Gustav Peter (1833 – 1919) was a
composer of
popular music
Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Funk ...
.

There is little known about the life of Gustav Peter.
[Ursula Hemetek, Rudolf Pietsch, ''Volksmusik, Wandel und Deutung.'' Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2000. . Seite 585]
Preview at Google-Books
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He is supposed to be Austrian or Hungarian but this is still unsure. Sometimes his name is also given as ''Gustav Heinrich Peter'' or ''Heinrich Gustav Peter''.
Gustav Peter is the composer of the widely popular piece of music ''Memory of Circus Renz'' that was published in 1894 with the original title ''Souvenir de Cirque Renz''. Its musical form
In music, ''form'' refers to the structure of a musical composition or performance. In his book, ''Worlds of Music'', Jeff Todd Titon suggests that a number of organizational elements may determine the formal structure of a piece of music, suc ...
is a Galop
In dance, the galop, named after the fastest running gait of a horse (see Gallop), a shortened version of the original term galoppade, is a lively country dance, introduced in the late 1820s to Parisian society by the Duchesse de Berry and pop ...
and primarily it was written for xylophone
The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Like the glockenspiel (which uses metal bars), the xylophone essentially consists of a set of tuned wooden keys arranged in t ...
, but later adapted to various kinds of instruments. It is one of the best-known examples of circus music.
The work was composed at a time when fast dances such as the ''Galopp'' were popular in German light music, the xylophone was being rediscovered as an instrument, and Circus Renz was enjoying great popularity in Berlin
Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...
. Thus, a number of Gustav Peter's contemporaries composed similar works, most of which, however, have been forgotten today.
External links
* ''Souvenir de Cirque Renz'' historic music notes at the Landesbibliothek Coburg
The Landesbibliothek Coburg is a regional state (scientific) library under the administration of the Free State of Bavaria. It has its seat in the Ehrenburg Palace in Coburg and brings together the historical book collections of the dukes reigni ...
(Germany)
Brass band
�
strings
*Historic records:
** ''Souvenir de Renz'' Galopp (Dietrich), Albert Müller (Xylophon), Odeon No. 64765
Online at gramofon.nava.hu
** ''Souvenir à Cirque Renz'' ['' H. Fliege'' is given as composer what is supposed to be a confusion because of his ''Gavotte Circus Renz Op. 105'', a distinct work.] Glockenspiel
The glockenspiel ( or , : bells and : set) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the vibraphone.
The ...
-Solo played by Albert Müller, Favorite Record 1-14160
Online at gramofon.nava.hu
*Modern performances:
Xylophone
Typical arrangement for brassband
most popular kind of performance
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peter, Gustav
1833 births
1919 deaths
Male composers