FRANZ LACHNER.
From a photograph from life by Luckhardt, of Vienna.
(See page [595].)
Otto Nicolai (1810–49), director of the Domchor and Royal Opera of Berlin, composed a number of conventional Italian operas and other works. His “Merry Wives of Windsor” is one of the most popular comic operas of the present time. The overture is especially charming, and a great favorite in the concert-room.
Franz von Suppe (1820–92), “the German Offenbach,” composed an immense number of pleasing operettas and vaudevilles, of which his “Fatinitza” is celebrated. His overture to the “Poet and Peasant” is one of the most popular light overtures ever written.
Ignaz Brüll in his opera “Golden Cross,” and Victor Nessler in his “Piper of Hamelin” and “Trumpeter of Säkkingen,” have achieved success. Their great popularity in Germany is an illustration of the fact that the opera public in general have a different standard of taste than cultivated musicians.
Johann Strauss (born 1825), the younger, has won great success with his operettas. His “Fledermaus” and “Der Lustige Krieg” are known all over the world.
In the field of dance music Germany leads the world. The strains of Lanner, Gungl, Waldteufel and Strauss are heard in every land. For piquancy, sensuous charm of melody, rhythmical swing, thematic contrast and effective orchestration, the waltzes of Lanner and Strauss are to be classed with the most artistic productions of modern Germany.
Since Schubert’s day, the German Lied-form has been cultivated by many composers, the noblest of whom are Loewe, Schumann, Franz, Rubinstein and Brahms. Loewe and Franz were specialists, but their songs are very unlike. In Germany, Loewe has been especially popular with the masses, while Franz, by his exquisite taste and feeling, appeals more strongly to cultivated musicians. In certain respects Franz and Schumann share with Schubert in the fulfilment of the highest ideal of the German Lied.
Carl Loewe (1796–1869) was a productive composer in various fields of music, but his reputation rests on his merits as a ballad composer.
The number of his ballads which have gained universal popularity is very great. Among them may be mentioned “Edward,” “Herr Oluf,” “Abschied,” “Goldschmieds Töchterlein,” “Der Wirthin Töchterlein,” “Die Braut von Corinth,” “Heinrich der Vogler,” “Erlkönig,” and “Die Gruft der Liebenden.” His musical style is remarkable for its dramatic picturesqueness and justness of declamation. With him everything is made to contribute to a full rendering of the meaning of the text. His works have become very popular, and their popularity is by no means on the wane. It is remarkable, however, that beyond the boundaries of Germany his ballads are but little known.
The musical productiveness of modern Germany has been displayed in no single branch so overwhelmingly as in songs. It may truly be said that every composer, great and small, has produced his sets of Lieder, though it has been vouchsafed to only a chosen few to merit distinction in this over-crowded field. Among the multitude who have composed songs in a light style are several whose services to popular music ought not to be underestimated. The most prominent of this class are Heinrich Proch (1809–78), Friedrich Kücken (1810–82), and Franz Abt (1819–85). Of these, Abt is the ablest and the most widely known. Most of his songs are trivial in character, but a few, like “When the Swallows Homeward Fly,” have touched the popular heart and deserve their widespread fame.