Norbert Burgmüller
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Norbert Burgmüller (Düsseldorf, February 8, 1810 – Aachen, May 7, 1836) was a German composer.
[edit] Life
Norbert was the youngest son in a musical family. His father, August Burgmüller, was the director of a theatre. His mother, Therese von Zandt, was a singer and piano teacher. He had two brothers, Franz and Friedrich, who was a composer too. After the death of the father the family had financial problems, but they got support from count Franz von Nesselrode-Ehreshoven.
Norbert studied with Louis Spohr and his pupil Moritz Hauptmann in Kassel. After his study he became their piano teacher. He became engaged to Sophia Roland, but in 1830 the relationship ended, to Norbert's distress. He became epileptic and began to drink excessively.
In the same year he returned to Düsseldorf to live with his mother. There he befriended Felix Mendelssohn. He became engaged to Josephine Collin, but this relationship ended too. After Mendelssohn left for Leipzig in 1835, Burgmüller made plans to leave for Paris, where his brother Friedrich had gone. In 1836 he went to a spa in Aachen, where he drowned during an epileptic seizure.
[edit] Works
- Orchestral works
- Symphony Nr.1 C minor op.2 (1831-33)
- Symphony Nr.2 D major op.11 (1834/35, unfinished)
- Ouvertüre F minor op.5 (1825)
- 4 Entr'actes op.17 (1827/28)
- Piano Concerto in F sharp minor op.1 (1828/29)
- Vocal works
- "Dionys", Opera after Schiller's Ballad "Die Bürgschaft" (1832/34, Fragment)
- 23 Songs
- Chamber music
- String quartet Nr.1 D minor op.4 (1825)
- String quartet Nr.2 D minor op.7 (1825/26)
- String quartet Nr.3 A flat major op.9 (1826)
- String quartet Nr.4 A minor op.14 (1835)
- Duo in E flat major op.15 for clarinet and piano (1834)
- Piano music
- Sonata in F minor op.8 (1826)
- Waltz in E flat major (1827)
- Polonaise in F major op.16 (1832)
- Rhapsody in B minor op.13 (1834)
The opus numbers do not correspond with the order of creation.
