Karl Klindworth 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

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...

, 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:...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist and music publisher.

Biography

Klindworth was born at Hanover

Hanover

Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...

 in 1830. For a time he conducted a traveling opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 troupe, but settled in Hanover as a teacher and composer. From there he went to 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...

, 1852, and studied the piano under 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...

. He also became on friendly terms with Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

. Among his fellow pupils were Hans von Bülow

Hans von Bülow

Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...

 and William Mason

William Mason (composer)

William Mason was an American composer and pianist and a member of a musical family.Mason's father was composer Lowell Mason, a leading figure in American church music...

. In 1854 he went to 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...

, where he remained for fourteen years, studying, teaching and occasionally appearing in public. From London Klindworth went to Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, in 1868, to take up the position of professor of the pianoforte at the Conservatorium. While in Russia he completed the pianoforte arrangements of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...

, which he had commenced during Wagner's visit to England, in 1855. He also completed his critical edition of Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric Chopin

Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....

's works. He became conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic in 1882, in association with Joachim

Joseph Joachim

Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.-Origins:...

 and Wüllner. He was also the conductor of the Berlin Wagner Society. At this time, he also established the Klindworths Musikschule, which later became the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory

Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory

The Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory was a music institute in Berlin, established in 1893, which for decades was one of the most internationally renowned schools of music. It was formed from the existing schools of music of Xaver Scharwenka and Karl Klindworth, the Scharwenka-Konservatorium and...

. From 1884 to 1886, one of his students was Ethelbert Nevin. Klindworth remained in Berlin till 1893, when he retired to Potsdam

Potsdam

Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....

, practicing as a teacher. He has justly earned his great reputation as an editor of musical works. He has also very finely re-orchestrated Chopin's second piano concerto, though many people still prefer the composer's own arrangement of it. (Carl Tausig

Carl Tausig

Carl Tausig was a Polish virtuoso pianist, arranger and composer.-Life:Tausig was born in Warsaw to Jewish parents and received his first piano lessons from his father, pianist and composer Aloys Tausig, a student of Sigismond Thalberg. His father introduced him to Franz Liszt in Weimar at the...

 had earlier made an edition of the E minor concerto.)

Klindworth adopted and raised Winifred Williams

Winifred Wagner

Winifred Wagner was an English woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....

 to be a perfect "Wagnerite".

He also made a now-recorded orchestration of the first movement of Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan

Charles-Valentin Alkan was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of six, earning many awards, and as an adult became a famous virtuoso...

's solo piano concerto (the eighth through tenth of the composer's etudes in all the minor keys), though others have since orchestrated all three movements. He was also a teacher, whose students included Georgy Catoire

Georgy Catoire

Georgy Lvovich Catoire was a Russian composer of French heritage.-Life:He studied piano in Berlin with Karl Klindworth from whom he learned to appreciate Wagner. Catoire became one of the few Russian 'Wagnerite' composers, joining the Wagner society in 1879...

.

He died in 1916 in Stolpe, near Oranienburg

Oranienburg

Oranienburg is a town in Brandenburg, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Oberhavel.- Geography :Oranienburg is a town located on the banks of the Havel river, 35 km north of the centre of Berlin.- Division of the town :...

, aged 85.

Atribution

External links