Christian Kalkbrenner

Christian Kalkbrenner (Hann. Münden, September 22, 1755 – Paris, August 10, 1806) was a German bandmaster or Kapellmeister, violinist, organ and keyboard player, and composer. Almost an exact contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was a prolific composer in many fields and a force in the musical world. He rose to high honours at the courts of the Prussian Kings. For unknown reasons, Kalkbrenner left his position as Kapellmeister to Prince Henry of Prussia and went first to Naples and later on to Paris. He was the father of Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner, one of the great piano virtuosos of the first half of the 19th century.

Christian Kalkbrenner was born in Münden, Germany. Münden, nowadays called Hann. Münden, an old town with a historic inner city, is situated 17 kilometres north-east of Kassel. Kalkbrenner had his first musical education from his father who was town musician (Stadtmusikus) in the Hessian town of Kassel. Kalkbrenner learned to play violin and organ. In violin he was taught by Carl Rodewald, his organ teacher was Johannes Becker (1726-?), the Hessian court organist. By the time he was seventeen Kalkbrenner sang in the choir of the French opera house of Kassel where he also played the violin.

In 1777 he dedicated a symphony to Frederick II, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. In 1784 Kalkbrenner was received into the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna by virtue of a four-part mass he had mailed to the society. This was a very high honour and suggests the high quality of Kalkbrenner’s compositions. Mozart had been received into the same society on October 9, 1770 only after a lengthy examination in which he was aided by Padre Martini. In the same year Kalkbrenner married the socially well connected widow of an army captain who had died as a soldier in the United States.

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