Faà di Bruno, Giovanni Matteo [Horatio, Orazio] Fabbri, Anna Maria



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Fürstenau.


German family of musicians.

(1) Caspar Fürstenau

(2) Anton Bernhard Fürstenau

(3) Moritz Fürstenau

GAYNOR G. JONES



Fürstenau

(1) Caspar Fürstenau


(b Münster, Westphalia, 26 Feb 1772; d Oldenburg, 11 May 1819). Flautist and composer. He first studied the oboe with his father. When he was orphaned, Anton Romberg took care of him and encouraged him to study the bassoon. But Caspar preferred the flute and soon became an accomplished performer, so that at the age of 15 he could support his family by playing in the military band. The following year he entered the bishop's orchestra in Münster and, after some theory lessons from Josef Antoni, made his first concert tour through Germany in 1793–4. He was appointed to the Duke of Oldenburg's court orchestra in 1794 and gave lessons to the Grand Duke Paul. Together with his son (2) Anton Bernhard Fürstenau he went on concert tours and performed in major European cities. After the dissolution of the court orchestra in 1811, he continued to travel with his son, giving concerts in the capitals of Europe.

WORKS


Fl, orch: 2 concs., 2 polonaises (one for 2 solo fl), rondo, potpourris, variations

Variations, fl, vn, va, vc; 6 waltzes, fl, pf; Duo, fl, vn; 12 pieces, 2 fl, gui; 4 variation sets, numerous shorter pieces, fl, gui; trios, 2 fl, b

c30 duos and other pieces incl. Marche variée, 2 fl; 2 variation sets, fl solo

Works by F. Fränzl, F. Krommer arr. fl, vn, va, vc; Variations by A.E. Müller, arr. fl, orch

Other works: Potpourri, bn, orch; Theme and 6 variations, gui; marches, rondos, other works, pf; masonic songs, 5 sets of songs, 1v, pf

Fürstenau

(2) Anton Bernhard Fürstenau


(b Münster, 20 Oct 1792; d Dresden, 18 Nov 1852). Flautist and composer, son of (1) Caspar Fürstenau. A pupil of his father, he made his first public appearance as a flautist in Oldenburg at the age of seven and became a member of the Oldenburg court orchestra in 1804. His frequent concert tours with his father took him to Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, Vienna, Copenhagen and Prague, where he met Carl Maria von Weber in 1815. Partly owing to his wish to settle down and partly on account of his father's poor health, he accepted an appointment to the Frankfurt town orchestra in 1817; there Johannes Vollweiler gave him further lessons in composition. The year after his father's death he moved to Dresden, where he became first flautist under Weber's direction. He continued to make numerous concert tours, and in 1826 he accompanied Weber to Paris and London; although he performed in London, Fürstenau cancelled his benefit concert because of Weber's illness.

Fétis and others praised Fürstenau's playing for its dexterity and expressiveness; only in England did he have a poor reception, his execution being praised but his tone criticized as inferior to that of Nicholson. He continued to play on the old-fashioned flute; in his Kunst des Flöten-Spiels op.138 (Leipzig, 1909), he voiced his opposition to the new flute and its monotonous sound. A prolific composer for the flute, he wrote variations and rondos on popular opera themes by Weber, Meyerbeer, Halévy, Bellini and others. His concertos exhibit virtuoso writing and an operatic influence in their themes and style; other works for flute, however, show the influence of Weber.


WORKS


Fl, orch: 11 concs., 1 concertino, 2 polonaises, several variation sets (one with chorus), Réminiscences de Meyerbeer, Tribut aux amateurs

2 fl, orch: 2 concertinos, 3 rondeaux brillants, 2 rondolettos, 2 variation sets

Serenade, fl, va, pf; 6 serenades, fl, va, gui/bn; variations, fl, gui; 4 quartets, fl, str; 2 divertimentos, fl, str

Fl, pf: 8 fantaisies (no.8 pf/hp); 6 nocturnes; several variation sets, rondinos, polonaises, bagatelles, character-pieces, other works

Quatuor, F, 4 fl; 10 trios, 3 fl

2 fl: 6 grands duos concertants, 12 duos concertants, 3 duos brillants, 12 duos, 15 duos faciles

