Josef Rheinberger


Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an composer and organist from Liechtenstein, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. As court conductor in Munich, he was responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He is known for sacred music, works for organ and vocal works, such as masses, a Christmas cantata and the motet Abendlied; he also composed two operas and three singspiele, incidental music, secular choral music, two symphonies and other instrumental works, chamber music, and works for organ.

Life and career

Rheinberger was born on 17 March 1839 in Vaduz as the son of Johann Peter Rheinberger and his mother Elisabeth Carigiet as one of eleven children, including his brother Peter Rheinberger.
When only seven years old, he was already serving as organist at the Vaduz parish church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1849, he studied with composer in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg.
In 1851, his father, who had initially opposed his son's desire to embark on the life of a professional musician, relented and allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatorium. Not long after graduating, he became professor of piano and of composition at the same institution. When this first version of the Munich Conservatorium was dissolved, he was appointed répétiteur at the Court Theatre, from which he resigned in 1867.
Rheinberger married his former pupil, the poet and socialite in 1867. They had no children. Franziska wrote the texts for much of her husband's vocal work.
The stylistic influences on Rheinberger ranged from contemporaries such as Brahms to composers from earlier times, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert and, above all, Bach.
In 1877, he was appointed court conductor, responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He was subsequently awarded an honorary doctorate by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. A distinguished teacher, he numbered many Americans among his pupils, including Horatio Parker, William Berwald, George Whitefield Chadwick, Bruno Klein, Sidney Homer and Henry Holden Huss. Other students of his included important figures from Europe: Italian composer Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari, Serbian composer Stevan Stojanovic Mokranjac, and German composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Richard Strauss and the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler. When the second Munich Conservatorium was founded, Rheinberger was appointed Royal Professor of organ and composition, a post he held for the rest of his life.
On 31 December 1892, after a long illness, his wife died and two years later poor health led him to give up the post of Court Music Director.
His religious works include twelve masses, a Requiem and a Stabat Mater. His other works include several operas, symphonies, chamber music, and choral works.
Today Rheinberger is remembered above all for his elaborate and challenging organ compositions; these include two concertos, 20 sonatas in 20 different keys, 22 trios, and 36 solo pieces. His organ sonatas were once declared to be
Rheinberger died in 1901 in Munich, and was buried in the Alter Südfriedhof. His grave was destroyed during World War II, and his remains as well as those of his wife were moved to his home town of Vaduz in 1950.

Compositions

This list only mentions works that were assigned an opus number by Rheinberger himself.
  • Sacred vocal works
  • * Cantatas, including the Christmas cantata Der Stern von Bethlehem, Op. 164
  • * 14 masses, including the 1878 Cantus Missae for double choir a cappella and the 1881 Mass in A major, Op. 126, 3 requiem settings, 2 settings of the Stabat Mater
  • * Motets, hymns, lieder
  • ** among others, Abendlied after Luke 24,29
  • Dramatic works
  • * 2 operas
  • * 3 Singspiele
  • * 2 pieces of incidental music
  • Secular choral music
  • * Choir ballads
  • * Choral pieces with and without accompaniment
  • * Works for mixed choir
  • ** e.g., Waldblumen – eight songs after texts by
  • * Works for female and male choirs
  • 12 lieder for Voice and Piano
  • Orchestral music
  • * 5 symphonies:
  • ** Symphony No. 1 in D major, Op. 22
  • ** Symphony No. 2 in C minor
  • ** Symphony No. 3 in C major
  • ** Wallenstein, Symphonic picture in four movements, in D minor, Op. 10
  • ** Florentine Symphony in F major, Op. 87
  • * 3 overtures
  • * 2 Piano concertos:
  • ** Piano concerto in E-flat major
  • ** Piano concerto in A-flat, Op. 94
  • * 3 other concertos for instruments with orchestra
  • Chamber music
  • * String quartets, string quintets, piano trios, sonatas for solo instruments and piano
  • ** e.g., Clarinet Sonata, Op. 105 in A major
  • * 4 piano sonatas
  • Works for organ
  • * 2 organ concertos
  • * 20 organ sonatas
  • * 12 Fughettas, Op. 123
  • * 12 Monologues, Op. 162
  • * 12 Meditations, Op. 167
  • * Preludes, trios, character pieces
  • * Works for solo instruments with organ

    Recordings

  • Rheinberger: Missae et Cantiones, Wolfgang Schäfer Choir Director, Edgar Krapp Organ, Klaus Mertens Baritone, Frankfurter Kantorei, Carus-Verlag 1998
  • Rheinberger: Organ Sonatas Nos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20: Bruce Stevens, organ; ; 4 CDs
  • Josef Gabriel Rheinberger: Motets, Masses and Hymns, Elizabeth Patterson, Director; Gloriae Dei Cantores; Paraclete Recordings 2011
  • Rheinberger: Geistliche Vokalmusik, Stuttgart Chamber Choir; Carus; 10 CDs
  • Rheinberger: Klavierwerke, Jürg Hanselmann; Carus; 10 CDs; 2011
  • The Complete Organ Sonatas of Josef Rheinberger – Roger Sayer plays The Organ of The Temple Church, London, Roger Sayer organ; Priory Records; 6 CDs; 2018
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Category:1839 births
Category:1901 deaths
Category:Burials at the Alter Südfriedhof
Category:Catholic liturgical composers
Category:German classical composers of church music
Category:19th-century German classical composers
Category:19th-century German male musicians
Category:20th-century German classical composers
Category:20th-century German male musicians
Category:Composers for pipe organ
Category:German classical organists
Category:German opera composers
Category:German Roman Catholics
Category:German Romantic composers
Category:Composers for piano
Category:German string quartet composers
Category:Liechtenstein composers
Category:Liechtenstein Roman Catholics
Category:German male opera composers
Category:People from Vaduz
Category:German male classical organists
Category:19th-century German organists