Karl Traugott Queisser (11 January 1800, Döben,

Electorate of Saxony The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony ( or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356 to 1806 initially centred on Wittenberg that came to include areas around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz. It was a ...

– 12 June 1846,

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) played trombone and viola in Germany as a member of the Gewandhaus Orchestra under

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic music, Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions inc ...

. He was Principal Viola of the Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1820 until 1843, where he also appeared as soloist on 27 occasions (playing trombone?). He was also the violist in the Gewandhaus String Quartet. When Mendelssohn became conductor of the orchestra in 1835 he was so impressed that he promised to write Queisser a concerto. Owing to his busy schedule and new lover, he persuaded his orchestra's leader

Ferdinand David Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "courage" or "ready, prepared" related to Old High German "to risk, ventu ...

(and 1st violinist in the Gewandhaus String Quartet) to write him a piece. This Concertino remains the most popular 19th-century solo piece for trombone and is dedicated to Queisser. Queisser was known throughout Germany and performed at many music festivals where other virtuosi included

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

Clara Schumann Clara Josephine Schumann (; ; née Wieck; 13 September 1819 – 20 May 1896) was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic music, Romantic era, she exerted her influence o ...

and Nicolò Paganini. It has been suggested that Queisser was responsible for annoying Mendelssohn by putting a 'turn' in the opening trombone phrase of the 'Lobgesang' 2nd Symphony.

References

*Krause, Sebastian: "Der Posaunengott"/"God of the Trombone," Brass Bulletin 117 (2002), pp. 68–80 {{DEFAULTSORT:Queisser, Karl Traugott 1800 births 1846 deaths People from Grimma People from the Kingdom of Saxony German classical trombonists German male trombonists German classical violists 19th-century classical trombonists 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians Players of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra