Karl Friedrich Abel - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Carl Friedrich Abel 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...

composer of the Classical era

Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...

. (The Chambers Biographical Dictionary gives his year of birth erroneusly as 1725.) He was a fine player of the viola da gamba

Viol

The viol is any one of a family of bowed, fretted and stringed musical instruments developed in the mid-late 15th century and used primarily in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. The family is related to and descends primarily from the Renaissance vihuela, a plucked instrument that preceded the...

, and composed important music for that instrument.

Life

Abel was born in Köthen

Köthen (Anhalt)

Köthen is a city 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 center of the regional technical university Hochschule Anhalt which is especially strong in information...

, the son of Christian Ferdinand Abel

Christian Ferdinand Abel

Christian Ferdinand Abel was one of the most famous German Baroque violinists, cellists and especially viol virtuosos....

, the principal viola da gamba

Viol

and cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

player in the court orchestra of Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

. There is no proof that Abel studied at the Thomasschule Leipzig, but it was on Bach's recommendation that in 1748 he was able to join Johann Adolph Hasse

Johann Adolph Hasse

Johann Adolph Hasse was an 18th-century German composer, singer and teacher of music. Immensely popular in his time, Hasse was best known for his prolific operatic output, though he also composed a considerable quantity of sacred music...

's court orchestra at Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

where he remained for ten years. In 1759 (or 1758 according to Chambers), he went to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

and became chamber-musician to Queen Charlotte

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the Queen consort of the United Kingdom as the wife of King George III...

. He gave a concert of his own compositions in London, performing on various instruments, one of which was a five-string cello known as a pentachord, which had been recently invented by John Joseph Merlin

John Joseph Merlin

John-Joseph Merlin was a Belgian inventor and horologist.He was born Jean-Joseph Merlin in 1735 in the city of Huy, Belgium....

.

In 1762, Johann Christian Bach

Johann Christian Bach

Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...

, the eleventh son of J.S. Bach, joined him in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and the friendship between him and Abel led, in 1764 or 1765, to the establishment of the famous Bach-Abel concerts, England's first subscription concerts. In those concerts, many celebrated guest artists appeared, and many works of Haydn received their first English performance.

For ten years the concerts were organized by Mrs. Theresa Cornelys

Teresa Cornelys

Teresa Cornelys was a soprano opera singer and impresario who hosted fashionable gatherings at Carlisle House in Soho Square...

, a retired Venetian opera singer who owned a concert hall at Carlisle House in Soho Square

Soho Square

Soho Square is a square in Soho, London, England, with a park and garden area at its centre that dates back to 1681. It was originally called King Square after Charles II, whose statue stands in the square. At the centre of the garden, there is a distinctive half-timbered gardener's hut...

, then the height of fashionable events. In 1775 the concerts became independent of her, to be continued by Abel and Bach until Bach's death in 1782. Abel still remained in great demand as a player on various instruments new and old. He traveled to Germany and France between 1782 and 1785, and upon his return to London, became a leading member of the Grand Professional Concerts at the Hanover Square Rooms

Hanover Square Rooms

The Hanover Square Rooms or the Queen's Concert Rooms were assembly rooms established, principally for musical performances, on the corner of Hanover Square, London, by Sir John Gallini in partnership with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel in 1774. For exactly one century this was the...

in Soho

Soho

Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...

. Throughout his life he had enjoyed excessive living, and his drinking probably hastened his death, which occurred in London on 20 June 1787.

One of Abel's works became famous due to a misattribution: in the 19th century, a manuscript symphony in the hand of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

, was catalogued as his Symphony no. 3 in E flat, K

Köchel-Verzeichnis

The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....

. 18, and was published as such in the first complete edition of Mozart's works

Alte Mozart-Ausgabe

The Alte Mozart-Ausgabe is the name by which the first complete edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is known nowadays, published by Breitkopf & Härtel from January 1877 to December 1883, with supplements published until 1910...

by Breitkopf & Härtel

Breitkopf & Härtel

Breitkopf & Härtel is the world's oldest music publishing house. The firm was founded in 1719 in Leipzig by Bernhard Christoph Breitkopf . The catalogue currently contains over 1000 composers, 8000 works and 15,000 music editions or books on music. The name "Härtel" was added when Gottfried...

. Later, it was discovered that this symphony was actually the work of Abel, copied by the boy Mozart—evidently for study purposes—while he was visiting London in 1764. That symphony was originally published as the concluding work in Abel's Six Symphonies, Op. 7.

Works list

Symphony Op. 1 No.1 in B flat major, WK 1
Symphony Op. 1 No.2 in C major, WK 2
Symphony Op. 1 No.3 in D major, WK 3
Symphony Op. 1 No.4 in E flat major, WK 4
Symphony Op. 1 No.5 in F major, WK 5
Symphony Op. 1 No.6 in G major, WK 6
Symphony Op. 4 No.1 in D major, WK 7
Symphony Op. 4 No.2 in B flat major, WK 8
Symphony Op. 4 No.3 in E flat major, WK 9
Symphony Op. 4 No.4 in C major, WK 10
Symphony Op. 4 No.5 in G major, WK 11
Symphony Op. 4 No.6 in D major, WK 12
Symphony Op. 7 No.1 in G major, WK 13
Symphony Op. 7 No.2 in B flat major, WK 14
Symphony Op. 7 No.3 in D major, WK 15
Symphony Op. 7 No.4 in F major, WK 16
Symphony Op. 7 No.5 in C major, WK 17
Symphony Op. 7 No.6 in E flat major, WK 18
Symphony Op. 10 No.1 in E major, WK 19
Symphony Op. 10 No.2 in B flat major, WK 20
Symphony Op. 10 No.3 in E flat major, WK 21
Symphony Op. 10 No.4 in C major, WK 22
Symphony Op. 10 No.5 in D major, WK 23
Symphony Op. 10 No.6 in A major, WK 24
Symphony Op. 14 No.1 in C major, WK 25
Symphony Op. 14 No.2 in E flat major, WK 26
Symphony Op. 14 No.3 in D major, WK 27
Symphony Op. 14 No.4 in B flat major, WK 28
Symphony Op. 14 No.5 in G major, WK 29
Symphony Op. 14 No.6 in E flat major, WK 30
Symphony Op. 17 No.1 in E flat major, WK 31
Symphony Op. 17 No.2 in B flat major, WK 32
Symphony Op. 17 No.3 in D major, WK 33
Symphony Op. 17 No.4 in C major, WK 34
Symphony Op. 17 No.5 in B flat major, WK 35
Symphony Op. 17 No.6 in G major, WK 36
Symphony in C major, WK 37
Symphony in B flat major, WK 38
Symphony in E flat major, WK 39
Symphony in B flat major, WK 40
Symphony in D major, WK 41
Sinfonia concertante for oboe quartet in B flat major, WK 42
Sinfonia concertante for oboe quartet in D major, WK 43
Periodical Overture in D major, WK 44
Overture to 'Love in a village' in D major, WK 45a
Overture to 'The summer's tale' in B flat major, WK 45b
Flute Concerto No.1 in C major, WK 46
Flute Concerto No.2 in E minor, WK 47
Flute Concerto No.3 in D major, WK 48
Flute Concerto No.4 in C major, WK 49
Flute Concerto No.5 in G major, WK 50
Flute Concerto No.6 in C major, WK 51
Cello Concerto in B flat major, WK 52
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.1 in F major, WK 53
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.2 in B flat major, WK 54
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.3 in E flat major, WK 55
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.4 in D major, WK 56
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.5 in G major, WK 57
Keyboard Concerto Op. 11 No.6 in C major, WK 58
Flute Concerto No.7 in D major, WK 59
Cello Concerto in C major, WK 60
String Quartet Op. 8 No.1 in F major, WK 61
String Quartet Op. 8 No.2 in B flat major, WK 62
String Quartet Op. 8 No.3 in E flat major, WK 63
String Quartet Op. 8 No.4 in D major, WK 64
String Quartet Op. 8 No.5 in A major, WK 65
String Quartet Op. 8 No.6 in F major, WK 66
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.1 in C major, WK 67
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.2 in A major, WK 68
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.3 in F major, WK 69
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.4 in D major, WK 70
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.5 in B flat major, WK 71
Flute Quartet Op. 12 No.6 in G major, WK 72
String Quartet Op. 15 No.1 in E major, WK 73
String Quartet Op. 15 No.2 in C major, WK 74
String Quartet Op. 15 No.3 in E flat major, WK 75
String Quartet Op. 15 No.4 in G major, WK 76
String Quartet Op. 15 No.5 in F major, WK 77
String Quartet Op. 15 No.6 in A major, WK 78
Raccolta for keyboard in C major, WK 79a
Raccolta for keyboard in B flat major, WK 79b
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.1 in G major, WK 80
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.2 in C major, WK 81
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.3 in B flat major, WK 82
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.4 in D major, WK 83
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.5 in A major, WK 84
Trio Sonata Op. 3 No.6 in E flat major, WK 85
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.1 in A major, WK 86
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.2 in C major, WK 87
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.3 in G major, WK 88
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.4 in B flat major, WK 89
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.5 in D major, WK 90
Trio Sonata Op. 9 No.6 in F major, WK 91
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.1 in G major, WK 92
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.2 in D major, WK 93
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.3 in C major, WK 94
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.4 in A major, WK 95
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.5 in D major, WK 96
Trio Sonata Op. 16a No.6 in G major, WK 97
Trio Sonata Op. 16b No.1 in G major, WK 98
Trio Sonata Op. 16b No.2 in D major, WK 99
Trio Sonata Op. 16b No.3 in C major, WK 100
Trio Sonata Op. 16b No.4 in G major, WK 101
Trio Sonata for 2 violins & cello in A major, WK 102
Trio Sonata for 2 violins & cello in A major, WK 103
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in G major, WK 104
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in D major, WK 105
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in G major, WK 106
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in F major, WK 107
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in C minor, WK 108
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in G major, WK 109
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in G major, WK 110
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in D major, WK 110a
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in G major, WK 110b
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in C major, WK 110c
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in B flat major, WK 110d
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in C major, WK 110e
Trio Sonata for 2 flutes & cello in C major, WK 110f
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.1 in C major, WK 111
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.2 in F major, WK 112
