Biography
Born in Germany, Friedrich Kuhlau later became a Danish composer and pianist whose works placed him among the leading figures bridging the late Classical and early Romantic eras in Denmark. He pursued his theoretical studies in Hamburg under C.F.G. Schwenke, the Kantor at the Catherinenkirche. Following Napoleon’s invasion of Hamburg in 1810, Kuhlau fled to Copenhagen, where he supported himself through performances and composition. His debut at the Royal Theatre occurred in 1811; two years afterward, he received an appointment as court chamber musician. Between 1816 and 1817 he served as chorus master at the same theatre. Visits to Vienna in 1821 and again in 1825 brought him into contact with Beethoven, with whom he traded spontaneous canons. In 1828 he was named an honorary professor. A devastating house fire in 1832 consumed his unpublished manuscripts, among them a second piano concerto, and the trauma left him with a persistent chest condition from which he never recovered. Although Kuhlau composed dramatic and vocal music, his reputation rests chiefly on his piano output—above all the sonatas, whose moderate technical demands still reveal the instrument’s most luminous qualities and have therefore remained staples of the teaching repertoire. Among his stage works, the incidental score for Heiberg’s national drama Elverhoj, first heard in 1828, continues to rank as the most frequently staged piece at the Royal Theatre. His Piano Concerto likewise endures among his best-known compositions, while his skill in writing canons and his guidance of younger musicians further contributed to his standing.
Albums
