Biography
Norbert Burgmuller, offspring of Johann August Franz, pursued dual careers as a German composer and pianist in the manner of his father. Under the guidance of Hauptmann and Spohr he honed his craft, an opportunity his parent readily supplied, unlike the elder who had sought to stifle Johann’s own leanings toward music and theater. Sharing Schubert’s fate of scant public recognition, Burgmuller nevertheless counted among his confidants artists of diverse disciplines, Mendelssohn among them. By age twenty-six he had already produced works hinting at a future among Germany’s foremost composers, an impression conveyed through the fervent scope and structural command evident in his Rhapsody for piano in B-mol, Overture in D-dur, and Piano Concerto in F#-mol. He completed two symphonies, the latter left unfinished.