Carl Bohm (11 September 1844 – 4 April 1920) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 pianist

Pianist

A pianist is a musician who plays the piano. A professional pianist can perform solo pieces, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers, solo instrumentalists, or other performers.-Choice of genres:...

 and 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...

.

Bohm is regarded as one of the leading German songwriters of the 19th century, and wrote such works as Still as the Night, Twilight, May Bells, Enfant Cheri and The Fountain.

The Oxford Companion to Music says that Bohm was "a German composer of great fecundity and the highest salability... He occupied an important position in the musical commonwealth inasmuch as his publisher, Simrock

Simrock

The Simrock family included:* Nikolaus Simrock, , who founded in 1793 the music publishing firm Musikverlag N...

, declared that the profits on his compositions provided the capital for the publication of those of Brahms." Bohm's specialty was music in a lighter vein, very different from the dark, brooding and introspective works of Brahms.

Bohm, like Schubert, was more than just a songwriter, composing in most genres. His chamber music

Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...

, mostly quartets and piano trios, were extremely popular not only amongst amateurs but also among touring professional groups who were always in need of a sure-fire audience pleaser.

Edition Silvertrust (see references) states that Bohm "was certainly very well-known during his life time. Yet today, his name brings nothing but blank stares." This curious obscurity is borne out more than ever by the fact that Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...

contains no article about him.

Selected works

• Lieder (op. 326; including Nr. 27: "Still wie die Nacht“)
• Salon-Kompositionen (op. 327)
• Klaviertrio G-dur. (Forelle; op. 330 Nr.2)
• Perpetuo Mobile (Kleine Suite 6)
• Introduction and Polonaise
• Moto Perpetuo
• Hausmusik
• Spanischer Tanz
• The Fountain (op. 221) (G major)

External links

• Carl Bohm Piano Trio, Op.330 No.2 Soundbites & information.
• Some of Bohm's violin pieces are available at Free violin music