Franz Abt
Franz Wilhelm Abt (22 December 1819 – 31 March 1885)[1] was a German composer and choral conductor.[2] He composed roughly 3,000 individual works mostly in the area of vocal music. Several of his songs were at one time universally sung, and have obtained a more or less permanent place in the popular repertory. Abt was a renowned choral conductor, and he spent much of the last three decades of his life working as a guest conductor with choirs throughout Europe and in the United States.
Biography
Abt was born at
Upon the death of his father in 1837, Abt abandoned his theological studies and decided to concentrate entirely on music. It is at this time that he began to compose and publish music, mostly works for the piano which were written for performance in Leipzig's salons. In 1841 Abt became kapellmeister at Bernburg, then moved to Zürich in the same year where he became an immensely popular and skilled choirmaster, often conducting his own compositions. While in Zürich he was appointed director of almost all of the city's numerous choral societies in succession, often winning prizes for them. In 1852 Abt returned to Germany to become musical director at the court theater in Braunschweig where he served until 1882.[3]
Abt also remained active as a choral conductor during his time in Braunschweig. He was appointed director of the
Music
Abt's compositions comprise more than 600 opus numbers which make up over 3,000 individual items. He was primarily a composer of vocal music and was particularly prolific in writing music for male choirs which he thought was lacking in sufficient literature. Indeed, his greatest successes in Germany and Switzerland were obtained in part-songs for men's voices. Abt was also successful in writing choral music for mixed choruses both a cappella and with either piano or orchestral accompianement. He also wrote numerous popular vocal art songs for solo voice, part songs for multiple voices, and several songs for children.[3]
Abt's compositional style betrays an easy fluency of invention, couched in pleasing popular forms, but without pretence to depth or individuality. Many of his songs, were at one time universally sung, and have obtained a more or less permanent place in the popular repertory. Several were translated into English by
Abt's other compositions include three
References
- ISBN 0-674-37299-9.
- ISBN 0-550-18022-2, page 5
- ^ a b c d e f Edward F. Kravitt: "Franz Abt", Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 18 January 2009), (subscription access) Archived 16 May 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Resting Places: The Burial Places of 14,000 Famous Persons, by Scott Wilson
- ^ "Category:Tretbar, Helen D. – IMSLP: Free Sheet Music PDF Download". imslp.org. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
External links
- Franz Abt at Lied and Art Song Texts
- Abt info at Morris Foundation
- Free scores by Franz Abt at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
- Free scores by Franz Abt in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
- Texts on Wikisource:
- "Abt, Franz". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
- "Abt, Franz". The New Student's Reference Work. 1914.
- "Abt, Franz". Collier's New Encyclopedia. 1921.