BIOGRAPHY
BIOGRAPHY
AUGUST JOSEPH
NORBERT BURGMÜLLER was born on 8 February 1810 in Düsseldorf,
the
youngest son from a musical family. The father, August Burgmüller
(1766-1824), was a theatre
conductor, who had held a number of positions, including posts in Weimar,
Cologne, Mainz,
Aachen, Regensburg, and Bonn (where he had come into contact with Beethoven).
In 1807 he
settled in Düsseldorf where he became city music director, and in
1818, founder of the
Niederrheinische Music Festival. It was here that he also met his future
wife Therese von Zandt
(1771-1858). August Burgmüller was well known as a conductor
and adminstrator, less so as a
composer. He was also known for his fondness for the good life - a carefree
and independent
spirit. Clemens Brentano described him as "a soiled genius". Goethe's
friend Carl Friedrich
Zelter felt similarly about him, but was struck by the breadth of his knowledge
and artistic skills.
His wife Therese was a talented singer and sought-after piano teacher.
Norbert Burgmüller was
preceded by two brothers born in Regensburg: Franz (1805-1834) - the only
non-musician of the
family - and Friedrich (1806-1874), who, after teaching music in Mühlhausen,
about 1834 settled
in Paris. As a composer of piano works in a popular style, he quickly gained
both fame and fortune.
He was also well known for his romantic ballet "La Péri",
but today he is remembered for his
valuable collection of etudes for piano, so much so that he is not infrequently
confused with his
brother, Norbert.
Norbert Burgmüller attended elementary school in Düsseldorf from
1816 to 1824, in addition to
receiving music instruction from his parents and older brother,Friedrich.
But the death of his
father left the family in a precarious situation. Fortunately, Count Franz
von Nesselrode-
Ehreshoven, supported the family. It was he who made possible young Norbert's
study in Kassel
(starting in 1826) with the composer, violinist, and conductor Louis Spohr
(1784-1859) and his
pupil, the music theorist and composer Moritz Hauptmann (1792-1868). After
finishing his studies,
Burgmüller remained in Kassel. He gave music lessons, and was active
as pianist and composer.
His engagement to an older singer in the Kassel opera ensemble, Sophia
Roland (1804-1830),
ended unhappily for Burgmüller. In 1830 for reasons unknown she broke
off their relationship.
It was after this traumatic experience that the first signs of epilepsy
appeared. He also began
to drink to excess.
In 1830 he returned to Düsseldorf, living until his death with his
mother. He frequented an artistic
circle of painters, poets and musicians - one which resembles that
associated with one Franz
Schubert - and directed a group of amateur musicians. A journey to London
in 1833, which
Burgmüller made with an opera ensemble, ended in serious illness.
But an important artistic
relationship was established with Felix Mendelssohn, who from 1833 to 1835
was city music
director in Düsseldorf. Although Burgmüller had also hoped to
gain this post (previously held by
his father), he and Mendelssohn became good friends. All in all, this was
a happier time for
Burgmüller, and he became engaged to a French governess in Count Nesselrode's
household:
Josephine Collin. But the relationship was not finalized, the result, according
to reports of
contemporaries, of Burgmüller's lack of resolve. He was known
as quiet and reserved, as well
as prone to melancholy. His life seems to have been one of extremes--hardly
suitable for the
position of music director. The contemporary Belgian musicologist and composer
Fétis called
him "bizarre, an enemy of the ways of the world, of social convention,
and of all constraint."
The departure of Mendelssohn to Leipzig (as director of the Gewandhaus
Concerts) left Burgmüller
without any true artistic companionship. That helps to explain several
friendships begun in 1835
which assured Burgmüller in the 19th Century a rather dubious celebrity.
He became friendly
with the poet and theatre manager Carl Immermann, and the dissolute playwright
Christian
Dietrich Grabbe (1801-1836; author of the drama "Humor, Satire, Irony,
and Deeper Meaning").
Lively reports of the close friendship between Burgmüller and Grabbe
(and their drinking bouts)
circulated widely. Grabbe drew exceptionally close to Burgmüller,
and wrote for him the burlesque
opera libretto, "Der Cid."
About this time Norbert Burgmüller made plans to follow his successful
brother Friedrich to Paris.
In letters to his future biographer, the physician and poet Wolfgang Müller
von Königswinter
(1816-1891), Burgmüller wrote in 1836: "This provincial artistic
life is beginning to become
intolerable to me - whether as an observer or active participant, there
is nothing to be gained."
And so, as if to provide some balance to his life, he thought of moving
on: "Here, take my hand
in friendship - from one who can only with difficulty demonstrate that
friendship . . . I was not
ready to deal with the world. I believed only in music - at first I could
not see the necessity
(I was too stupid), and now I am too obstinate and perhaps also too proud
to adapt myself to the
ways of mankind."
At the invitation of a friend, in the spring of 1836 Burgmüller went
to the medicinal baths in
Aachen to attempt a cure. On 7 May he died there under circumstances which
remain unclear.
Reports at that time speak of drowning due perhaps to an epileptic convulsion,
but there were
also rumors of suicide. Four days later, to the sounds of a funeral march
composed for the
occasion by Mendelssohn, he was buried in Düsseldorf. Grabbe wrote
a heart-rending obituary.
"The recognition of his exceptional talent," wrote Friedrich Burgmüller
when informing Spohr of
Norbert's death, "coupled with his unfailing modesty have impressed themselves
strongly on
everyone here - so much so that had he been alive, even a small portion
of it would have made
him happy."
Copyright by Klaus Zehnder-Tischendorf 2001 - 2002