Carl Otto Nicolai (1810-1849)
- Weihnachts-Ouverture (D-Dur) | (über den Choral "Vom Himmel hoch") (1833)
Performers: Bamberger Symphoniker; Karl Anton Rickenbacher (1940-2014, conductor)
Further info: Nicolai - Overtures & Symphony
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German composer and conductor. He was the first child of the composer
Carl Ernst Daniel Nicolai (1785-1854) and his wife Christiane Lauber.
Because of his mother’s physical and mental illness, the marriage was
dissolved a few months after Nicolai’s birth. He grew up in the care of
foster-parents until 1820, when his father took on responsibility for
his education. He studied piano at home, and in 1827 went to Berlin,
where he took lessons in theory with Carl Friedrich Zelter. He also took
courses with Bernhard Klein at the Royal Institute for Church Music. On
13 April 1833, he made his concert debut in Berlin as a pianist,
singer, and composer. He then was engaged as organist to the embassy
chapel in Rome by the Prussian ambassador, Christian Charles Josias von
Bunsen. While in Italy, he also studied counterpoint with Giuseppe
Baini. In 1837 he proceeded to Vienna, where he became a singing teacher
and Kapellmeister at the Karnthnertortheater. In 1838 he returned to
Italy where he presented in Trieste his first opera, 'Rosmonda
d'Inghilterra'. In late summer 1841 he was appointed principal conductor
of the Hofoper at the Kärntnertor, and was able to concentrate on the
operas of Mozart and Beethoven, which he particularly admired. Required
by contract to compose German operas, he provided his first original
German opera, 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor'. In summer 1844 he
undertook a long journey via Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin to
Königsberg, where he performed the 'Kirchliche Fest-Ouvertüre' which he
had dedicated to his native town, as part of the festival to celebrate
the 300th anniversary of the university. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of
Prussia was so impressed that he tried to tempt him to Berlin; Nicolai,
however, did not at first respond to the offer. October 1847 saw him
installed as Kapellmeister at the Königliches Opernhaus in Berlin and,
as Mendelssohn’s successor, artistic director of the cathedral choir.
Wishing to reform Prussian church services, he immediately began to
compose a series of large-scale religious works. Soon afterwards he
joined the Tonkünstlerverband, a society concerned with the
reorganization of Prussian musical life; 'Die lustigen Weiber'
eventually received its première, without huge success, on 9 March 1849.
Two months later, Nicolai died. On the same day he was elected a member
of the Akademie der Künste, but too late to receive the news.
