Theodor Kirchner's estate digitized
The Brahms Institute at the University of Music (MHL) is making the digitized estate of the composer Theodor Fürchtegott Kirchner accessible to the general public. Around 9000 pages from the Institute's collection are now available on a website.
Theodor Fürchtegott Kirchner (1823-1903), a contemporary and friend of Johannes Brahms, was one of the most prolific composers of the 19th century. In addition to a few songs, an ambitious string quartet and smaller chamber music works, he dedicated the largest part of his oeuvre to the piano, with over 1000 individual pieces. Around 9000 individual pages from his estate have now been catalogued and digitized for over a year.
Kirchner's musical path was also shaped by his encounter and friendship with Robert Schumann, who reviewed his Opus 1 favorably in 1843 and in 1853 counted him among the most up-and-coming artists of his time. He had a close liaison with the young widowed Clara Schumann for several years.
In the later years of his life, Kirchner lived ill and impoverished in Hamburg, where he died in 1903 and was buried in Ohlsdorf cemetery. The estate came to the Brahms Institute via Kirchner's last piano pupil Conrad Hannss.
More info: www.brahms-institut.de
