Gustav Alexander Wilhelm Nicolai (28 May 1795 – 21 December 1868) was a

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n writer and composer.

Career

Nicolai was born in Berlin to Friederike Sophie Riemer and her husband Carl Friedrich Wilhelm Nicolai, an Ober-Finanzrat (Upper Finance Council) member and director of the Prussian maritime trading company. He was educated in the Gymnasium in

Königsberg in der Neumark Chojna (; "King's Mountain in the New March") is a small town in northwestern Poland in the West Pomeranian Voivodeship. It lies approximately south of Szczecin. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 7,330. Chojna is located near ...

, attending the Gymnasium and receiving instruction from the organist Gracht Unterricht. He returned to Berlin in 1812, spending a short time at the

Graues Kloster The Evangelisches Gymnasium zum Grauen Kloster, located in suburban Schmargendorf, Berlin, is an independent school with a humanistic profile, known as one of the most prestigious schools in Germany. Founded by the Evangelical Church in West Berli ...

and receiving piano lessons from Johann Philipp Schmidt. In 1813, he fought in the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

and studied under

Friedrich Wilhelm Berner Friedrich Wilhelm Berner (16 March 1780 – 9 May 1827) was a German organist, composer, teacher and writer on music theory. Life Berner was born at Breslau (now Wrocław) in 1780. His father Johann Georg Berner, the organist of St Elizabeth's C ...

in Breslau. From 1820 to 1843, he was Divisional Auditor in Berlin before becoming a private tutor. His friends included the composers

Adolf Bernhard Marx Friedrich Heinrich Adolf Bernhard Marx . B. Marx(15 May 1795, Halle, Saxony-Anhalt, Halle – 17 May 1866, Berlin) was a German people, German Music theory, music theorist, Music criticism, critic, and musicologist. Life Marx was the son of ...

Gaspare Spontini Gaspare Luigi Pacifico Spontini (14 November 177424 January 1851) was an Italian opera composer and conductor from the classical era. During the first two decades of the 19th century, Spontini was an important figure in French ''opera'', and ...

and

Carl Loewe Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (; 30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869), usually called Carl Loewe (sometimes seen as Karl Loewe), was a German composer, tenor singer and conductor. In his lifetime, his songs ("Balladen") were well enough known for ...

, for whom he wrote the oratorio libretto ''Die Zerstörung von Jerusalem'', set to music by Loewe in 1833.

Frederick William III of Prussia Frederick William III (; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, when the empire was dissolved ...

rewarded Nicolai with a golden box for the same libretto - the king was one of his prominent supporters, giving him the Gold Medal for Art and Science. Nicolai became widely known for his travelogue, ''Italien wie es wirklich ist'' (''Italy as it is'', 1834), in which he critically described the country. He was heavily criticised, including by Friedrich Wilhelm Gubitz. Nicolai unsuccessfully sued for libel against the review '' Blätter für literarische Unterhaltung'' of 1 September 1834 (Nr. 244). The judgement made legal history, defining the right of literary criticism.Annalen der deutschen und ausländischen Criminal-Rechtspflege, begründet von Julius Eduard Hitzig, fortgesetzt von den Gerichts-Directoren Dr. Demme in Altenburg und Klunge in Zeitz, Band 3, Altenburg 1837, S. 180-218 /archive.org/details/bub_gb_f8ZCAAAAcAAJ (Digitalised)/ref> Between 1835 and 1843, he corresponded with

Robert Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

and wrote several essays for 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 ...

''.

Personal life

Nicolai's first marriage was to Henriette Dorothea May, and after her death, his second was to Leopoldine Concordia Cölestine Grothe (1817 – 11 July 1852). They had four children in 1833, 1834, 1836 and 1837 (who all died in infancy), followed by Arthur Gustav (1845–1846), Leontine Catherine Valerie (1848–1868) and Leontine Rosamunde (born 1850). He died in Berlin.

Publications

* ''Die Geweihten, oder der Kantor von Fichtenhagen. Humoreske in zwei Theilen'', Berlin: Schlesinger 1829; 2. Aufl. 1846 * ''Jeremias, der Volkscomponist, eine humoristische Vision aus dem 25sten Jahrhundert'', Berlin: Wagenführ 1830 * ''Italien, wie es wirklich ist. Bericht über eine merkwürdige Reise in den hesperischen Gefilden als Warnungsstimme (für Alle, welche sich dahin sehnen)'', 2 Bände, Leipzig: Wiegand 1834 – 2. Aufl. 1835 (im Anhang zahlreiche Rezensionen der Erstauflage) ** Band
(Digitalisat)
** Band
(Digitalisat)
** Neuausgabe der Erstausgabe von 1834, mit Anmerkungen versehen und ergänzt mit zeitgenössischen Kritiken und Dokumenten zum Rechtsstreit wegen Beleidigung. Berlin 2016, . * ''Arabesken für Musikfreunde'', 2 Bände, Leipzig: Wigand 183
(Digitalisat)

Selected compositions

* op. 1: ''Die Sängerfahrt'', ballad to a text by Ernst Schulze (1836) * op. 2: ''Das Mädchen am Ufer'' (''The Girl on the Shore''), ballad after the English (1836) * op. 3–7: ''Zwölf Balladen'' (''Twelve Ballads'') to a text by

Ludwig Uhland Johann Ludwig Uhland (26 April 1787 – 13 November 1862) was a German poet, philologist, literary historian, lawyer and politician. Biography He was born in Tübingen, Württemberg, and studied jurisprudence at the university there, b ...

(1837)

Bibliography

* Carl Freiherr von Ledebur, ''Tonkünstler-Lexicon Berlin’s von den ältesten Zeiten bis auf die Gegenwart'', Berlin 1861, S. 396f. * Martin A. Völker, ''Wo die Zitronen blühen und die Flöhe beißen – Das Sehnsuchtsland Italien bei Gustav Nicolai (1795–1868) und Eduard Boas (1815–1853)'', in: Franciszek Grucza (Hrsg.), ''Akten des XII. internationalen Germanistenkongresses Warschau 2010. Vielheit und Einheit der Germanistik weltweit'', Bd. 7, Frankfurt am Main: Lang 2012, S. 185–190 * ''Briefwechsel Robert und Clara Schumanns mit Korrespondenten in Berlin 1832 bis 1883'', edited by

Klaus Martin Kopitz Klaus Martin Kopitz (born January 29, 1955, Stendal) is a German composer and musicologist. He became known in particular with his album ''Mia Brentano's Hidden Sea. 20 songs for 2 pianos''. In the US, it was 2018 on the annual "Want List" of t ...

, Eva Katharina Klein and

Thomas Synofzik Thomas Synofzik (born 30 December 1966) is a German musicologist. He is director of the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau. Life Synofzik was born in Dortmund. After achieving the Abitur, he studied church music at the Dortmund University of Musi ...

(''Schumann-Briefedition'', Serie II, Band 17), Cologne: Dohr 2015, S. 473–489,

References

External links

Genealogy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicolai, Gustav 1795 births 1868 deaths German travel writers Writers from Berlin Prussian Army personnel of the Napoleonic Wars Composers from the Kingdom of Prussia Writers from the Kingdom of Prussia 19th-century German composers 19th-century German male musicians 19th-century German non-fiction writers 19th-century German male writers German male non-fiction writers German male composers German oratorio and passion librettists