Kalkbrenner, Christian

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Kalkbrenner, Christian

Kalkbrenner, Christian, German composer and writer on music, father of Frédéric (Friedrich Wilhelm Michael ) Kalkbrenner; b. Minden, Hannover, Sept. 22, 1755; d. Paris, Aug. 10, 1806. He studied piano with Becker and violin with Rodewald in Kassel. He was choirmaster at the court of the Queen in Berlin (1788) and at the court of Prince Heinrich in Rheinsberg (1790–96). In 1798 he became choirmaster at the Paris Opera, where he brought out the opera Olimpie (Dec. 18, 1798) as well as some pasticcios from music by Mozart and Haydn. He also wrote 2 syms., a Piano Concerto, and several piano sonatas. He publ. Theorie der Tonkunst (1789) and Kurzer Abriss der Geschichte der Tonkunst (1792).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire