Childhood and adolescence

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Friedrich Daniel Rudolph Kuhlau was born on September 11, 1786 in Uelzen, the son of the military musician Johann Karl Kuhlau and his wife Dorothea Charlotte née Seegers. In order to be able to support the family, his father supplemented his low wages with music lessons, and so the young Friedrich grew up surrounded by the sounds of wind instruments, because his father played the oboe and flute. As early as 1793 the family moved to Lüneburg, where Friedrich Kuhlau lost his right eye in an accident at the age of 9. This disease process kept him bedridden for several months. To make this difficult time easier for him, his parents placed a clavichord across the bed, on which the boy began to improvise. The parents, with their limited financial means, tried to support their sons musical talent as much as possible by giving him piano lessons after his recovery. The father himself taught Friedrich how to play the flute. Over the years, Kuhlau probably gave up playing the flute altogether and later also playing the piano in public in order to devote himself entirely to composing.

Since the family often had to move, Friedrich and his older brother Andreas attended various boarding schools. Friedrich's name was last mentioned in the Katharineum in Braunschweig. He earned his school fees and his livelihood as a carol student and through music lessons.

In 1803, after finishing school, Kuhlau moved in with his parents, who now lived in Hamburg; the father had retired from military service and lived from music and instrumental lessons, which he gave in the Hanseatic city. Kuhlaus hopes for a successful life as a musician in Hamburg were initially not fulfilled. It was only when he became a student of the then all-powerful music director Christian Friedrich Gottlieb Schwencke that he was given opportunities to perform as a pianist and also had some successes as a composer. This was the first time the 18-year-old appeared before the public: the overture of his first (lost) opera "Amor's Triumph" and a symphony that was also lost were performed.

In 1806 he performed his own piano concerto. His first compositions, 3 rondos for piano, op. 1-3 appeared in print. In 1810, on Schwencke's recommendation, Breitkopf & Härtel printed the Piano Sonata in E flat major, Op.4, Kuhlaus first representative printed work.

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Kuhlaus arrival in Denmark

 

In the same year the composer fled to Denmark to avoid being drafted into the army by the French. As early as January 1811 he made his very successful debut in the Royal Theater in Copenhagen with his Piano Concerto in C major, which he had composed shortly before, and a tone painting "Storms on the Sea". A contemporary reports on this performance: “On January 23, 1811 he gave a concert at the Royal Theater in Copenhagen. Hardly anything was known about the foreign artist who was supposed to make himself heard. His name was known, it was said that he had come to Copenhagen on the run from his homeland; but his coming was not glorified by the fact that he was already known in Europe. The curtain rose and a slender young man appeared, whose bony figure appeared somewhat angular in his black clothes; he had thick curly hair and a long, red-cheeked face that was marred by the lack of an eye, but otherwise he gave the impression of great frankness, which again contrasted with an almost childish, awkward manner in his movements; a certain harmony in his appearance was missing. Then he sat down at the piano, Kapellmeister Kunzen raised the baton and the piece of music, a piano concerto in C major, began: The impression of awkwardness that had weighed on him up to that point disappeared; he proved himself a master when the tones arose under his hands and fingers, gliding over the keys with astonishing skill, and when he finally rose from the piano after the last Allegro, Friedrich Kuhlaus first appearance was met with applause by the Danish public.

Kuhlau soon felt at home in Copenhagen, he quickly made acquaintances in local artist circles. Jens Immanuel Baggesen, Johan Ludvig Heiberg and above all Adam Gottlob Oehlenschläger wrote libretti for his works, and he had a lifelong friendship with the composer Christoph Ernst Friedrich Weyse. Kuhlau made a living from the fees he received for concert performances and from the sale of his works, mainly to Härtel. It was a tedious business, however, and the pay was bad. A fortunate circumstance for him was that at that time house music was enjoying increasing popularity and compositions were urgently sought and printed that were suitable for “dilettante” instrumentalists.

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(1813: Piano Sonata op.5a and Piano Sonata op.6b)

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After Friedrich Kuhlau received the Danish right of residence in 1813, his parents and youngest sister moved in with him, so that he now had to look after a family of four, which certainly did not alleviate his financial hardship.

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First big successes

 

However, his first major success as a composer came in 1814, when the world premiere of his first surviving opera, Die Räuberburg, took place in the royal theater on May 26, to great applause. This opera, whose libretto was written by Oehlenschläger, saw 91 performances in Copenhagen alone, and there were new productions in Hamburg, Kassel, Leipzig and Riga.

