A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kühmstedt, Friedrich

KÜHMSTEDT, Friedrich, born at Oldisleben, Saxe-Weimar, Dec. 20, 1809. His gift for music appeared very early and asserted itself against the resistance of his parents, so frequent in these cases. At length, when 19, he left the university of Weimar and walked to Darmstadt (a distance of full 150 miles) to ask the advice of C. H. Rinck. The visit resulted in a course of three years instruction in theoretical and practical music under that great organist. At the end of that time he returned to his family and began to write. His career however was threatened by a paralysis of his right hand, from which he never recovered, and which but for his perseverance and energy would have wrecked him. During several years he remained almost without the means of subsistence, till in 1836 he obtained the post of music-director and professor of the Seminar at Eisenach, with a pittance of £30 per annum. This however was wealth to him: he married, and the day of his wedding his wife was snatched from him by a sudden stroke as they left the church. After a period of deep distress music came to his relief and he began to compose. As he grew older and published his excellent treatises and his good music, he became famed as a teacher, and before his death was in easier circumstances. He died in harness at Eisenach, Jan. 10, 1858. His works extend to op. 49. His oratorios, operas and symphonies are forgotten, but his fame rests on his organ works—his art of preluding, op. 6 (Schotts); his Gradus ad Parnassum or introduction to the works of J. S. Bach, op. 4 (ibid); his Fantasia eroica, op. 29 (Erfurt, Körner); and many preludes, fugues, and other pieces for the organ, which are solid and effective compositions. He also published a treatise on harmony and modulation (Eisenach, Börnker, 1838).

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