Joseph Christoph Kessler
Encyclopedia
Joseph Christoph Kessler (1800–72), also seen as Kötzler, was a German pianist and composer who was active mostly in the Austrian Empire
. His études, nocturnes, variations, preludes and bagatelles were praised by such people as Franz Liszt
, Sigismond Thalberg
, Ignaz Moscheles
and Friedrich Kalkbrenner
, and he was the dedicatee of the 24 Preludes, Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin
.
Kessler was born at Augsburg
in 1800. He studied under the organist Bilek at Feldsberg
and at a seminary at Nicolsburg
. He then studied philosophy in Vienna
. He became a piano teacher in Lemberg, where, at the house of Count Potocki
, he wrote his 24 Études, Op. 20, one in every key. These were published in 1827. The études were celebrated in their day, being played by Franz Liszt
in his concerts, and praised by Fétis
, Moscheles
and Kalkbrenner
, who used some of Kessler's works in their own pedagogical material. He also taught at Landshut
.
Frédéric Chopin
became exposed to Kessler's music while he was in his teens, in Warsaw
. Kessler arrived in Warsaw in 1829, and quickly became part of the musical life there. He was one of a number of people who gave regular musical soirees attended by Chopin. It was at such Kessler soirees that Chopin heard for the first time works such as Beethoven
's "Archduke" Trio. Kessler and Chopin became firm friends. Kessler's Études were arranged in a circle of fifths
, unlike Johann Sebastian Bach
's The Well-Tempered Clavier
, which is arranged in ascending chromatic order. It has been said that Chopin may have even borrowed the title "étude" from Kessler, and copied from Kessler the idea of using metronome
marks in his scores.
Kessler dedicated to Chopin a set of 24 Preludes, Op. 31, one in each of the major and minor keys. A decade later, Chopin repaid the dedication in his own 24 Preludes, Op. 28, and he also employed the circle of fifths that Kessler used in his 24 Études; however, he may have been earlier influenced by Hummel
's Preludes, Op. 67 (1815), which also use this schema.
On 6 February 1836, Robert Schumann
wrote an article in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
comparing the significance of études written by various composers. Bach, Clementi
, Cramer
, Moscheles and Chopin were considered "the most important", while Kessler was described as "merely capable".
On the other hand, Schumann said of Kessler: "Mann von Geist und sogar poetischem Geist".
Kessler moved back to Vienna, then returned to Warsaw; he also lived at Breslau, and for 20 years at Lemberg. He returned to Vienna in 1855, where he died in 1872.
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
. His études, nocturnes, variations, preludes and bagatelles were praised by such people as 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...
, Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg
Sigismond Thalberg was a composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.- Descent and family background :...
, Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
and Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner was a German pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer who spent most of his life in England and France. Before the advent of Frédéric Chopin, Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt, Kalkbrenner was by many considered to be the foremost pianist in...
, and he was the dedicatee of the 24 Preludes, Op. 28 by Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
.
Kessler was born at Augsburg
Augsburg
Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
in 1800. He studied under the organist Bilek at Feldsberg
Valtice
The town of Valtice in the Czech Republic contains one of the most impressive Baroque residences of Central Europe. It was designed as the seat of the ruling princes of Liechtenstein by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in the early 18th century. Construction was supervised by Domenico...
and at a seminary at Nicolsburg
Mikulov
Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...
. He then studied philosophy in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
. He became a piano teacher in Lemberg, where, at the house of Count Potocki
Potocki
Potocki is the surname of a Polish noble family.-History:The Potocki family is a great artistocratic family originated from Potok in the Kraków Voivodeship; their family name derives from that place name. The family is heavily entwined with the cultural development and history of Poland's Eastern...
, he wrote his 24 Études, Op. 20, one in every key. These were published in 1827. The études were celebrated in their day, being played by 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...
in his concerts, and praised by Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis
François-Joseph Fétis was a Belgian musicologist, composer, critic and teacher. He was one of the most influential music critics of the 19th century, and his enormous compilation of biographical data in the Biographie universelle des musiciens remains an important source of information today...
, Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles
Ignaz Moscheles was a Bohemian composer and piano virtuoso, whose career after his early years was based initially in London, and later at Leipzig, where he succeeded his friend and sometime pupil Felix Mendelssohn as head of the Conservatoire.-Sources:Much of what we know about Moscheles's life...
and Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner was a German pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer who spent most of his life in England and France. Before the advent of Frédéric Chopin, Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt, Kalkbrenner was by many considered to be the foremost pianist in...
, who used some of Kessler's works in their own pedagogical material. He also taught at Landshut
Landshut
Landshut is a city in Bavaria in the south-east of Germany, belonging to both Eastern and Southern Bavaria. Situated on the banks of the River Isar, Landshut is the capital of Lower Bavaria, one of the seven administrative regions of the Free State of Bavaria. It is also the seat of the...
.
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric Chopin
Frédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
became exposed to Kessler's music while he was in his teens, in Warsaw
Warsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
. Kessler arrived in Warsaw in 1829, and quickly became part of the musical life there. He was one of a number of people who gave regular musical soirees attended by Chopin. It was at such Kessler soirees that Chopin heard for the first time works such as Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
's "Archduke" Trio. Kessler and Chopin became firm friends. Kessler's Études were arranged in a circle of fifths
Circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths shows the relationships among the 12 tones of the chromatic scale, their corresponding key signatures, and the associated major and minor keys...
, unlike Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
's The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier
The Well-Tempered Clavier , BWV 846–893, is a collection of solo keyboard music composed by Johann Sebastian Bach...
, which is arranged in ascending chromatic order. It has been said that Chopin may have even borrowed the title "étude" from Kessler, and copied from Kessler the idea of using metronome
Metronome
A metronome is any device that produces regular, metrical ticks — settable in beats per minute. These ticks represent a fixed, regular aural pulse; some metronomes also include synchronized visual motion...
marks in his scores.
Kessler dedicated to Chopin a set of 24 Preludes, Op. 31, one in each of the major and minor keys. A decade later, Chopin repaid the dedication in his own 24 Preludes, Op. 28, and he also employed the circle of fifths that Kessler used in his 24 Études; however, he may have been earlier influenced by Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Johann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
's Preludes, Op. 67 (1815), which also use this schema.
On 6 February 1836, 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....
wrote an article in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Neue Zeitschrift für Musik
Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was a music magazine published in Leipzig, co-founded by Robert Schumann, his teacher and future father-in law Friedrich Wieck, and his close friend Ludwig Schuncke...
comparing the significance of études written by various composers. Bach, Clementi
Muzio Clementi
Muzio Clementi was a celebrated composer, pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer. Born in Italy, he spent most of his life in England. He is best known for his piano sonatas, and his collection of piano studies, Gradus ad Parnassum...
, Cramer
Johann Baptist Cramer
Johann Baptist Cramer was an English musician of German origin. He was the son of Wilhelm Cramer, a famous London violinist and musical conductor, one of a numerous family who were identified with the progress of music during the 18th and 19th centuries.-Biography:Johann Baptist Cramer was born in...
, Moscheles and Chopin were considered "the most important", while Kessler was described as "merely capable".
On the other hand, Schumann said of Kessler: "Mann von Geist und sogar poetischem Geist".
Kessler moved back to Vienna, then returned to Warsaw; he also lived at Breslau, and for 20 years at Lemberg. He returned to Vienna in 1855, where he died in 1872.
List of works
- 24 Études, Op. 20 (1827), dedicated to Johann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
- Fantasy, Op. 23
- Impromptus, Op. 24
- Bagatelles, Op. 30
- 24 Preludes, Op. 31, dedicated to Frédéric ChopinFrédéric ChopinFrédéric François Chopin was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist. He is considered one of the great masters of Romantic music and has been called "the poet of the piano"....
- Études for the left hand, Op. 92
- Variations brillants on I puritaniI puritaniI puritani is an opera in three acts by Vincenzo Bellini. It was his last opera. Its libretto is by Count Carlo Pepoli, based on Têtes rondes et Cavaliers by Jacques-François Ancelot and Joseph Xavier Saintine, which is in turn based on Walter Scott's novel Old Mortality. It was first produced at...
- nocturnes
- polonaises
- church music
- songs (Blüthen und Knospen)
- concertos