Steibelt, Daniel

Steibelt, Daniel, renowned German pianist and composer; b. Berlin, Oct. 22, 1765; d. St. Petersburg, Oct. 2, 1823. He studied with Kirnberger (piano and theory), then joined the Prussian Army only to desert and flee his homeland in 1784. He pubi, sonatas for Piano and Violin, as opp. 1 and 2(Munich, 1788), then gave concerts in Saxony and Hannover before proceedingto Paris in 1790. There he found himself in strong competition with Ignaz Pleyel, but won out, and became a favorite piano teacher. His opera Roméo et Juliette was produced at the Théâtre Feydeau o Sept. 10, 1793, and, despite the revolutionary turmoil of the time, achievedexcellent success. After defrauding his publisher, he left Paris in 1796, going to the Netherlands and then to London. He became a soloist at Salomon’s Concerts; played the solo part of his third Piano Concerto (March 19, 1798), with its rousing finale L’Orage, précédé d’un rondeau pastoral, which as a piano solo became as popularas Koczwara’s Battle of Prague; then produced the pasticcio Albert and Adelaide, or The Victim of Constancy at Covent Garden (Dec. 11, 1798), to which Attwood also contributed. After returning to Germany in1799, he was granted an official pardon for his army desertion. In 1800 he visited Dresden, Prague, Berlin, and Vienna, where he challenged Beethoven to a contest of skill, but was easily bested. His next destination was Paris, where he produced Haydn’s Creation (Dec. 24, 1800), with an orch. of 156 players, in an arrangement by Steibelt himself; Napoleon was present at that performance. A ballet by Steibelt, Le retour de Zéphire, was produced at the Paris Opéra on March 3, 1802. He then went to London, where he staged 2 ballets, Le jugement du berger Paris (May 24, 1804) and La belle laitère (Jan. 26, 1805). Returningonce more to Paris, he wrote a festive intermezzo, La fête de Mars, to celebrate Napoleon’s victory at Austerlitz; it was produced at the Opéra on March 4, 1806. In 1808–09 he presented concerts in Frankfurt am Main, Leipzig, Breslau, and Warsaw on his journey to St. Petersburg to assume his appointment as director of the French Opéra. In 1810 he was made maître de chapelle to the Czar. He composed several works for the French Opéra, but devoted himself mainly to teaching and giving occasional concerts. On March 16, 1820, he gave the premiere of his 8^th Piano Concerto in St. Petersburg. His last years were marked by ill health. Although he acquired greath wealth during his career, he squandered his money and died in relative poverty. Much of his large output is now of little interest, although several of his piano concertos and his 3 quintets for Piano and Strings are worthy of note.

Bibliography

G. Müller, D. S.: Sein Leben und seine Klavierwerke (Leipzig and Zürich, 1933); K. Hagberg, D. S.’s Cendrillon: A Critical Edition with Notes on S.’s Life and Works (diss., Eastman School of Music, 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire