Otto Nicolai

Otto Nicolai

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (9 June 1810 – 11 May 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). In addition to five operas, Nicolai composed lieder, works for orchestra, chorus, ensemble, and solo instruments.

Biography

Nicolai, a child prodigy, was born in Königsberg, Prussia. He received his first musical education from his father, himself a composer and musical director, Carl Ernst Daniel Nicolai. During his childhood his parents divorced, and while still a youth, early in June 1826, Nicolai ran away from his parents' "loveless" home, taking refuge in Stargard with a senior legal official called August Adler who treated the musical prodigy like a son and, when Nikolai was seventeen, sent him to Berlin to study with Carl Friedrich Zelter.

After initial successes in Germany, including his first Symphony (1831) and public concerts, he became musician to the Prussian Embassy in Rome. During the early 1840s he established himself as a major figure in the concert life of Vienna. In 1844 he was offered the position, vacated by Felix Mendelssohn, of Kapellmeister at the Berlin Cathedral; but he did not reestablish himself in Berlin until the last year of his life. On 11 May 1849, two months after the premiere of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and only two days after his appointment as Hofkapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper, he collapsed and died from a stroke. On the very same day of his death, he was elected a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts.

Works

Operas

Title	Genre	Sub­divisions	Libretto	Composition	Première date	Place, theatre
La figlia abbandonata				1837	unfinished
Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (given at the first performance as: Enrico II)	melodramma serio	2 acts	Felice Romani	1837–1838	26 November 1839	Trieste, Teatro Grande
Il templario	melodramma	3 acts	Girolamo Maria Marini, after Walter Scott	1839–1840	11 February 1840	Turin, Teatro Regio
Gildippe ed Odoardo	melodramma	3 acts	Temistocle Solera	1840	26 December 1840	Genoa
Il proscritto		3 acts	Gaetano Rossi	1841	13 March 1841	Milan, La Scala
Die Heimkehr des Verbannten (revision of Il proscritto)	tragische Oper	3 acts	Siegfried Kapper	1843	3 February 1844	Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor
Der Tempelritter (revision of Il templario)		3 acts	Siegfried Kapper	1845	20 December 1845	Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor	komische-fantastische Oper	3 acts	Salomon Hermann Mosenthal, after William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor	1845–1846	9 March 1849	Berlin, Hofopera

Other

• 6 four-part unaccompanied lieder, Op. 6
• Variazioni concertanti su motivi favoriti dell'opera La sonnambula di Bellini, Op. 26, for soprano, horn and piano (or cello or clarinet) (republished in 2000 by edition mf)
• Die Thräne, Op. 30, (voice, horn and piano; republished in 1999 by "edition mf").
• Ecclesiastical Festival Overture on the chorale "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott", Op. 31
• Pater noster, Op. 33, for two mixed choirs (SATB/SATB) a cappella with soloists (SATB/SATB). Published by Schott Music in 1999.
• Der dritte Psalm (Psalm 3) for alto solo. (Manuscript at Library of Congress.)
• 6 sonatas for 2 horns: from the Handel Knot-Farquharson Cousins ms (re(?)published by Edition Kunzelmann in 1977.)
• Mass in D major (1832/1845). (Recorded on the label Koch Schwann in 1981, subsequently reissued on compact disc. Re?Published by Augsburg : A. Böhm in 1986.)
• Te Deum; Psalm 97, Der Herr ist König; Psalm 31, Herr, auf Dich traue ich; Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe (psalm and liturgical settings recorded also on Koch Schwann. Te Deum was also recorded on Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft LPM 39,170 in 1966.) Psalms 31 & 97 published by Bote & Bock of Berlin in 1977.
• two symphonies: No. 1 (1831) and No. 2 in D (1835, rev. 1845)

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Nicolai Otto". [[Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition|Encyclopædia Britannica]] (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
• Nicolai, Otto (1892). Otto Nicolais Tagebücher nebst biographischen Ergänzungen (in German). Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. OCLC 17601836. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Nicolai, Otto (1924). Otto Nicolai, Briefe an seinen Vater, soweit erhalten (in German). Regensburg: G. Bosse. OCLC 3463501. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sadie, Stanley (1992). Nicolai, Carl Otto Ehrenfried in The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Grove's Dictionaries of Music. ISBN 0-333-73432-7. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

External links

• Otto Nicolai operas at Karadar.com
• Otto Nicolai biography and timeline at MusicWeb Classpedia
• Free scores by Otto Nicolai at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• Otto Nicolai at AllMusic
• Otto Nicolai at IMDb
• Otto Nicolai at Find a Grave