town-musician at Düsseldorf, and from 1850 at Cologne, where he founded the successful conservatory. For over 30 years he remained active as a teacher and favorite conductor throughout the Lower Rhine district. His works include 6 operas, 2 oratorios, several cantatas, many motets, part-songs and songs, 3 piano-concertos, many sonatas, suites, études and lesser pieces, an abundance of excellent chamber music, 4 overtures and 3 symphonies—all marked by romantic feeling and technical vigor. He also wrote important essays and reminiscences.
William Sterndale Bennett (d. 1875), born at Sheffield in 1816, was trained as a choirboy at Cambridge and then at the Royal Academy in London, where in 1833 he became known as composer and pianist. In 1837 (aided by the Broadwoods) and again in 1842 he lived at Leipsic, being intimate with Mendelssohn and Schumann, and producing works at the Gewandhaus. He then made his home in London, giving chamber concerts, founding the Bach Society (1844), conducting the Philharmonic (1856-66), from 1856 serving as professor at Cambridge, and from 1866 being head of the Royal Academy. His published works are few and chiefly confined to the piano, including 4 concertos, 2 sonatas, 2 rondeaux, a toccata, 2 capriccios, etc., a sextet for piano and strings, 4 striking overtures, a symphony, the pastoral The May Queen (1858), an oratorio, The Woman of Samaria (1867), festival odes, songs, part-songs and anthems. His style has individuality, being marked by extreme clarity, strength and even daring, but is wanting in warmth, so that it lacks popular appeal. He presents interesting analogies and contrasts to both Mendelssohn and Chopin.
Niels Wilhelm Gade (d. 1890) was born in 1817 at Copenhagen, the son of a joiner and instrument-maker, who intended him to follow the trade. From this at 15 he rebelled, was taken up by the violinist Wexschall and the organist Berggreen, entered the court-orchestra and blossomed at once into a virtuoso. His powers as composer quickly matured, and in 1840 his overture Nachklänge aus Ossian made a sensation, winning in 1841 a prize and a royal scholarship. In 1842 came his first symphony, which Mendelssohn reproduced at Leipsic. Thither Gade went in 1843, remaining five years, in close contact with Schumann and especially Mendelssohn. He was the latter's substitute from 1843 and his formal successor in 1847. In 1848 he returned to Copenhagen, where he became the most efficient promoter of Danish music, universally respected and admired. He was conductor of the Musical Society and in 1861-83 court-choirmaster. His works consist chiefly of highly poetic cantatas, such as Comala (1846), Frühlingsbotschaft, Zion, Die Kreuzfahrer (1876), Psyche, etc., 8 strong symphonies, 5 concert-overtures, 4 violin-sonatas, a violin-concerto, some chamber music, many graceful piano-pieces and a sonata, many songs and part-songs. His style has similarities to that of Mendelssohn, but with a strong Scandinavian flavor and a more poetic romanticism. He was gifted in orchestration and was a superior conductor. His adherence to Mendelssohnian models decreased in his later years, when he veered toward the style of Schumann.
On Reinecke see sec. 197. No attempt is made here to enumerate the many English composers who pursued the paths opened by Mendelssohn (see sec. 223).
