Otto Neitzel

Otto Neitzel, Prof., Dr. phil., (6 July 1852 – 10 March 1920) Neé in Falkenburg, Farther Pomerania (Złocieniec, Poland), died in Cologne. As a composer and pianist, music writer, journalist and lecturer he represents the German piano group of the 19th century.

Otto Neitzel was the second son out of six musically talented children of the teacher Gottfried Neitzel and his wife Louise, née Messerschmidt. At the age of eight he caused a sensation as a "Wunderkind" playing piano in his hometown Falkenburg and nearby cities (Dramburg, Kallies and Rummelsburg) in the Pommersche Schweiz, Pommern. In Stettin he was promoted by Carl Loewe, in Berlin by Eduard Grell (1800-1886), the violinist Hubert Ries and the composer Robert Tauber. Because his father was not able to finance his musical education his talented son was sponsored by patron Bernhard Loeser from the cigar manufacturers "Loeser&Wolff". (2) ("Tadellöser&Wolff", novel by Walter Kempowski) 1865 the young boy left home to become a quartaner at the Joachimsthaler Gymnasium in Berlin. He got piano lessons at the Neue Akademie der Tonkunst by Theodor Kullak, Richard Wüerst and Friedrich Kiel (according the Friedrich-Kiel-Gesellschaft e.V.).

From 1873 to 1875 he was a student of Franz List. 1875 he wrote his dissertation "Die ästhetische Grenze der Programmmusik" (The Esthetic Limit of Program-Music). He went on tour accompanying the sopran singer Pauline Lucca and the famous violinist Pablo de Sarasate on piano. (3) 1878 Neitzel became director of the Musikverein in Straßburg. From 1879 till 1881 he was music-director at the Straßburger Stadttheater and worked as a teacher at the Straßburger Konservatorium. Its Director Max Erdmannsdörfer recommended him as a representative for the German piano school at the Moscow Konservatory. He was offered a chair as "Imperatorial-Russian" professor. (4) He married his student, the alto singer Sophie Romboi. 1885 he became teacher at the Kölner Konservatorium. 1887 he became chief of the musical section of the "Kölnische Zeitung", where he published as a journalist. 1887 was the debut of his first opera "Angela" in Halle a.d. Saale.

Excited about the new technical inventions, Neitzel recorded parts of Piano Concert No. 2 by Frédéric Chopin in Cologne among other musicians on 23 January 1890 in the last session of the Edison phonograph recording expedition through Europe. With this phonograph-wax-cylinder he left one of the oldest music recordings still in existence. In the winter of 1906/07 he was invited to play and hold lecture recitals in the United States, where he played Beethoven's G-major concert in Philadelphia and Boston, directed by Karl Muck. In 1909 Neitzel directed Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and his Choral Fantasy. Because of its success Muck encouraged him to direct the orchestra, but Neitzel rejected the offer.

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