ''Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde'' in Vienna. In the years 1864 to 1867, the boy toured with his father to South and North Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia, where he was hailed as a great harp virtuoso. Through a Royal grant, he later went to study at New Academy of Music, Berlin (

Theodor Kullak Theodor Kullak (12 September 1818 – 1 March 1882) was a German pianist, composer and teacher. Background Kullak was born on 12 September 1818, in Krotoszyn. He began his piano studies as a pupil of Albrecht Agthe in Poznań. He progressed suf ...

's institute) from 1868 to 1875 and later at the Royal High School for Music and Composition with

Woldemar Bargiel Woldemar Bargiel (3 October 182823 February 1897) was a German composer and conductor of the Romantic period. Life Bargiel was born in Berlin and was the younger maternal half-brother of Clara Schumann. Bargiel’s father Adolph was a well-known ...

and

Friedrich Kiel Friedrich Kiel (8 October 182113 September 1885) was a German composer and music educator. Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his ...

as his principal teachers. After his education, he was a harp player in B. Bilse's Orchestra, which was later to become the

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra The Berlin Philharmonic () is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. Throughout the 20th century, the orchestra was led by conductors Wilhelm Furtwängler (1922� ...

. In 1892, Hummel was appointed leader of the stage music at the Royal Theatre in Berlin, becoming director from 1897 to 1917. As a composer, Hummel was very productive writing operas, chamber music, piano pieces and choral works. Today his music is mostly forgotten, but his operas are at least of some interest since they form a German equivalent to the Italian ''Verismo''-style of Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo. His operas include: ''Mara'' op. 61 (1893), ''Angla'' op. 60 (1894), ''Ein treuer Schelm'' op. 64 (A faithful rogue) (1894), ''Assarpai'' op. 65 (1898), Sophie von Brabant (Sophie from Brabant) (1899). ''Die Beichte'' op. 69 (The Confession) (1900), ''Die Gefilde der Seligen'' (The Field of the Holy Ones) (1917) and J''enseits des Stroms'' (On the Other Side of the Stream) (1922). He also composed music for the plays ''Das heilige Lachen'' (The Holy Laughing) and ''Sakuntala'' – both in 1903. He composed a symphony in D major op. 105, a piano concerto in B flat major op. 35, a piano quintet, a violin sonata, a horn sonata and other minor works. He is not related to

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Antonio Salieri, and ...

(1778–1837).

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hummel, Ferdinand German Romantic composers German opera composers German male opera composers Musicians from Berlin 1855 births 1928 deaths 19th-century German musicians