Joseph Simon Ascher (3 June 1829 – 20 June 1869) was a Dutch-Jewish composer and pianist. He lived in Paris and London for most of his life.

Life

Ascher was born in

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, the son of the ''

chazzan A ''hazzan'' (; , lit. Hazan) or ''chazzan'' (, plural ; ; ) is a Jewish musician or precentor trained in the vocal arts who leads the congregation in songful prayer. In English, this prayer leader is often referred to as a cantor, a term al ...

'' of the city, who went on to become a cantor in London. He started his musical studies in London and continued them at the

Leipzig Conservatory The University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig () is a public university in Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1843 by Felix Mendelssohn as the Conservatorium der Musik (Conservatory of Music), it is the oldest music ...

with

Ignaz Moscheles Isaac Ignaz Moscheles (; 23 May 179410 March 1870) was a Bohemian piano virtuoso and composer. He was based initially in London and later at Leipzig, where he joined his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as professor of piano in the Co ...

as his teacher, but did not graduate.he died at age 40 His pianistic gifts were recognized by the

Empress Eugénie The word ''emperor'' (from , via ) can mean the male ruler of an empire. ''Empress'', the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), mother/grandmother (empress dowager/grand empress dowager), or a woman who rules ...

of France, who asked him to become her court pianist in 1849. In 1865, Ascher moved back to London, while in Paris he was succeeded as court pianist by

Émile Waldteufel Charles Émile Waldteufel (; ; ; 9 December 1837 – 12 February 1915) was a French composer, pianist, and conductor known for his numerous popular salon pieces. Among his best known works is " Les Patineurs" (1882), known as "The Skater's W ...

. He died in London from the result of what some 19th-century sources call "a dissolute life". Brown (1886) regarded him as a "composer who, had he been more careful in his worldly relations, might have proved one of the greatest among recent musicians."

Music

Ascher composed about 170 works for piano, piano four- and eight-hands, as well as ballads and display pieces for solo singers with piano accompaniment. Brown (1886) wrote: "his music is more than commonplace, and many of his single pieces evince genius of a decidedly original turn. The numerous pieces which he has produced for the Pf. B.: the pianoare in general brilliant and effective in character; while several of them show tokens of real genius inspiration."Brown (1886), as above.

Selected works

Piano *''Les Hirondelles'' op. 15, 1852 *''Thème russe'' op. 16, c. 1852 *''L'Orgie'' op. 21, 1854 *''Le Papillon'' op. 32, 1854 *''Styrienne'' op. 35, 1854 *''Fanfare militaire en forme de marche'' op. 40, 1854 *''Prière'' op. 42, 1855 *''Dans ma barque'' op. 47, 1856 *''Les Clochettes'' op. 48, 1856 *''La Sevillana'' op. 51, 1856 *''La Sylphide'' op. 57, 1857 *''Feuilles et fleurs'' op. 59, 1857 *''La Zingara'' op. 73, 1858 *''La Cascade de roses'' op. 80, 1858 *''Mon Enfant dort''. Berceuse op. 88, 1860 *''Le Phalène'' op. 93, 1860 *''La Ronde des elfes'' op. 104, 1862 *''La Cloche du couvent'' op. 106, 1861 *''I Lazzaroni'' op. 112, 1863 *''Paraphrase de concert sur l'air irlandais 'The Last Rose of Summer op. 114, 1863 *''Les Sylphes des bois'' op. 119, 1865 *''Vision'' op. 120, 1865 Songs *'' Alice, Where Art Thou?'' ( Wellington Guernsey), 1861 *''I'll think of thee'' (Wellington Guernsey), 1862 *''Thoughts of Home''. An Alpine Song (Wellington Guernsey), 1864 *''A Twilight Dream'' (George Linley), 1866 *''Bygone Love'' (George Linley), 1866 *''Mélanie'' (Maggioni), 1870

Reference Notes

External links

* *
Free scores

Mutopia Project The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books. It started in 2000. The music is reproduced from old scores that are in th ...

''Jewish Encyclopedia'': "Ascher, Joseph"
by Joseph Jacobs and Goodman Lipkind (1906). 1829 births 1869 deaths Musicians from Groningen (city) Jewish Dutch musicians Dutch male classical composers Dutch classical composers Jewish classical musicians Dutch Romantic composers 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Dutch male musicians {{Netherlands-composer-stub