Composer of the Month 3/2014: Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger
(selected by Peter van Dessel / Belgium)
Liechtenstein 10.3.2014
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the "Evening Song" (Op. 69, No. 3) by Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger. The text is based on the Gospel of Luke (chapter 24, verse 29): "Lord stay with us, for it is toward evening". |
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The Liechtenstein composer Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was born on 17 March 1839 in Vaduz.
He was organist in his hometown when he was aged seven and started his music studies at
Munich's Conservatory when he was 12 years old. When he was 19 years old, he became a teacher
for piano, later also for organ and composition. As a composition teacher in Munich,
Rheinberger was a capacity of international standing. His students included, among others,
Engelbert Humperdinck, Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Wilhelm Furtwaengler, and a whole generation of
young American composers.
Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger was one of the most successful composers of his time. As director of the court music of the Bavarian King Ludwig II, he took in 1877 a central position in the Catholic church music in Germany. His extensive oeuvre includes piano music, organ music, sacred and secular choral music, solo songs, chamber music, symphonies, concert ouvertures, incidental music and operas. Though he had no formative influence on the history of music, so he is still considered an important representative of the classical and romantic music in the second half of the 19th Century. Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger died on 25 November 1901 in Munich. In March 2014, his birthday comes up the 175th time. More composer can be found in the members only section |