Volkmann, Robert

Robert Volkmann
(b. Lommatzsch near Meissen, 6 April 1815 — d. Budapest, 29 October 1883)

Concert Overture in C major for orchestra (1863)

Preface
Friedrich Robert Volkmann was born in Lommatzsch, Saxony, Germany on 6 April 1815. He was a German composer, born in a musical family. His father Gotthelf (1767-1833) was a Lutheran Kantor and music teacher in Lommatzsch as well as his first music tutor. Robert learnt to play piano and organ with him and violin and cello with Friebel. By the age of 12 Robert was able to play the cello part in string quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. In 1832, at the age of 17, he was admitted in the Gymnasium in Freiberg, where he studied music with August Ferdinand Anacker (1790-1851).

Four years later, Robert left Freiberg for Leipzig. The city was very important for him and his future. Here Volkmann studied composition and theory with Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-1877), the organist at the Petrikirche and future head of the organ department at the conservatory, as the city did not have the conservatory (it was founded only on 1843). In Leipzig Robert had the occasion to meet Schumann and to attend many of Mendelssohn‘s Gewandhaus concerts held on Thursdays: both composers had considerable influence on his stylistic development.

When his his studies were finished, Volkmann became the voice teacher in a music school in Prague. One year later, Robert accepted the role of the music teacher for the two daughters of Countess Stainlein-Saalenstein. The lessons were run in the Countess estate in Szemeréd (Hungary). However, he did not remain in this city for a long time.

In 1841 he moved to Budapest where Volkmann – except for a period of almost 4 years in Vienna – spent the rest of his life. He became one of the most prominent musical figures of the town and frequently met famous musicians who visited the city. Thanks to the Countess‘s letters of introduction he was allowed to access to the most distinguished musical houses in the city. Volkmann was employed as a piano teacher and worked as a reporter for the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung. In 1848, after a period of freelance work, the composer was appointed choirmaster and organist of a Reform Synagogue.

His first success as composer arrived in 1850 when he completed his Piano Trio in B-flat minor, op.5, published by Rózsavölgyi in 1852. The composition was dedicated to Franz Liszt who played it together with Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) and Bernhard Cossmann (1822-1910).

In 1852 Robert met Hans von Bülow (1830-1894), and the two soon became friends. In fact, von Bülow was the pianist that played the premiere in Berlin of the Volkmann‘s Trio on 3th of December 1853. The work was appreciated very much, even Wagner, Felix Draeseke (1835-1913) and Alexander Ritter (1833-1896) were enthusiastic of the composition… (Federico Furnari)

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