Adolf von Henselt

Portrait of Adolf von Henselt, with scrap of music

Adolf von Henselt (12 May 1814 – 10 October 1889) was a German composer and pianist.

Life

Henselt was born at Schwabach, in Bavaria. At the age of three he began to learn the violin, and at five the piano under Josepha von Fladt. On obtaining financial help from King Ludwig I of Bavaria he went to study under Johann Nepomuk Hummel in Weimar for some months, and thence in 1832 to Vienna, where, besides studying composition under Simon Sechter (the later teacher of Anton Bruckner), he made a great success as a concert pianist.

In order to improve his health he made a prolonged tour in 1836 through the chief German towns. In 1837 he settled at Breslau, where he had married Rosalie Vogel, but in the following year he migrated to Saint Petersburg, where previous visits had made him persona grata at Court. He then became court pianist and inspector of musical studies in the Imperial Institute of Female Education, and was ennobled in 1876. He usually spent his summer holidays in his former homeland Germany. In 1852 and again in 1867 he visited England, though in the latter year he made no public appearance.

Statue of von Henselt in his hometown of Schwabach

Saint Petersburg was his home practically until his death, which occurred during a stay at Warmbrunn, Germany (now in Poland), due to cardiac disease. The characteristic of Henselt's playing was a combination of Franz Liszt's sonority with Hummel's smoothness. It was full of poetry, remarkable for the great use he made of extended chords, and for his perfect technique. Indeed, his cantabile playing was unequalled: Liszt once commented on the lengths to which Henselt had gone to achieve his famous legato, saying, "I could have had velvet paws like that if I had wanted to." Henselt's influence on the next generation of Russian pianists is immense. It is in Henselt's playing and teaching that the entire Russian school of music had its genesis, developing from the seeds planted by John Field. Sergei Rachmaninoff held him in very great esteem, and considered him one of his most important influences.

He excelled in his own works and in those of Carl Maria von Weber and Frédéric Chopin. His Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 16 was once frequently played in Europe; and of his many valuable studies, Si oiseau j'étais was very familiar. At one time Henselt was second to Anton Rubinstein in the direction of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory.

However, despite his relatively long life, Henselt ceased nearly all composition by the age of thirty. The reasons are unclear. Chronic stage fright, bordering on paranoia, caused him to withdraw from concert appearances by age thirty-three.

Works

Piano Solo

(selective list)

• Variations on ‘Io son' ricco’ from Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Op. 1 (1830)
• Rondo Serioso in D minor, Op. 1b
• Douze Études caractéristiques, Op. 2 (1837-1838)

 No. 1 in D minor, "Orage, tu ne saurais abbattre"
 No. 2 in D-flat major, "Pensez un peu à moi"
 No. 3 in B minor, "Exauce mes voeux"
 No. 4 in B-flat major, "Repos d'amour"
 No. 5 in C-sharp minor, "Vie orageuse"
 No. 6 in F-sharp major, "Si oiseau j'etais"
 No. 7 in D Major, "C'est la jeunesse..."
 No. 8 in E minor, "Tu m'attires, m'entraines"
 No. 9 in F Major, "Jeunesse d'amour, plaisir céleste"
 No. 10 in E minor, "Comme le ruisseau dans la mer repand"
 No. 11 in E-flat major, "Dors tu ma vie"
 No. 12 in B-flat minor, "Plein de soupirs, de souvenirs"

• Poème d'amour, Op. 3 (1838)
• Rhapsodie in F minor, Op. 4 (1838). Originally published as "Erinnerung und Freundschaft" Op. 4, No. 1. See Op. 51.
• Douze Études de salon, Op. 5 (1838)

 No. 1 in E-flat major, "Eroica"
 No. 2 in G major
 No. 3 in A minor, "Hexentanz"
 No. 4 in E major, "Ave Maria"
 No. 5 in F-sharp minor, "Verlorene Heimath"
 No. 6 in A-flat major, "Danklied nach Sturm"
 No. 7 in C major, "Elfenreigen"
 No. 8 in G minor, "Romanze mit Chor-Refrain"
 No. 9 in A major
 No. 10 in F minor, "Entschwundenes Glück"
 No. 11 in B major, "Liebeslied"
 No. 12 in G-sharp minor, "Nächtlicher Geisterzug"

• Deux Nocturnes, Op. 6

 No. 1 in G-flat major, "Schmerz im Glück" (1839)
 No. 2 in F major, "La Fontaine" (1839)

• Impromptu in C minor, Op. 7 (1838)
• Pensée fugitive in F minor, Op. 8 (1839)
• Scherzo in B minor, Op. 9 (1839)
• Romance in B-flat minor, Op. 10 (1840)
• Variations on a Theme by Meyerbeer, Op. 11 (1840)

 Introduction
 Variation I
 Variation II
 Variation III
 Variation IV
 Variation V
 Finale

• Concert Etudes, Op. 13

 No. 1, "Air russe de Noroff" (1840-1841)
 No. 2 in G-flat major, "La Gondola" (1841)
 No. 3, "Cavatine de Glinka"
 No. 4, "Barcarolle de Glinka"
 No. 5 in D-flat major, "Air de Balfe" (1846)
 No. 6, "Mazurka et polka" (1846)
 No. 7, "Rakoczy-Marche" (1843)
 No. 8, "Marche, dédiée à S.M. l'Empereur Nicholas I"
 No. 9, "Polka" (1850)
 No. 10, "Romance russe de S. Tanéef"

• Frühlingslied, Op. 15 (1843)
• Fantaisie sur un air bohemien-russe, Op. 16 (1843)
• Impromptu No. 1, WoO
• Impromptu No. 2, Op. 17 (1843)
• Vier Romanzen, Op. 18

 No. 1 in E-flat major (1847-1848)
 No. 2 in B-flat minor, "Der Dombau" (1848)
 No. 3 in B-flat major (1843?)
 No. 4 in C-sharp minor (1843?)

