Joseph Küffner (1776-1856)
- Potpourri für Querflöte und Gitarre
Performers: Henner HeppeI (flute); Siegfried Behrend (1933-1990, guitar)
Further info: Joseph Küffner (1776-1856) - Potpourris
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Was a German musician and composer. Joseph was born as the fifth child
of the Franconian musician family Küffner. His father Wilhelm was a
court musician and composer, his mother Katharina the daughter of the
court conductor Johann Franz Georg Wassmuth in Würzburg. Both parents
died early. So Joseph had to look after himself and his two younger
siblings. He earned his living as an auxiliary musician, violinist and
guitarist in the prince-bishop's court orchestra and also appeared as a
soloist. Self-taught, he learned to play the flute, clarinet, trombone
and French horn. In 1798, Prince-Bishop Georg Karl von Fechenbach
engaged him with the reform of the Würzburg military music. With the
secularization of the Duchy of Würzburg in 1803 and its incorporation
into the Kingdom of Bavaria, he temporarily lost his post as court
musician. Küffner successfully applied for a position as a music teacher
at the Electoral Bavarian Light Infantry Battalion "La Motte" and
trained the military musicians. A year later he got the same job with
the Electoral Bavarian 12th Line Infantry Regiment "Löwenstein". For
both associations Küffner composed two-part military marches in slow and
fast pace. The scores show 18 wind instruments and two percussion
parts. By 1825 he had written 36 compositions for military music,
including three overtures and 20 potpourris on themes from operas by
Auber and Rossini and Carl Maria von Weber, which were popular at the
time. This made Küffner the first German arranger for wind orchestras.
As early as 1805, the Würzburg chronicler Carl Gottfried Scharold
reported: "When the guard is relieved at noon around 12 o'clock, a
well-cast band of musicians usually plays some pleasant pieces and
delights the audience." The most demanding military music composition is
likely to be his "Symphony for Military Music" Opus 165. A gout ailment
caused Küffner to terminate his contract as "military music director"
with the Bavarian Army in 1825. Küffner was never a soldier and never
wore a uniform. In all documents in the Bavarian State Archives he is
referred to as a “court and chamber musician”. He was an employee of the
army and had no authority. The military superiors of the military
musicians were the Regimentstambours until 1811, and from 1811 to 1818
the music masters with the rank of sergeants, whose musical training
Küffner also took over. As a member of the royal court orchestra from
1806 to 1814 of Grand Duke Ferdinand III von Toscana composed Küffner
mainly for string instruments, but also for wind instruments. He often
used the guitar as an accompanying instrument. Küffner composed over 360
works, 36 of them for military music.
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