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(Piano sonata op. 8a, 3 duos for 2 flutes op. 10a and 10 German songs op.11a, 1815: 7 variations op. 12 for piano, three trios op.13, 1819: 8 variations for piano op.16, 10 German songs Songs with piano op.19)

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Despite these successes, the financial problems were not yet solved. Kuhlau tried his hand at teaching singing, but realized that this effort prevented him from composing too much. Even some smaller operas did not bring him any success (such as "The Magic Harp"), the only additional source of income were his sonatinas for piano and / or flute, of which the older ones were repeatedly published. Finally, in April 1818, he got the position of chamber musician, which, however, was also very badly paid and also entailed the obligation to play the piano at court and one sacred or other occasional piece of music per year or, if this is not required, one to write opera.

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(1820: 3 sonatinas for piano op.20, 12 German songs with piano op.27, overture "Magic Harp" op. 27)

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In 1821, with royal permission, Kuhlau undertook a lengthy “educational trip”, which mainly took him to Leipzig and above all to Vienna, which was considered the cultural capital of Europe at the time. The composer was very impressed by the wealth of cultural offerings and even though he wrote home: "The acting is excellent here in general, I go to it more like the opera because, unfortunately, Rossinis unclean spirit is at work here too," so After all, his influence on Kuhlaus later compositions was noticeable, both in instrumental pieces and in his opera Lulu, which premiered in 1824. The librettist of this opera was the poet Carl Christian Frederik Güntelberg, who for the text - like Schikaneder for Mozart's "Magic Flute" - used the collection "Dschinnistan oder erlesene Feen- und Geister-Märnchen" by Christoph Martin Wieland. The opera was a great success and by 1838 there were 32 performances. However, during the year and a half that the work on the opera required, Kuhlau had no income and once again had to submit one of the many requests for financial support from the king. He was not granted the amount he wanted, but was given the prospect of receiving an extra payment for every new “Singstück” or opera. That didn't help him much in his current situation, as in addition to his parents and sister he now also had a nephew to look after, who had also moved in with him. So Kuhlau increasingly composed piano and flute pieces again to keep himself and his family afloat.

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(1821: 3 piano sonatas op.26, piano sonata op.30, piano quartet op.32, 1822: violin sonata op.33, piano sonata op.34, divertissement for piano op.37, 8 easy rondos for piano op.41, piano quartet op.50, 1823: 3 piano sonatas op.46, 3 piano sonatas op.52, 6 piano sonatinas op.55, 1824: 4 variations for piano op.58, 3 sonatinas for piano op.58)

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Flute compositions and acquaintance with Ludwig v. Beethoven

 

In 1825 Kuhlau embarked on his next great journey, from Lübeck to Vienna, where his great wish to get to know Ludwig van Beethoven was also fulfilled. A very successful day, on which plenty of champagne flowed in the evening, Beethoven had the canon for Kuhlau, who was regarded as the master of the then modern riddle canons, "Cool, not lau..." written in the best of moods, and he also gave his Danish colleague a lithograph with handwritten dedication. The impressions of this trip had a long-lasting effect in Kuhlau and were probably also reflected in his compositions. Immediately after his return he wrote the incidental music to Boye's "William Shakespeare", which consists of an overture, several elven choirs and songs and which was successfully performed 17 times by 1859.

(3 piano sonatinas with variations op.60, introduction and variations op. 63 for piano and flute op.63, sonata op.64 for piano and flute, 6 four-part songs for male voices op.67, 6 divertissements op.68 for flute solo)

In 1826, Kuhlau moved with his parents and nephew to Lyngby, a village near Copenhagen, which was very much in line with his pronounced love of nature.

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(Sonata op.69, 3 rondos op. 70 for piano, sonata op. 71 for piano and flute, 3 rondos op. 73 for piano)

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His last opera, Hugo und Adelheid, which he had long since drafted and which he then completed very quickly in 1827 after being promised a substantial sum if it could be performed on the Queens birthday, was also his not very successful. The composer devoted himself much more intensively to his flute compositions, which he was able to place with the German music publisher Schott's Söhne from that year onwards, with whom he also had problems paying for his works on time.

