A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Eberl, Anton

EBERL, Anton, distinguished pianist and composer, born June 13, 1766, at Vienna. He was intended by his father, a well-to-do government employé, for the law, but his love for music broke through all obstacles, and started him as a pianist. His theoretical studies were slight, but his first opera, 'La Marchande de Modes' (Leopoldstadt 1787), is said to have pleased Gluck so much, that he advised the young composer to devote himself seriously to music. His friendship with Mozart was also of great service to him. His melodrama 'Pyramus and Thisbe' was produced at the court theatre in 1794, on his return from his first professional tour; but he soon undertook another in Germany, in company with Mozart's widow and Lange the singer. In 1796 he was appointed Capellmeister at St. Petersburg, where he remained for 5 years greatly esteemed. On his return to Vienna he produced at the court theatre (May 1801) a romantic opera 'Die Königin der schwarzen Inseln,' which was however only a partial success. In 1803 he went again to Russia, and in 1806 travelled to all the principal towns of Germany, where the brilliancy and fire of his playing were universally acknowledged. He returned to Vienna and died suddenly March 11, 1807. His compositions were long favourites. The following are among the most remarkable:—'Grand Sonata,' op. 27, dedicated to Cherubini; 'Gr. Sonata caractéristique' in F minor, op. 12, dedicated to Haydn (Peters); Variations sur un théme Russe,' for Cello obbl., op. 17; 3 Pianoforte Trios, op. 8, dedicated to Grand-Duke Pawlowitsch; Trio for Pianoforte, Clarinet, and Cello, op. 36 (Kühnel); Pianoforte Quartet in C major, op. 18, dedicated to Maria Theresa; ditto in G minor, op. 25 (Vienna); Clavier Quintet, op. 78 (Vienna); Pianoforte Concertos in C major, op. 32, and E♭ major, op. 40 (Kühnel); and 3 String Quartets, op. 13, dedicated to Emperor Alexander I (Vienna, Mollo). He also published many smaller pianoforte pieces for 2 and 4 hands, and 6 Lieder, op 4 (Hamburg); a Cantata with orchestral accompaniment, 'La gloria d'Imenéo,' op. 11, also arranged for pianoforte; and a Symphony in D minor (Breitkopf & Härtel). He left in MS. symphonies, serenades, concertos for 1 and 2 pianofortes, several pieces of chamber-music, and unpublished operas, besides the three already mentioned. Though he has now entirely vanished from the concert-room, Eberl must in his day have been a very considerable person. It is well known that several of his pianoforte works were long published, and popular, as Mozart's,—viz. the fine Sonata in C minor (finally published with his own name as op. 1 by Artaria); Variations on the theme 'Zu Steffen sprach; Variations on 'Freundin sanfter Herzenstriebe;' and on 'Andantino von Dittersdorf' (see Köchel's Mozart, anh. 287, 8). His Symphony in E♭ would actually appear to have been played in the same programme with Beethoven's 'Eroica' (A. M. Zeitung, vii. 321); and the two are contrasted by the reviewer to the distinct disadvantage of the latter!

[ C. F. P. ]