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.3 in D major, WK 113
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.4 in B flat major, WK 114
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.5 in G major, WK 115
Keyboard Trio Op. 2 No.6 in E flat major, WK 116
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.1 in B flat major, WK 117
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.2 in G major, WK 118
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.3 in E major, WK 119
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.4 in C major, WK 120
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.5 in A major, WK 121
Keyboard Trio Op. 5 No.6 in F major, WK 122
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.1 in C major, WK 123
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.2 in G major, WK 124
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.3 in G major, WK 125
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.4 in E major, WK 126
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.5 in F major, WK 127
Flute Sonata Op. 6 No.6 in G major, WK 128
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.1 in G major, WK 129
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.2 in F major, WK 130
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.3 in A major, WK 131
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.4 in B flat major, WK 132
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.5 in C major, WK 133
Violin Sonata Op. 13 No.6 in E flat major, WK 134
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.1 in G major, WK 135
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.2 in A major, WK 136
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.3 in C major, WK 137
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.4 in E flat major, WK 138
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.5 in B flat major, WK 139
Violin Sonata Op. 18 No.6 in F major, WK 140
Violin Sonata in C major, WK 140a
Keyboard Sonata in B flat major, WK 140b
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 1 in C major, WK 141
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 2 in A major, WK 142
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 3 in D major, WK 143
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 4 in G major, WK 144
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 5 in A major, WK 145
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 6 in E minor, WK 146
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 7 in G major, WK 147
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 8 in A major, WK 148
Sonata for viola da gamba No. 9 in G major, WK 149
Sonata for viola da gamba No.10 in E minor, WK 150
Sonata for viola da gamba No.11 in C major, WK 151
Sonata for viola da gamba No.12 in G major, WK 152
Sonata for viola da gamba No.13 in G major, WK 153
Sonata for viola da gamba No.14 in D major, WK 154
Sonata for viola da gamba No.15 in G major, WK 155
Sonata for viola da gamba No.16 in D major, WK 156
Sonata for viola da gamba No.17 in E minor, WK 157
Sonata for viola da gamba No.18 in D major, WK 158
Sonata for viola da gamba No.19 in G major, WK 159
Sonata for viola da gamba No.20 in D major, WK 160
Sonata for viola da gamba No.21 in D major, WK 161
Sonata for viola da gamba No.22 in C major, WK 162
Sonata for viola da gamba No.23 in A major, WK 163
Sonata for viola da gamba No.24 in A major, WK 164
Sonata for viola da gamba No.25 in D major, WK 165
Sonata for viola da gamba No.26 in D major, WK 166
Sonata for viola da gamba No.27 in G major, WK 167
Sonata for viola da gamba No.28 in D major, WK 168
Sonata for viola da gamba No.29 in D major, WK 169
Sonata for viola da gamba No.30 in C major, WK 170
Sonata for viola da gamba No.31 in G major, WK 171
Sonata for viola da gamba No.32 in D major, WK 172
Sonata for viola da gamba No.33 in A major, WK 173
Sonata for viola da gamba No.34 in G major, WK 174
Sonata for viola da gamba No.35 in A minor, WK 175
Sonata for viola da gamba No.36 in F minor, WK 176
Sonata for viola da gamba No.37 in A major, WK 177
Sonata for viola da gamba No.38 in G major, WK 178
Sonata for viola da gamba No.39 in A major, WK 179
Sonata for viola da gamba No.40 in D major, WK 180
Sonata for viola da gamba No.41 in D major, WK 181
Sonata for viola da gamba No.42 in G major, WK 182
Sonata for viola da gamba No.43 in A major, WK 183
Sonata for viola da gamba No.44 in C major, WK 184
Arpeggio for viola da gamba in D major, WK 185
Allegro for viola da gamba in D major, WK 186
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 187
Tempo fi minuetto for viola da gamba in D major, WK 188
Adagio for viola da gamba in D major, WK 189
Vivace for viola da gamba in D major, WK 190
Andante for viola da gamba in D major, WK 191
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 192
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 193
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 194
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 195
Fuga for viola da gamba in D major, WK 196
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 197
Allegro for viola da gamba in D major, WK 198
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 199
Tempo di minuetto for viola da gamba in D major, WK 200
Tempo di minuetto for viola da gamba in D major, WK 201
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 202
Piece for viola da gamba in D major, WK 203
Con variatione for viola da gamba in D major, WK 204
Piece for viola da gamba in D minor, WK 205
Piece for viola da gamba in D minor, WK 206
Allegro for viola da gamba in D minor, WK 207
Piece for viola da gamba in D minor, WK 208
Adagio for viola da gamba in D minor, WK 209
Minuetto for viola da gamba in D major, WK 210
Allegretto for viola da gamba in A major, WK 211
Allegro for viola da gamba in A major, WK 212
Minuet for keyboard in C major, WK 213
Minuet for keyboard in D major, WK 214
Minuet for keyboard in G major, WK 215
Minuet for keyboard in G major, WK 216
March in F major, WK 217
March in F major, WK 218
March in F major, WK 219
March in F major, WK 220
March in F major, WK 221
March in B flat major, WK 222
March in F major, WK 223
Andante for string quartet in E flat major, WK 224
Flute Quartet in F major, WK 225
Flute Quartet in D major, WK 226
Flute Quartet with viola da gamba in G major, WK 227
Cello Duet in D major, WK 228
Concertino for 2 clarinets in E flat major (lost), WK 229
5 adagios for string quartet, WK 230
Dolly's eyes are so bright, WK 231
4 soli for flute (lost), WK 232
Frena le belle lagrime, WK deest