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(3 sonatas op. 79 for piano and violin, 3 duos op. 80 for two flutes, 3 duos op.81 for two flutes, 3 sonatas op.83 for piano and flute, sonata op.85 for piano and flute, 3 trios op. 86 for three flutes, 3 duets op. 87 for two flutes, 4 sonatinas op. 88 for piano)

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The Danish national composer Friedrich Kuhlau

 

In 1828 Kuhlau undertook a concert tour to Sweden and Norway, where he also played his piano work "Variations on the old Swedish folk song "Och Liten Karin tiente", in which his fondness for folk tunes and their arrangements was expressed. This tendency was to have a beneficial effect for him after his return, because he was commissioned to write a new play for the wedding of Wilhelmine, daughter of Friedrich VI, and Prince Friedrich, based on the libretto “Elfen Hügel” by Heiberg, in which old Danish sagas were incorporated, as well as old Danish folk tunes resonating in the music. The highlight of the opera is the royal anthem "King Christian stands at the high mast". The wedding performance of "Elfen Hügel" ended with a great triumph, the opera has remained the most successful piece of the royal theater in Copenhagen to this day with more than a thousand performances and makes the name of Friedrich Kuhlau unforgettable in Denmark. Shortly before the royal couples wedding, Kuhlau was appointed professor, which doubled his annual salary.

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(Trio for three flutes op. 90, 11 variations on an old Swedish song for piano op.91, Les Charmes de Copenhague, Rondo for piano op.92, Fantasy on Swedish songs for piano op. 93).

 

After the triumphant success of the last opera, Kuhlau received countless commissions for flute works, but the composer was exhausted, as a letter dated April 25 showed. 1829 to the publisher Farrenc: "...It is really a difficult task for me to write 2 times 3 flute duets one after the other, so I want to concentrate on some other work to relax first, and then at your request according to write 3 large fl duets for you, although I would then rather first write 3 trios for 3 fl or 3 sonatas for Pf and fl. wrote...” Nevertheless, there was no lengthy break from composing. In the summer of 1829 Kuhlau undertook his last trip abroad (to Berlin and Leipzig, where he stayed with his brother Andreas for a month), and in Carl Gotthelf Böhme, whom he had met in Leipzig, he had finally found a publisher who would give him paid the required fee in full and on time. He also became friends with the Berlin flautist Johann Wilhelm Gabrielsky, to whom he dedicated his recently completed flute quartet op. 103, whose performance he heard for the first time shortly thereafter at Böhmes country estate.

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(8 variations op.94 for piano and flute, 3 fantasias op. 95 for flute solo and introduction and rondo op. 98 for piano and flute).

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Strokes of fate, illness and death

 

The year 1830 was a fateful year for Kuhlau: he lost both his parents, which he found very difficult to cope with, his widowed older sister moved in with him to run his household, he himself was no longer healthy and suffered from a severe cough and gout . The world premiere of “The Triplet Brothers of Damascus”, a comedy by Oehlenschläger with incidental music and an overture by Kuhlau, did not go particularly well this year. The composer had not traveled that year because of his mother, had withdrawn more and more from Copenhagens cultural life in order to be able to compose in peace.

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(Concertino op. 45 for two horns and orchestra, 8 variations op. 99 for piano and flute, 8 variations op. 101 for piano and flute, 3 duos for two flutes, quartet op. 103 for four flutes, 5 variations op. 104 for flute and piano, 7 variations op. 105 for piano and flute, 6 romances and songs op. 106, 3 duos brilliant op. 110 for piano and flute).

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On February 5, 1831, the house in which Friedrich Kuhlau and his sister lived caught fire, almost the entire inventory burned, and with it almost all the music. The cold winter night affected Kuhlaus health so badly that he hovered between life and death for a long time and had to spend four months in Copenhagens Friedrichhospital. During this time, Weyse, Denmarks other great composer, organized a benefit concert for Kuhlau. After being discharged from the hospital, Friedrich Kuhlau and his sister rented a new apartment in Lyngby and resumed composing in July.

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(3 rondos op.111 for piano, 3 rondos op. 118 for piano)

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In March 1832 Kuhlau suffered a severe relapse and died in Copenhagen after a two-week illness. The Trio op. 119 for two flutes and piano was the last work to be published that year.
Kuhlaus memory was celebrated with a worthy performance of the successful 1814 Singspiel "Räuberburg" in the Royal Theater, for which occasion Oehlenschläger, the former librettist, wrote a funeral prologue. The composer was first buried in St. Petri, then exactly one year after his death, on March 12, 1833, in the Assistenzfriedhof, after the tomb was completed. A friend reports of the funeral: “It was a clear winter morning, the golden sun was smiling down on us and truly! The small company I had chosen announced how much everyone loved the good, wonderful, great Kuhlau; that was a beautiful day!"