Fl: Amusements, 6 divertissements, 6 thèmes favoris, Caprices, several didactic works

4 sets of songs, other individual songs, most 1v, fl, pf; Waltzes, pf

WRITINGS


‘Etwas über die Flöte und das Flöten-Spiel’, AMZ, xxvii (1825), 709–13

‘Historisch-kritische Untersuchung der Konstruktion unserer jetzigen Flöte’, AMZ, xl (1838), 694–6, 706–8, 730–33



Fürstenau

(3) Moritz Fürstenau


(b Dresden, 26 July 1824; d Dresden, 27 March 1889). Writer, flautist and composer, son of (2) Anton Bernhard Fürstenau. He also studied the flute with his father, and gave his first public performance at the age of eight. Later he went on concert tours with his father. In 1842 he became a flautist in the Dresden orchestra, and was appointed chamber musician two years later. His father sent him to Munich to study the new methods of Theobald Boehm; after having performed successfully on the Boehm flute, he returned to Dresden. Through the opposition of the older members of the court orchestra, who disliked the Boehm flute, he reverted to the old flute for fear of losing his job. He succeeded his father as first flautist of the Dresden orchestra in 1852, and in 1854 was appointed curator of the Königliche Privatmusiksammlung. He went on concert tours with Jenny Lind in 1855.

Moritz is known as a performer, composer and teacher, and for his organizational work. He transcribed operatic themes, including some by Wagner, for flute and piano. In 1856 he became professor of flute at the Dresden Conservatory. Together with Julius Rühlmanns, he founded the orchestra of the Dresden Tonkünstlerverein, which he directed for many years; he also founded the Dresden Wagner-Verein. His major contribution, however, was as a writer. After several years as a performer, he became interested in archival studies. His Beiträge zur Geschichte der königlich sächsischen musikalischen Kapelle (Dresden, 1849) documents the musical life at Dresden up to 1827; he supplemented this with a two-volume Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden (Dresden, 1861–2), which covers the period to 1763. Often the names of the members of the orchestra and other details are incorrectly given; but he tried to remedy some of these inaccuracies in his periodical articles on Dresden musicians and musical activities, especially in the Archiv für die sächsische Geschichte, the Mitteilungen des königlichen sächsischen Altertumsvereins and the Monatshefte für Musikgeschichte. Yet although his large works have been criticized both for inaccuracy and also for being little more than detailed chronologies, they are important for their time and are valuable as documents of the musical life at Dresden, being written by one who had first-hand experience of the orchestra there. Fürstenau's numerous other writings include biographical articles, reviews of performances, and articles on instrument making and on manuscripts in the Königliche Privatmusiksammlung.


WRITINGS


Die Stiftungsurkunde der k.s. musikalischen Kapelle (Dresden, 1848)

Beiträge zur Geschichte der königlich sächsischen musikalischen Kapelle (Dresden, 1849)

Zur Geschichte der Musik und des Theaters am Hofe zu Dresden (Dresden, 1861–2/R)

Die musikalische Beschäftigungen der Prinzessin Amalie, Herzogin von Sachsen (Dresden, 1874)

ed., with T. Berthold: Die Fabrikation musikalischer Instrumente im königlichen sächsischen Vogtlande (Leipzig, 1876)

Das Conservatorium für Musik in Dresden 1856–1881 (Dresden, 1881)

BIBLIOGRAPHY


ADB (R. Eitner, M. Fürstenau)

MGG1 (W. Virneisel)

Obituary of Moritz Fürstenau, NZM, lxxxv (1889), 182–3



L. de Lorenzo: My Complete Story of the Flute (New York, 1951, enlarged 2/1992)

H.-P. Schmitz: Querflöte und Querflötenspiel in Deutschland während des Barockzeitalters (Kassel, 1952, 2/1958)

J. Warrack: Carl Maria von Weber (London, 1968, 2/1976)

H.-P. Schmitz: Fürstenau heute: Flötenspiel in Klassik und Romantik (Kassel, 1988)

B. Schneeberger: Die Musikerfamilie Fürstenau: Untersuchungen zu Leben und Werk (diss., U. of Münster, 1991)


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