Moritz Hauptmann (13 October 1792,

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

– 3 January 1868, Leipzig), was a German music theorist, teacher and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

. His principal theoretical work is the 1853 ''Die Natur der Harmonie und der Metrik'' explores numerous topics, particular the

philosophy of music Philosophy of music is the study of "fundamental questions about the nature and value of music and our experience of it".Andrew Kania,The Philosophy of Music, ''The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', Spring 2014 edition, edited by Edward N. Zal ...

Biography

Hauptmann was born in Dresden, and studied violin under Scholz, piano under Franz Lauska, composition under Grosse and Francesco Morlacchi (who was a rival in Dresden of Carl Maria von Weber). He completed his education as a

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 and composer under Louis Spohr, and until 1821 held various appointments in private families. In addition, he studied mathematics and acoustics. Hauptmann was initially employed as an architect before finding success as a musician. Notable in his early musical output is a grand tragic opera, ''Mathilde.'' He joined the orchestra of Kassel in 1822 under Spohr's direction. There, he first taught composition and music theory. His pupils included Ferdinand David, Friedrich Burgmüller, Gustav Graben-Hoffmann, Charles Edward Horsley, Friedrich Kiel, Ernst Naumann, Oscar Paul, Isidor Seiss and others. In 1842, Hauptmann became Thomaskantor in Leipzig (a post once held by

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...

) as well as professor of music theory at the newly founded conservatoire at the invitation of Felix Mendelssohn. In this capacity, his unique gift as a teacher developed and it was readily acknowledged by his enthusiastic and quite-often distinguished pupils.

Compositions

Hauptmann's compositions are marked by symmetry and craftsmanship rather than spontaneous invention. His vocal output includes two masses, choral songs for mixed voices (Op. 32, 47) and numerous part songs.

Literary work

He was a founding member and editor of the Bach Gesellschaft edition of the complete works of Bach, where he edited the first two volumes of church cantatas and the Lutheran Masses. His musical philosophy is embodied in his book ''Die Natur der Harmonie und der Metrik'' (''The Nature of Harmony and Meter'', 1853), in which he attempted a philosophic explanation of musical form. His theory is described as "Hegelian" and he emphasized concepts of unity, opposition, and reunion, which he finds in chords, scales, key relationships, and meter. He conceived of minor and major triads as opposite. This theory influenced "harmonic dualists" including Hugo Riemann. He also advocated just intonation and considered enharmonic progressions unnatural. In this sense, he could be considered a conservative in relation to the compositional trends of his time. He displayed a taste for classical proportion, formal order, metrical clarity, and tonal logic. Unlike the Romantic trends of continuous legato, he considered any "metrical first" (i.e. downbeat – implied or actual) to be automatically accented.

Hauptmann's pupils

References

* Moritz Hauptmann
''The Letters of a Leipzig Cantor''
(2 vols.). London: Novello, Ewer and Co., 1892. * Moritz Hauptmann
''The nature of harmony and metre''.
New York: Da Capo Press, 1991, Reprint of the ed. London, Sonnenschein, 1893. . * Dale A. Jorgenson: ''Moritz Hauptmann of Leipzig''.'' Studies in History and Interpretation of Music'', Vol. 2. Lewiston, NY: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1986. * William Mason
''Memories of a Musical Life.''
New York: The Century Company, 1902. ;Attribution *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hauptmann, Moritz 1792 births 1868 deaths German Romantic composers German music theorists Bach musicians Bach scholars Honorary members of the Royal Philharmonic Society Musicians from Dresden Musicians from Leipzig Thomaskantors Academic staff of the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig 19th-century German musicologists Musicians from the Kingdom of Saxony