Selected works by opus number

(adapted from the listing in the article on Abel at fr.wikipedia.org)

Op. 1: 6 Overtures or Sinfonias (1761)
Op. 2: 6 Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin and Cello (ad libitum) (1760)
Op. 3: 6 Trio Sonatas for 2 Violins and Basso Continuo (1762)
Op. 4: 6 Overtures or Sinfonias (1762)
Op. 5: 6 Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin and Cello (ad libitum) (1762)
Op. 6: 6 Sonatas for Keyboard and Flute (1763)
Op. 7: 6 Symphonies (1767)
Op. 8: 6 String Quartets (1768)
Op. 9: 6 Trio Sonatas for Violin, Cello and Basso Continuo (1771)
Op. 10: 6 Symphonies (1771)
Op. 11: 6 Concerti for Keyboard and Strings (1771)
Op. 12: 6 Flute Quartets (1774)
Op. 13: 6 Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin (1777)
Op. 14: 6 Symphonies (1778)
Op. 15: 6 String Quartets (1780)
Op. 16: 4 Trio Sonatas for 2 Flutes and Basso Continuo (1781)
Op. 16: 6 Trio Sonatas for Violin, Viola and Cello (1782)
Op. 17: 6 Symphonies (1785)
Op. 18: 6 Sonatas for Keyboard and Violin (1784)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.