Jean Becker (May 11, 1833 – October 10, 1884) was a German

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist from

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (), is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, second-largest city in Baden-Württemberg after Stuttgart, the States of Ger ...

in the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden () was a German polity on the east bank of the Rhine. It originally existed as a sovereign state from 1806 to 1871 and later as part of the German Empire until 1918. The duchy's 12th-century origins were as a Margravia ...

Life

He studied with Aloys Kettenus and

Vincenz Lachner Vinzenz Lachner (also spelled Vincenz) (19 July 1811 – 22 January 1893)"Vinzenz Lachner", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. London: Macmillan Publishers, 1980. was a German composer and conductor. Early life Born in Rain am ...

. After a short period as a conductor at Mannheim, he entered upon a series of concert tours (1858). He finally settled in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

, where he was the founder and first violinist of the Florentine Quartet which was famous throughout the world at the time. During his career, Becker toured extensively, both as a solo virtuoso, and later, using a

Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins, violas, cellos, and guitars, crafted by members of the Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona, Italy, during the late 17th ...

violin (made 1685), as a chamber music performer. He composed some short pieces for the violin, one of which is a

Gavotte The gavotte (also gavot, gavote, or gavotta) is a French dance, taking its name from a folk dance of the Gavot, the people of the Gap, Hautes-Alpes, Pays de Gap region of Dauphiné in the southeast of France, where the dance originated, accordin ...

known to students of the violin today who pursue the

Suzuki Method The Suzuki method is a mid-20th-century music curriculum and teaching method created by Japanese violinist and pedagogue Shinichi Suzuki. The method claims to create a reinforcing environment for learning music for young learners. Backgroun ...

Antonín Dvořák Antonín Leopold Dvořák ( ; ; 8September 18411May 1904) was a Czech composer. He frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predec ...

's "Slavonic" String Quartet No. 10 in E Flat Major Op. 51 (1879) was dedicated to him. Becker's sons also became known musicians;

Hugo Becker Hugo Becker (born Jean Otto Eric Hugo Becker, 13 February 1863, died 30 July 1941) was a prominent German cellist, cello teacher, and composer. He studied at a young age with Alfredo Piatti, and later Friedrich Grützmacher in Dresden. Biogr ...

became a renowned cellist and Hans Becker a violinist.

Notes

References

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External links

A portrait of Jean Becker
can be found in the Joseph Muller Collection at the

New York Public Library The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress a ...

Songs written

1. Gavotte 1833 births 1884 deaths Musicians from Mannheim People from the Grand Duchy of Baden 19th-century German violinists German male violinists 19th-century German male musicians {{violinist-stub