Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/494

the young composer married, in 1798, Therese Klemm, an actress at the National Theatre; and in the summer of the same year set out on an extended tour, whether with or without Madame Woelfl seems uncertain. He travelled through Brunn to Prague, where he gave a successful concert, and thence to Leipzig. Two concerts, about Michaelmas,^[1] signalised his arrival, and his stay was of considerable length. On April 11 and 23, 1799, he gave two more concerts,^[2] and then pursued his way through Dresden and Berlin to Hamburg, arriving there in May.^[3] At Hamburg he made another considerable stay, and won many friends. Moreover, though the traditions of C. P. E. Bach still lingered in the place, his playing elicited great admiration. From Schmieder he obtained the libretto of an opera called 'Der trojanische Pferd,' and set himself to the composition of the music. It does not, however, appear that the work was ever produced, and perhaps it was never completed. Woelfl had intentions of going on to London,^[4] but seems to have left Hamburg at the beginning of December with Righini, probably for Berlin.^[5]

The next clear mention of Woelfl is at a concert in Leipzig, Oct. 21, 1800.^[6] On Dec. 10, he gave a concert in Berlin at which Mozart's 'Davidde Penitente' was performed. In the next year he journeyed to Paris, perhaps through Brunswick and Mayence,^[7] certainly through Hanover,^[8] reaching the French capital in September 1801. There he soon began to attract great attention. On the 5th Brumaire (Oct. 26) the Journal de Paris described him as 'l'un des hommes les plus étonnans de l'Europe sur le Piano.' His wit and courtesy suited French taste, and his execution was at its acme. He speedily assumed a leading position, and in the next spring was reported to be writing an opera for the Théâtre Feydeau.^[9] This epoch may be regarded as the culminating point in his career. Henceforward he falls, in some strange way, under a cloud.

Whether this was the result of a faux pas cannot be exactly determined. If Fétis's circumstantial story is to be believed, Woelfl struck up a friendship at Paris with the bass-singer Ellmenreich, who was given to card-sharping. In 1804 the pair travelled to Brussels, and gave a concert which proved a failure. But the little social clubs of the town offered opportunities to Ellmenreich of making money by gambling. He was caught cheating, and the pair would have fallen into the hands of the police but for the intervention of the Secretary of the Department of La Dyle. By his exertions they escaped, and went off together to London, where they arrived at the beginning of 1805. Woelfl does not appear to have been a party to the fraud, but his intimacy with Ellmenreich caused society to avoid him. He was not received as before, and finally died in obscurity and great poverty near London, when is quite uncertain. Of course this story amply accounts for the disappointing close of Woelfl's career. But it seems to be incorrect in almost every detail. That Woelfl was brought into relations with Ellmenreich by the project of the latter for establishing a German Opera in Paris is likely enough,^[10] but Woelfl appears to have been in Paris throughout 1804,^[11] whereas Ellmenreich left Paris at the end of 1803, and was at Vienna at the beginning of 1805.^[12] The statement that Woelfl was received with less favour in England than on his previous visit can only be true on the supposition that he had been there before, which, as already observed, is at all events dubious. Moreover, Woelfl had no reason to complain of his reception in England in 1805; he certainly did not die in obscurity, and it is not likely that he died in poverty.^[13]

To return to certainties; the three years and a half (Sept. 1801–Apr. 1805) during which Paris was the centre of Woelfl's life were, on the whole, years of success. In the early part of 1804, his opera, 'L'Amour Romanesque,' was produced at the Théâtre Feydeau with success. In the next year he made his most considerable venture with an heroic opera in three acts, called 'Fernando, ou Les Maures,' which was brought out anonymously at the Théâtre Feydeau. It was produced under very unfavourable circumstances, and was more of a failure than it deserved to be.^[14] Perhaps this mischance led Woelfl to conceive a disgust for Paris. He certainly left the French capital within a month or two without any other apparent reason, and

1. A. M. Z. vol. i. p. 479.
2. Dörffel's 'Geschichte der Gewandhaus Concerte.'
3. A. M. Z. vol. ii. p. 409.
4. Ibid. p. 31.
5. Ibid. p. 410. The statement here made differs from that of all other biographers. Schilling seems to suggest that Woelfl returned to Vienna, but all other writers assert that he went from Hamburg to London, and from London to Paris, reaching the French capital in 1801. The facts given in the text show that this account cannot be correct, and it seems improbable that Woelfl went to London at all at this time, though Mr. J. W. Davlson, in the Preface to his edition of the 'Non Plus Ultra' Sonata declares, without giving any authority, that the Military Concerto (op. 43) was composed in London in 1800. On the other hand, the following circumstances seem, taken together, to make strongly against the London visit:—

   (1) Woelfl left Hamburg in Dec. 1799 with Righini (A. M. Z. vol. ii. p. 410). Now Righini almost certainly was going to Berlin to produce 'Tigrane,' in the early part of 1800 (A. M. Z. vol. ii. p. 620).

   (2) Woelfl's letter to Lodi (A. M. Z. vol. ii. Intell. Blatt. no. x.), is dated 'Auf der Reise, den 15 Decemb. 1799,' which suggests that he had left Hamburg and was on a journey in Germany. This is exactly the date at which he would be travelling to Berlin with Righini.

   (3) A Berlin letter of April 1800 (A. M. Z. vol. ii. p. 622), declares that Woelfl had been there three separate times since the preceding June; it is hardly likely that he went three times from Hamburg to Berlin and back again between June and December, 1799.

   (4) No trace of him in England at this time is forthcoming.

   (5) The programme of the concert in London on May 27, 1805, at which he appeared, pointedly asserts that it was 'his first performance in England.' ('Morning Chronicle,' May 27, 1805.)

6. Dörffel's 'Geschichte.'
7. A. M. Z. vol. iv. p. 157.
8. A. M. Z. vol. iii. pp. 690 and 834. The last passage renders it likely that the hornplayers Gugel accompanied him, and that the Trio for horns and PF. was written for this tour.
9. A. M. Z. vol. iv. p. 604.
10. Cp. A. M. Z. vol. iv. pp. 111 and 320.
11. A. M. Z. vol. vi. p. 478; vol. vii. p. 142.
12. Ibid. vol. vi. pp. 281, 469, 502.
13. It may be added that it is not easy to see when Woelfl and Ellmenreich could have been at Brussels together. At the beginning of 1802 both were in Paris. In the spring and summer Ellmenreich went to London (A. M. Z. vol. iv. pp. 323 and 781), but Woelfl stayed in Paris (A. M. Z. vol. iv. p. 604). However, in the autumn of 1802 Woelfl was at Amsterdam (A. M. Z. vol. v. p. 115), and was thought to be going to London, and it may have been about this time that the two got into trouble at Brussels. They are next heard of in Sept. 1803 (A. M. Z. vol. v. p. 865), and are then both in Paris. But Woelfl's position there seems just as good after this date as before it.
14. See on the whole affair, A. M. Z. vol. vii. p. 422.