Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-1877)




Carl Ferdinand Becker (1804-1877)
born in Leipzig Germany,
the son of a physician and writer, and studied piano, harmony, composition,
under Friedrich Schneider and Johann G Schicht.
He spent his life in Leipzig in musical pursuits:
1820-33 Gewandhaus orchestra violinist;
1825- organist at Petri-kirche;
1837-54 organist at Nikolai-kirche;
1837-46 contributed articles on history of choral music,
and reviewed the Universal-Lexicon der Tonkunst
for Robert Schuman's "Neue Zeitschrift fur Musik" (New Journal for Music);
1843-56 organ professor at Leipzig Conservatory from its
founding as requested by Felix Mendelssohn;
was very interested in 16c and 17c music.
A music collector, writer, bibliographer, editor; his extensive
library of music scores and theoretical works attracted
musical scholars of his time; 1856 he donated (sold?) it to the
City Library of Leipzig where it remains to this day.

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