Heinrich Ludwig Egmont Dorn (14 November 180410 January 1892) was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

. He was born in Königsberg

Königsberg

Königsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...

 (now known as Kaliningrad), where he studied piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

, singing

Singing

Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

, and composition. Later, he studied in Berlin with Ludwig Berger, Bernhard Klein

Bernhard Klein

Bernhard Klein was a German composer.Klein was born in Cologne. He married Lilly Parthey , who was the sister of Gustav Parthey and the granddaughter of Friedrich Nicolai...

, and Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music.Zelter became friendly with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and his works include settings of Goethe's poems...

. His first opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, Rolands Knappen, was produced in 1826, and was a success. Around this time, he became co-editor of the Berliner allgemeine Muzikzeitung.

Dorn became well known as a conductor of opera, and held theatre posts at Königsberg (1828), Leipzig

Leipzig

Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...

 (1829–32), Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 (1832), Riga

Riga

Riga is the capital and largest city of Latvia. With 702,891 inhabitants Riga is the largest city of the Baltic states, one of the largest cities in Northern Europe and home to more than one third of Latvia's population. The city is an important seaport and a major industrial, commercial,...

 (1834–43), and Cologne

Cologne

Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...

 (1844–8). In 1849, he became co-conductor, with Wilhelm Taubert

Wilhelm Taubert

Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert was a German pianist, composer, and conductor.Taubert studied under Ludwig Berger and Bernhard Klein . In 1831 he became assistant conductor and accompanist for Berlin court concerts...

, of the Berlin Hofoper - a post he held until 1869.

Dorn taught counterpoint

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 to the young Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann

Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

, and was a friend of Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt

Franz Liszt ; ), was a 19th-century Hungarian composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher.Liszt became renowned in Europe during the nineteenth century for his virtuosic skill as a pianist. He was said by his contemporaries to have been the most technically advanced pianist of his age...

. He was a harsh critic of Richard Wagner

Richard Wagner

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...

, but was persuaded to conduct the opera Tannhäuser

Tannhäuser (opera)

Tannhäuser is an opera in three acts, music and text by Richard Wagner, based on the two German legends of Tannhäuser and the song contest at Wartburg...

, in 1855. He also wrote an opera Die Nibelungen, based on the Nibelungenlied

Nibelungenlied

The Nibelungenlied, translated as The Song of the Nibelungs, is an epic poem in Middle High German. The story tells of dragon-slayer Siegfried at the court of the Burgundians, how he was murdered, and of his wife Kriemhild's revenge....

, in 1853, many years before Wagner completed Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen

Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...

.

Dorn died in Berlin in 1892.

Writings

• Spontini in Deutschland (Leipzig, 1830)
• Aus meinem Leben (Berlin, 1870–77)
• Das provisorische Statut der Königlichen Akademie der Künste in Berlin (Berlin, 1875)

Compositions

• Rolands Knappen (1826)
• Der Zauberer und das Ungetüm (1827)
• Die Bettlerin (1828)
• Abu Kara (c. 1831)
• Der Schöffe von Paris (1838)
• Das Banner von England (1841)
• Die Nibelungen (1854)
• Ein Tag in Russland (1856)
• Gewitter bei Sonnenschein (1865)
• Der Botenläufer von Pirna (1865)

Sources

• Robert Eitner: Dorn, Heinrich. Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 48, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1904, p 35–37.
• Willi Kahl: Dorn, Heinrich. Neue Deutsche Biographie (NDB). Volume 4, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1959, p. 79.
• Peck Leverett, Adelyn, and Fifield, Christopher. "Heinrich Dorn". Grove Music Online (subscription access).