Grund, Friedrich Wilhelm

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Grund, Friedrich Wilhelm

Grund, Friedrich Wilhelm, German conductor and composer; b. Hamburg, Oct. 7, 1791; d. there, Nov. 24, 1874. He was brought up in a musical family, his father having been a theater conductor. He studied cello, but after a brief concert career devoted himself mainly to conducting. In 1819 he founded in Hamburg the Gesellschaft der Freunde des Religiösen Gesanges, which later became the Hamburg Singakademie. In 1828 he was engaged to lead the newly established Phil. Concerts, a post he held until 1862. In 1867 he organized (with Karl Grädener) the Hamburg Tonkünstlerverein. He wrote several operas, a cantata, Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Christi, chamber music, and many piano pieces, which enjoyed considerable success and were praised by Schumann.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire