Leopold August Abel (24 March 1718 – 25 August 1794Walter Knape, Murray R. Charters and Simon McVeigh, "Leopold August Abel" in "Abel Family," ''Grove Music Online'' (accessed 28 August 2020).) was a German violinist and composer. He was born in

Köthen Köthen () is a town in Germany. It is the capital of the district of Anhalt-Bitterfeld in Saxony-Anhalt, about north of Halle. Köthen is the location of the main campus and the administrative centre of the regional university, Anhalt Univers ...

in 1718. He was the elder brother of

Karl Friedrich Abel Carl Friedrich Abel (22 December 1723 – 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the pre-Classical era. He was a renowned player of the viola da gamba, and produced significant compositions for that instrument. He was director of music at th ...

, and the grandfather of Johann Leopold Abel. August Abel studied

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 ...

under Benda. He played in the

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

of the theatre at Brunswick, and was successively conductor of the court band to the Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1758), the Margrave of Schwedt (1766), and the Duke of Schwerin (1770). He composed a ''sinfonia a 8 voci'' in 1766, and some of his violin studies and other compositions are in the possession of the

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde The (), also known as the (German for 'Viennese Music Association'), is an Austrian music organization that was founded in 1812 by Beethoven’s friend Joseph Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theatre in Vienna, Austria. Overview ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

. However, he never rose to the reputation of his brother. He died at Ludwigslust on 25 August 1794.Fuller Maitland, J. A (editor). ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. The Macmillan Company (1911), p. 5-6.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Leopold August 1718 births 1794 deaths People from Köthen (Anhalt) People from Anhalt-Köthen German male composers 18th-century German violinists German male violinists 18th-century German composers 18th-century German male musicians