Biography
Johann Nepomuk Hummel studied under Mozart, and he joined Beethoven for instruction from Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri. Though often depicted as Beethoven’s rival, the two pianist-composers maintained respect for each other’s output. Piano works formed the core of his catalog, covering solo pieces, chamber music, and concertos, yet he also produced choral compositions and operas. Spanning the Classical and Romantic periods, his approach strikes later listeners as somewhat restrained, yet it shaped Mendelssohn’s piano idiom and, through that channel, the writing of Schumann and Liszt. Hummel favored extended melodic lines, frequently employed Alberti bass patterns and dotted rhythms, and preferred sonata-allegro and rondo structures. He further authored the respected three-volume treatise A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course on the Art of Pianoforte Playing. Despite the significance of his keyboard music, his chamber works and the Trumpet Concerto receive the most frequent recordings today.
Born on November 14, 1778, in Bratislava—then known as Pressburg—in Slovakia, the young Hummel first took up the violin at his father’s urging; the elder Hummel, himself a string player and director of the local Imperial School of Military Music, guided those initial lessons. By age five the boy had already attained proficiency on the violin, yet he soon set it aside for the piano, developing remarkable facility by age six. After the family relocated to Vienna in 1786, Johann studied with Mozart and lived in his household for two years. Concert tours across Europe began at ten, after which he and his father moved temporarily to London, where he met Clementi and received private lessons. Returning to Vienna in 1793, he commenced studies with Albrechtsberger. At fourteen he largely withdrew from the concert platform to concentrate on teaching and composition. A set of piano variations appeared in 1794, followed four years later by two sonatas for piano and violin plus one for piano and viola. Operatic efforts proved difficult: Il viaggiator ridicolo (1797) and Don Anchise (c. 1800) remained unfinished, though he completed Dankgefühl einer Geretten in 1799. Early in the new century he produced the Piano Trio in E Flat and the Variations in G on a Romance by Méhul; he finished the opera Le vicende d’amore in 1804 and also wrote the Concerto in G for piano and violin. In April 1804 he became Concertmaster to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy at the Eisenstadt court. He composed several masses, among them the Mass in E Flat (1804) and the Mass in D (1808), as well as a Te Deum (1806) and two Salve Reginas. Additional operas followed, including Der vereitelten Ränke (1806) and Mathilde von Guise (1810; revised 1821). Dismissed as Kapellmeister amid controversy in May 1811, he returned to Vienna to devote himself to composition. Two years later he married Elizabeth Röckel. Late in the following year, prompted by his wife, he undertook a Vienna concert tour that met repeated success; he then toured Germany and the rest of Europe, occasionally conducting as well. He accepted Kapellmeister positions in Stuttgart (1816) and Weimar (1819). That interval proved highly productive, yielding such works as the Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 83 (1819), the Sonata in A Flat for piano four hands, Op. 92 (1820), and two birthday cantatas for the Duke (1823 and 1827). Health began to fail by 1832, prompting frequent absences from his Weimar duties. He died on October 17, 1837.
Born on November 14, 1778, in Bratislava—then known as Pressburg—in Slovakia, the young Hummel first took up the violin at his father’s urging; the elder Hummel, himself a string player and director of the local Imperial School of Military Music, guided those initial lessons. By age five the boy had already attained proficiency on the violin, yet he soon set it aside for the piano, developing remarkable facility by age six. After the family relocated to Vienna in 1786, Johann studied with Mozart and lived in his household for two years. Concert tours across Europe began at ten, after which he and his father moved temporarily to London, where he met Clementi and received private lessons. Returning to Vienna in 1793, he commenced studies with Albrechtsberger. At fourteen he largely withdrew from the concert platform to concentrate on teaching and composition. A set of piano variations appeared in 1794, followed four years later by two sonatas for piano and violin plus one for piano and viola. Operatic efforts proved difficult: Il viaggiator ridicolo (1797) and Don Anchise (c. 1800) remained unfinished, though he completed Dankgefühl einer Geretten in 1799. Early in the new century he produced the Piano Trio in E Flat and the Variations in G on a Romance by Méhul; he finished the opera Le vicende d’amore in 1804 and also wrote the Concerto in G for piano and violin. In April 1804 he became Concertmaster to Prince Nikolaus Esterházy at the Eisenstadt court. He composed several masses, among them the Mass in E Flat (1804) and the Mass in D (1808), as well as a Te Deum (1806) and two Salve Reginas. Additional operas followed, including Der vereitelten Ränke (1806) and Mathilde von Guise (1810; revised 1821). Dismissed as Kapellmeister amid controversy in May 1811, he returned to Vienna to devote himself to composition. Two years later he married Elizabeth Röckel. Late in the following year, prompted by his wife, he undertook a Vienna concert tour that met repeated success; he then toured Germany and the rest of Europe, occasionally conducting as well. He accepted Kapellmeister positions in Stuttgart (1816) and Weimar (1819). That interval proved highly productive, yielding such works as the Trio for Piano, Violin, and Cello, Op. 83 (1819), the Sonata in A Flat for piano four hands, Op. 92 (1820), and two birthday cantatas for the Duke (1823 and 1827). Health began to fail by 1832, prompting frequent absences from his Weimar duties. He died on October 17, 1837.
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