Hellwig, Karl (Friedrich) Ludwig

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Hellwig, Karl (Friedrich) Ludwig

Hellwig, Karl (Friedrich) Ludwig, German organist and composer; b. Wriezen, July 23, 1773; d. Berlin, Nov. 24, 1838. He learned to play all the string instruments and piano, then studied theory with Zelter and others. At the same time, he was engaged in the manufacture of paint, which enabled him to pursue his musical studies as an avocation. He became a member of the Singakademie in 1793. He was a conductor with it from 1803, serving as joint deputy conductor (1815–33). In 1813 he became organist of the Berlin Cathedral, and was its director of music from 1815. He wrote 2 operas, Die Bergknappen (Dresden, April 27, 1820) and Don Sylvio di Rosalbo (unperf.), much church music, and a number of German lieder, which show a certain poetic sensitivity and a ballad-like quality in the manner of Zelter and other early German Romanticists.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire