Berthold Damcke

Hannover. He first studied theology and later music in Frankfurt as a pupil of Aloys Schmitt^[1] who was appointed court organist and chamber musician of the Duke Adolph von Cambridge in Hanover in 1826^[3] as well as Ferdinand Ries.^[1] In 1834, Damcke made an appearance in his hometown "[...] probably for a short time" as violist in the Kingdom of Hanover court orchestra,^[1] which at that time still existed in the Schlossopernhaus [de] and was located in the east wing of the Leineschloss.^[4] However, he continued to study the piano and organ, also composing his first choral works.^[1]

Ave Maria.^[2] Also still in 1841, Damcke took over the position of conductor in Königsberg.^[2] There, his opera Das Käthchen von Heilbronn after Heinrich von Kleist was premiered in 1845.^{[1][Anm. 1]}

St. Petersburg as a piano teacher, where he also developed a rich activity as a sensitive music critic and wrote extensive articles for the German-language St. Petersburgische Zeitung. In 1855, he moved to Brussels.^[2] From 1859, Damcke lived and worked in Paris, where he wrote for various German and Russian journals. He also worked as a teacher, both privately and at the Conservatoire de Paris.^[1] One of his private pupils was Georges Pfeiffer. Damcke was friends with Hector Berlioz whom he had sponsored and whom he had already met in 1847 on the occasion of his guest performance in St. Petersburg.^[1] In Paris, he also taught under the later patronage of Fanny Pelletan,^[5] who conceptually developed the complete edition of Christoph Willibald Gluck's works, suggested by Berlioz, and presented its first three volumes,^[6] on which Damcke collaborated.^[2]