Anton Urspruch was a German composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and pedagogue who belonged to the late German Romantic era.

Life and career

Urspruch was a pupil of Ignaz Lachner

Ignaz Lachner

Ignaz Lachner , was a German composer and conductor.Ignaz Lachner was born into a musical family at Rain am Lech. He was the second of the three famous Lachner brothers. Lachner's brothers Franz and Vinzenz, were also composers...

 and Joachim Raff

Joachim Raff

Joseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...

 in Frankfurt, and later one of the favourite students of Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

 in Weimar

Weimar

Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...

.

In 1878 he was appointed one of the first teachers at the Hoch Conservatory

Hoch Conservatory

Dr. Hoch’s Konservatorium - Musikakademie was founded in Frankfurt am Main on September 22, 1878. Through the generosity of Frankfurter Joseph Hoch, who bequeathed the Conservatory one million German gold marks in his testament, a school for music and the arts was established for all age groups. ...

 in Frankfurt when it opened there, teaching piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 and composition

Musical composition

Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...

 and had friendly communication with Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann

Clara Schumann was a German musician and composer, considered one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era...

 and Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

. After the death in 1882 of the Conservatory director Joachim Raff

Joachim Raff

Joseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...

, Urspruch moved to the newly founded Raff-Konservatorium in Frankfurt, where he taught until his death.

In 1883 Urspruch married Emmy Cranz, daughter of the music publisher August Cranz.

In addition to his teaching, he produced a wide variety of compositions from piano solo, solo voice, choir, chamber music up to large orchestral works as well as two operas. Many of his works had successful performances in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

, Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

, Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 and Frankfurt.

In the last years of his life Urspruch was part of the revival of Gregorian Chant

Gregorian chant

Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic liturgical music within Western Christianity that accompanied the celebration of Mass and other ritual services...

, having contact with the Beuron Archabbey

Beuron Archabbey

Beuron Archabbey is a major house of the Benedictine Order located at Beuron in the upper Danube valley in Baden-Württemberg in Germany....

 and the cloister at Maria Laach Abbey

Maria Laach Abbey

Maria Laach Abbey is a Benedictine abbey situated on the southwestern shore of the Laacher See , near Andernach, in the Eifel region of the Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany. It is a member of the Beuronese Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation...

.

In his lifetime Urspruch was highly recognised internationally as an advocate of the late romantic period. After his early death he was soon forgotten.

Works

• Der Sturm (opera), after William Shakespeare: The Tempest, Frankfurt, 1888
• Das Unmöglichste von Allem, (comic opera), after Lope de Vega: El major imposibile, Karlsruhe, 1897
• Symphony in E flat major, Op. 14
• Piano Concerto
• Piano Quintet
• Piano Trio
• Violin Sonata
• Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 29
• Sonata quasi fantasia, for piano 4 hands
• German Dances for two pianos

Recordings

Few of Urspruch's works are commercially available. Some of his songs have been released by the German label MDG (opp. 6, 8, 23 & 25), whilst the E flat major Symphony and the Piano Concerto have been recorded (but are awaiting publication by the label CPO).

Literature

• Peter Cahn: Das Hoch'sche Konservatorium in Frankfurt am Main (1878–1978), Frankfurt am Main: Kramer, 1979.

• Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, (Nicolas Slonimsky, Ed.) New York: G. Schirmer, 1958.

External links

• http://www.antonurspruch.de