Ferdinand David (20 January 1810 in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
– 19 July 1873 in
KlostersKlosters is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.Its well-known ski resort lies 150 km from Zurich, the nearest international airport. Transfer time is about 1.5 hours. Klosters is 10 km from Davos...
) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
virtuosoA virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
.
Born in the same house in Hamburg where
Felix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born, and generally known in English-speaking countries, as Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period....
had been born the previous year, David was raised Jewish but later converted to Christianity. David was a pupil of
Louis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludwig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name outside Germany.-Life:...
and
Moritz HauptmannMoritz Hauptmann , was a German music theorist, teacher and composer.Hauptmann was born at Dresden, and studied violin under Scholz, piano under Franz Lanska, composition under Grosse and Francesco Morlacchi, the rival of Carl Maria von Weber...
from 1823 to 1824 and in 1826 became a violinist at Königstädtischen Theater in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In 1829 he was the first violinist of a string quartet in
DorpatFor the French captain, see Jean-François TartuTartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university....
and undertook concert tours in
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
,
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
and
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
.
Ferdinand David (20 January 1810 in
HamburgHamburg is the second-largest city in Germany and the sixth-largest city in the European Union...
– 19 July 1873 in
KlostersKlosters is a municipality in the district of Prättigau/Davos in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.Its well-known ski resort lies 150 km from Zurich, the nearest international airport. Transfer time is about 1.5 hours. Klosters is 10 km from Davos...
) was a
GermanGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
virtuosoA virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
violinThe violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings usually tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and cello....
ist and
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
.
Born in the same house in Hamburg where
Felix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, born, and generally known in English-speaking countries, as Felix Mendelssohn was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period....
had been born the previous year, David was raised Jewish but later converted to Christianity. David was a pupil of
Louis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludwig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name outside Germany.-Life:...
and
Moritz HauptmannMoritz Hauptmann , was a German music theorist, teacher and composer.Hauptmann was born at Dresden, and studied violin under Scholz, piano under Franz Lanska, composition under Grosse and Francesco Morlacchi, the rival of Carl Maria von Weber...
from 1823 to 1824 and in 1826 became a violinist at Königstädtischen Theater in
BerlinBerlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. With a population of 3.4 million within its city limits, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city and the eighth most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In 1829 he was the first violinist of a string quartet in
DorpatFor the French captain, see Jean-François TartuTartu is the second largest city of Estonia. In contrast to Estonia's political and financial capital Tallinn, Tartu is often considered the intellectual and cultural hub, especially since it is home to Estonia's oldest and most renowned university....
and undertook concert tours in
RigaRiga is the capital and largest city of Latvia, a major industrial, commercial, cultural and financial centre of the Baltics, and an important seaport, situated on the mouth of the Daugava...
,
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city's other names were Petrograd and Leningrad...
and
MoscowMoscow is the capital and the largest city of Russia. It is also the largest metropolitan area in Europe, and ranks among the largest urban areas in the world. Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a...
. In 1835 he became concert master (
Konzertmeister) at the Gewandhaus in
LeipzigLeipzig is, with a population of 515,459, the largest city in the federal state of Saxony, Germany.-Origins:Leipzig's name is derived from the Slavic word Lipsk, which means "settlement where the lime trees stand"....
and in 1843 professor of violin (
Violinlehrer) at the Leipziger Konservatorium. He gave the premiere of Felix Mendelssohn's
violin concertoFelix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 is his last large orchestral work. It forms an important part of the violin repertoire and is one of the most popular and most frequently performed violin concertos of all time...
, and had worked closely with Mendelssohn during the piece's preparation, giving technical advice. The piece was performed on the David's 1742
GuarneriGuarneri is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati and Stradivari families....
violin which has recently been on loan to San Francisco Symphony's concermaster, Alexander Barantchik .
David's own compositions number about 40. They include two
symphoniesA symphony is an extended musical composition, scored almost always for orchestra. "Symphony" does not necessarily imply a specific form though most are composed according to the sonata principle...
, five
violin concertoA violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
s, an
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
(
Hans Wacht, 1852), a
string sextetIn classical music, a string sextet is a composition written for six string instruments, or a group of six musicians who perform such a composition. Most string sextets have been written for an ensemble consisting of two violins, two violas, and two cellos. Among the earliest works in this form...
for three violins, viola and two cellos, and a number of
Lied is a German word, meaning literally "song"; among English speakers, however, the word is used primarily as a term for European romantic music songs, also known as art songs...
er. David also composed a
Concertino for Trombone and OrchestraThe German virtuoso violinist Ferdinand David's Concertino for Trombone and Orchestra, Op. 4, was composed in 1837. It is a well-known solo for trombonists and is one of the first pieces composed for the trombone in the western world. It consists of 3 movements:*I. Allegro Maestoso*II. Marcia...
and a bassoon concertino.
David also worked as editor of violin works including those of
Francesco Maria Veracinithumb|150px|Francesco Maria Veracini.Francesco Maria Veracini was an Italian composer and violinist, perhaps best known for his sets of violin sonatas.-Life:Francesco Maria Veracini led a turbulent life...
,
Pietro LocatelliPietro Antonio Locatelli was an Italian composer and violinist.-Biography:Locatelli was born in Bergamo, Italy. A child prodigy on the violin, he was sent to study in Rome under the direction of Arcangelo Corelli...
and
Johann Gottlieb GoldbergJohann Gottlieb Goldberg was a German virtuoso harpsichordist, organist, and composer of the late Baroque and early Classical period. He is most famous for lending his name, as the probable original performer, to the renowned Goldberg Variations of J.S...
. He was editor of the complete Beethoven
piano trioA piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
s for C.F. Peters. He was also editor of the set of
Johann Sebastian BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin in 1843.
External links