Hans Sommer (composer)

Hans Sommer (20 July 1837 Brunswick-26 April 1922 Brunswick) was a German composer. He was most successful as a composer for the theatre. Several of his operas used librettos based on fairy tales and were first produced at Brunswick: "Der Nachtwächter" (1865), "Loreley" (1891), "Rübezahl und der Sackpfeifer von Neisse" (1904), "Riquet mit dem Schopf" (1907) and "Der Waldschratt "(1912)."Saint Foix", a one-act opera, was given at Munich in 1894 and "Der Meermann at Weimar" in 1896; "Der Vetter aus Bremen" (1865), "Augustin" (1898) and "Münchhausen" (1896–8) were not performed. His incidental music to Hans von Wolzogen's "Das Schloss der Herzen" (1891) was first performed in 1897 in Berlin, in concert form. He placed great importance on the literary quality of his librettos, and corresponded with numerous librettists and composers. His many songs, at one time known in England, include the cycles "Der Rattenfänger von Hameln", "Der wilde Jäger" and "Sapphos Gesänge"; he also wrote orchestral works and male-voice choruses.

ources

*J.A. Fuller Maitland/Bernd Wiechert. The "New Grove Dictionary of Opera", edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5