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First name: Daniel
Last name: Steibelt
Dates: 1765-1823
Category: Quartet
Nationality: german
Opus name: Quartet for piano and strings
Publisher:
Peculiarities: See: http://www.earsense.org/chamberbase/works/index.php?composerKey=0&nationality1=0&nationality2=0&ensemble=400&showinstruments=on&instrument1active=on&instrument1exactly=0&instrument1count=1&instrument1=%3E&instrument2active=on&instrument2exactly=0&ins
Information: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt (October 22, 1765 – October 2, 1823), was a German pianist and composer who died in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Daniel Steibelt was born in Berlin, and studied music with Johann Kirnberger before being forced by his father to join the Prussian army. Deserting, he began a nomadic career as a pianist before settling in 1790 in Paris. Here his dramatic opera entitled Romeo et Juliette, which was later highly regarded by Hector Berlioz, was produced at the Théâtre Feydeau in 1793. This is held by many to be his most original and artistically successful composition. Steibelt began to share his time between Paris and London, where his piano-playing attracted great attention. In 1797 he played in a concert of J. P. Salamon. In 1798 he produced his Concerto No. 3 in E flat containing a Storm Rondo characterised by extensive tremolos, which became very popular. In the following year Steibelt started on a professional tour in Germany; and, after playing with some success in Hamburg, Dresden, Prague and Berlin, he arrived in May 1800 at Vienna, where he challenged Beethoven to a trial of skill at the house of Count von Fries. Accounts of the contest record it was a disaster for Steibelt; Beethoven reportedly carried the day by improvising at length on a theme taken from the cello part of a new Steibelt piece—placed upside down on the music rack. Following this public humiliation Steibelt quit his tour. He went again to Paris, where he organised the first performance of Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation, which took place on 24 Dec 1800 at the Opera House. On his way to it, the First Consul Bonaparte narrowly escaped a bomb attack. Steibelt had just published one of his most accomplished sonatas, which he had dedicated to Bonaparte's wife, Josephine. After a second stay in England (Summer 1802-Autumn 1805), Steibelt came back to Paris. He celebrated Napoleon's triumph at Austerlitz with a Musical Interlude named La Fête de Mars, whose première was attended by Napoleon in person (4 Feb 1806). In 1808 he was invited by Tsar Alexander I to Saint Petersburg, succeeding François-Adrien Boieldieu as director of the Royal Opera in 1811. He remained there for the rest of his life. In 1812, he composed The Destruction of Moscow, a grand fantasy for piano dedicated to the Russian Nation. He generally ceased performing in 1814, but returned to the platform for his Concerto No. 8, which was premiered on March 16, 1820, in Saint Petersburg, and is notable for its choral finale. At his best Steibelt is an imaginative composer with strong individuality. His operas Cendrillon (1810) and Romeo et Juliette (1793), all his piano concerti, his chamber music, a selection of his numerous sonatas (e.g. Op. 45 in E flat - 1800 - and Op. 64 in G - 1809) and some piano pieces (caprices and preludes, studies Op. 78) are of a sufficient musical worth to be performed and enjoyed.