A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kuhlau, Friedrich

by George Grove

KUHLAU, Friedrich, a musician of some distinction in his day. He was born of poor parents at Uelzen in Hanover, March 13 [App. p.693 "Sept. 11"], 1786, and had the misfortune to lose an eye at an early age. The loss did not however quench his ardour for music. During a wandering life he contrived to learn the piano and the flute, and to acquire a solid foundation of harmony and composition. Germany was at that time under French rule, and to avoid the conscription he escaped to Copenhagen, where he became the first flute in the king's band. He then settled in Denmark, acquired a house in Lyngbye, near Copenhagen, to which he fetched his parents, composed half-a-dozen operas, was made professor of music and court composer, and enjoyed a very great popularity. In the autumn of 1825 he was at Vienna, and Seyfried^[1] has preserved a capital story of his expedition to Beethoven at Baden with a circle of choice friends, of the way in which the great composer dragged them at once into the open air, and of the jovial close of the day's proceedings. Kuhlau, inspired by champagne and the presence of Beethoven, extemporised a canon, to which Beethoven responded on the spot, but thought it wise to replace his first attempt next morning by another, which is one reiterated joke on the name of his guest—

etc.

and was accompanied by the following note:

Baden, 3 September, 1825.

I must confess that the champagne got too much into my head last night, and has once more shewn me that it rather confuses my wits than assists them; for though it is usually easy enough for me to give an answer on the spot, I declare I do not in the least recollect what I wrote last night Think sometimes of your most faithful

Beethoven.

In 1830 Kuhlau suffered two irreparable losses—the destruction of the greater part of his manuscripts by fire, and the death of his parents. This double calamity affected his health, and he died at Lyngbye March 18 [App. p.693 "Copenhagen, March 12"], 1832, leaving a mass of compositions, of which a few for flute and a few for piano are still much esteemed.

[ G. ]

1. Beethovens Studien. Anhang, p. 25. See also Beethoven's Letters (Nohl), No. 363.