• Arrangements of 12 numbers from Weber's operas Der Freischütz, Euryanthe and Oberon, Op. 19
• "Pressentiment" for piano, Romance Michel Wielhorsky, Op. 20 (1850)
• Deux Romances russes de Soumarokoff, Op. 22 (1850)

 No. 1 in D minor
 No. 2 in A major

• Marche funèbre in G minor, Op. 23 (1850)
• Toccatina in E-flat major, Op. 25 (1850)
• "Das ferne Land", Romanze für Solo-Klavier, Op. 26b (1843)
• Nocturne in A-flat major, Op. 27. Transcription of Romance de R. Thal (1843)
• Deux petites valses, Op. 28

 No. 1 in F major (1854)
 No. 2 in C major (1854)

• Sophie-polka, Op. 29
• Cadenza for Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor (Op. 37), Op. 29b (1854)
• Grande valse – L'aurore boréale, Op. 30 (1854)
• Ballade in B-flat major, Op. 31 (original version 1854, second version 1854, third revision 1879?)
• Nocturne in A-flat major, Op. 32 (1854)
• Chant sans paroles in B minor, Op. 33 (1850?)
• Romance russe, transcription of song by Dargomizhsky, Op. 33b (sometimes referred to as Romance No. 6) (1856)
• Impromptu No. 3 in B-flat minor, Op. 34 (1854-1855)
• Marche du couronnement d'Alexandre II, Op. 35. In G major (1855)
• Valse mélancolique in D minor, Op. 36 (1857?)
• Impromptu No. 4 in B minor, Op. 37 (1859)
• Morgenständchen in D-flat major, Op. 39 (1866-1867)
• Deux Romances russes, Op. 40a

 No. 1, Compte Koucheleff-Besborodko. See Op. 49.
 No. 2, Prince Kotschoubey

• Duo pour le chant, Op. 40b

 No. 2, "Der Abendstern" (1868-1869)

• Etude de J.B. Cramer, Op. 41
• Air bohémien, Op. 42
• "Mi manca la voce", Op. 43
• Five transcriptions of overtures (Beethoven and Weber), Op. 44
• Wiegenlied in G-flat major, Op. 45 (1840)
• Invitation à la danse de C.M. Weber, Op. 47
• Polacca brillante de C.M. Weber, Op. 48
• Romance du Compte G. Koucheleff-Besborodko, Op. 49. See Op. 40a.
• Duo pour le chant, transcrit pour le piano, Op. 50
• Souvenir de Varsovie, A-flat major, Op. 51 (1838). Originally published as Op. 4 No. 2.
• "Bozhe, Tsarya khrani", WoO. Transcription of the Russian national hymn.
• Etude in A minor, WoO (1876)
• "Feuillet d'Album", WoO
• "L'Innocence", WoO
• Meister-Studien für Klavier (published in 1892)
• Mon Chant du cynge, WoO (published in 1885)
• Morgenlied von Uhland, WoO (1876)
• Petite Romance in B-flat minor, WoO
• Petite Pièce, WoO
• Petite Valse in F major, WoO
• Poème d'amour - Andante et Allegro concertante, WoO, in B major
• Polka brilliante in D minor, WoO
• Polka favorite, WoO
• Preambules in all the keys, WoO (published in 1884)
• Preparatory exercises, WoO
• Romance in C minor, WoO (1838)
• Deux romances du Compte Michel Wielhorsky, WoO (1840)
• Romance in D-flat major, WoO
• Rondoletto, WoO (written 1832, published 1865)
• Vasa-marche, WoO

Orchestral

• Variations on Quand je quittai la Normandie from Meyerbeer's Robert le diable, Op. 11 (1840)
• Piano Concerto in F minor, Op. 16 (1847)

Chamber

• Duo, Op. 14, for cello and piano (1842)
• Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 24 (1851)

Vocal

• "Der Dumbau" für vierstimmigen Acappella-Chor (1840)
• "Das ferne Land", Romanze für Singstimme und Klavier (1843)
• "Die Nacht im Walde", song, Op. 52
• Five Lieder

 1. "Morgenlied"
 2. "Pakitas Klage"
 3. "Die Auswanderer"
 4. "Liebesfahrt"
 5. "Stumme Liebe"

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Henselt, Adolf von". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• List of works taken from the article on Henselt by Richard Beattie Davis on Grove Music Online.
• `Edition I.M.E.` Bonn, Germany 2002. ISBN 3-89564-106-5 http://www.studiopunktverlag.de
• Natalia Keil-Zenzerova "Adolph von Henselt. Ein Leben für die Klavierpädagogik in Rußland." (Frankfurt 2007) ISBN 3-631-53925-8 http://www.peterlang.de In German & Russian
• Hyperion records CDA67495 “Etudes” op.2 & op.5; Piers Lane, pianist. Liner notes by Richard Beattie Davis.

External links

• Henselt Museum (German)
• Downloadable recordings of Henselt's works in MP3 format
• Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 24 Sound-bites and short bio sketch
• Free scores by Adolf von Henselt at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• International Henselt Society – http://www.henseltsociety.org
• Richard Beattie Davis "Henselt, Adolph von" in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, 27 volumes. London: MacMillan 2000. ISBN 978-0-19-517067-2.