Carl Otto Nicolai

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (June 9, 1810 Königsberg – May 11, 1849 Berlin) was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy "The Merry Wives of Windsor" ("Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor"). In addition to five operas, Nicolai composed lieder, works for orchestra, chorus, ensemble, and solo instruments.

Biography

Nicolai, a child prodigy, was born in Königsberg, Prussia. While still a youth he ran away from his home and parents and secured himself as a student of Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. After initial successes in Germany, including his first Symphony (1831) and public concerts, he became musician to the Prussian Embassy in Rome. During the early 1840s he established himself as a major figure in the concert life of Vienna. In 1844 he was offered the position, vacated by Felix Mendelssohn, of Kapellmeister at the Berlin Cathedral; but he did not reestablish himself in Berlin until the last year of his life. On 11 May 1849, two months after the premiere of "The Merry Wives", and only two days after his appointment as "Hof Kapellmeister" at the Berlin Staatsoper, he collapsed and died from a stroke. On the very same day of his death, he was elected a member of the Prussian Royal Academy of Arts.

Works

Operas

*"Enrico II" (Trieste, 1839)
*"Il templario" (Turin, 1840)
*"Gildippe e Odoardo" (Genoa, 1841)
*"Il proscritto" (Milan, 1841)
*"Mariana" (Milan, 1841)
*"Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor" (Berlin, 1849)

Other

* Opus 6 - 6 four-part unaccompanied lieder
* Opus 26 - Variazioni concertanti : su motivi favoriti dell’opera La sonnambula di Bellini, for soprano, horn and pianoforte (or [violoncello] or clarinet) (republished in 2000 by edition mf)
* Opus 30 - Die Thräne : voice, horn and piano (republished in 1999 by "edition mf").
* Opus 31 - Ecclesiastical festival overture on the chorale "Ein feste burg ist unser Gott"
* Opus 33 - Pater noster, opus 33, for two mixed choirs (SATB/SATB) a cappella with soloists (SATB/SATB). Published by Schott Music Publishers in 1999.
* Der dritte Psalm (Psalm no 3) for alto solo. (Manuscript at Library of Congress.)
* 3 sonatas for 2 horns no. 1, 2, 3 : from the Handel Knot-Farquharson Cousins ms (re(?)published by Edition Kunzelmann in 1977.)
* Mass in D major (1835). (Recorded on the label Koch Schwann in 1981, subsequently reissued on compact disc. Re?Published by Augsburg : A. Böhm in 1986.)
* Te Deum; Psalm 97, "Der Herr ist König" ; Psalm 31, "Herr, auf Dich traue ich" ; "Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe" (psalm and liturgical settings recorded also on Koch Schwann. Te Deum was also recorded on Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft LPM 39,170 in 1966.) Psalms 31 & 97 published by Bote & Bock of Berlin in 1977.

References

*1911|article=Nicolai Otto|url=http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Otto_Nicolai

*cite book | last=Nicolai | first=Otto | coauthors=Schröder, B., ed. | title=Otto Nicolais tagebücher nebst biographischen ergänzungen | language=German | location=Leipzig publisher=Breitkopf & Härtel | year=1892 | oclc=17601836
*cite book | last=Nicolai | first=Otto | coauthors=Altmann Wilhelm, ed.| title=Otto Nicolai, Briefe an seinen Vater, soweit erhalten | language=German | location=Regensburg | publisher=G. Bosse | year=1924 | oclc=3463501
*cite book | last=Sadie | first=Stanley | coauthors=Brown, Clive, ed. | title=Nicolai, Carl Otto Ehrenfried in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera | publisher=Grove's Dictionaries of Music | year=1992 | isbn=0333734327

External links

*allmusic|41:7779
* [http://www.karadar.com/operas/nicolai.html Otto Nicolai operas]
* [http://www.musicweb-international.com/Classpedia/Nicolai.htm Otto Nicolai biography and timeline] at MusicWeb Classpedia
*