Hummel, Johann Nepomuk

Hummel, Johann Nepomuk – Piano Concerto Op. 113

(b. Bratislava, 14. November 1778 – d. Weimar, 17. Oktober 1837)

If there is one composer among Beethoven’s contemporaries that deserves to be better known and has – rightfully – received growing interest from performers and musicologists, then it is certainly Johann Nepomuk Hummel. Eight years Beethoven’s junior (born in 1778), Hummel was a child prodigy, he studied piano with Mozart and lived with the Mozart family for two years. He later succeeded Haydn as a Kapellmeister in Esterházy, and was the dedicatee of Schubert’s three last piano sonatas (D 958-960, 1828). He befriended Goethe and Beethoven, was a pall-bearer at the latter’s funeral, and played at his memorial concert. Indeed, there is no lack of celebrities and Very Important Composers in Hummel’s biography.

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