DICTIONARY OF MUSIC - El Atril

KAHRER-KAPPOLDI KALKBRENNER 557
voices in Leipzig, a post wliicli he lield for
three years, ^vriting many compositions tor
female voices with and without orchestra. At
the present time he is teaclier of composition
in the Hochschule of Berlin, and his chamber
compositions are highly esteemed throughout
Germany. They include a string quartet in A,
two quartets for piano and strings (opp. 14
and 30), a trio in E major, two sonatas for
piano and "V'iolin (one in G minor, op. 5, was
played in March 1896 by Joachim at a Monday
Popular Concert), many songs, duets, and
pianoforte solos. ' Mahomets Gesang,' for choir
and orchestra, is Kahn's most important work
in the larijer forms. M.
KAHKER-RAPPOLDI, Mme. SeeR.4.ppOLDi.
KALINNIKOV, Basil Seegeivich, composer,
horn Jan. 13, 1866, in the Government
of Orlov; died at Yalta, Jan. 11, 1901 (Dec.
29, 1900 O.S.). He was the son of a police
official, and was educated in the Orlovsky
Seminary, where for a time he directed the
choir. In 1884 he came to Moscow in great
poverty, hut succeeded in entering the Music
School of the Philharmonic Society. He studied
the bassoon, and also composition, under Ilyinsky
and Blaramberg. Having completed a
brilliant course at this school, Kalinnikov was
appointed assistant conductor to the Italian
Opera, Moscow, for the season 1893-94. Unhappily
the privations he had undergone had
told upon his health. Symptoms of consumption
now began to show themselves, and he was
ordered to relinquish his work and winter in
the Crimea. The remaining years of his life
were devoted entirely to composition. There
seems no doubt that, but for his premature
death, Kalinnikov would have won a high place
among Russian musicians. His First Symphony
is a spirited work, full of fresh and healthy inspiration,
and very national in style. It has
met with great success in Russia, and has also
been heard in Vienna (1S9S), Berlin (1899),
and Paris (1900). His principal works, pub-
lished mostly by Jiirgenson, include : cantata,
' '
St. John Chrysostom ; two symphonies (G
minor and A major) ; two orchestral intermezzi
orchestral suite ; two symphonic sketches ; in-
cidental music to A. Tolstoi's play, ' Tsar Boris
(1899); string quartet; 'The Roussalka,'
ballad for solo, chorus, and orchestra ; songs
and pianoforte pieces. K. N.
KALKBRENNER, Fkiedrich Wilhelm
MiCH.-iEL, pianist, and prolific composer for his
instrument, was born about 1784 on a journey
between Cassel and Berlin. His father, Christian
Ealkbrenner (1755-1806), of Hebrew extraction
and a musician of considerable ability, began
his training early.' In 1798 he entered the
1 Beethoven includes 'KJilkhrenner l^'ater)' with Sterkel and
others oi the 'old dead composers of the Empire' in his denuuciii.
tion of Gottfried Weber's mistakes in regard to Mozart's Requiem.
'Eequleacat in pace.' says he (Letter, Feb. 6, 18'2UI, He would
hardly have been content with so mild a sneer if he bad known
-that Kalkbreuuer had 'arranged' 'Don Giovanni' (that is. had
Conservatoire at Paris, and left it, after four
years of assiduous study, with a prize for
pianoforte playing and composition. lu 1813
he jilayed in public at Berlin and Vienna,
heard Clementi, made Hummel's acquaintance,
and was introduced by Haydn to Albreehtsbei'ger,
from whom he had lessons in counter-
point. From 1814 to 1823 he resided in
London, mucli sought after as a player and
fashionable teacher. [He was a champion of
tlie system of Logier and the Chiroplast.] In
1824 he settled in Paris as a member of the
pianoforte -making firm of Pleyel & Co. la
Paris, too, his success as a performer and teacher
was very great ; he was a shrewd man of
business and managed to amass quite a fortune,
iiadame Camille Pleyel was his best pupil.
When Chopin came to Paris in 1831, Kalkbrenner's
reputation was at its height : his
compositions, mostly i^Titten for the market
and now forgotten, were upon the desks of all
dilettanti, and his pilaying was upheld as a
model. Chopin, who was then only twentytwo
j-ears of age, but had already '\\Titten his
two Concertos, the Etudes, op. 10, the first
Scherzo and Ballade, etc., called on him and
played his Concerto in E minor, whereupon
Kalkbrenner came forward with the astounding
proposal that Chopin should hind himself to be
his pupil for three years and thus under his
guidance become a good artist ! Chopin took
no lessons, but attended certain class-meetings,
and soothed Kalkbrenner by dedicating the
Concerto to him. In a letter dated Dec. 16,
1831, Chopin speaks in high terms of Kalkbrenner's
technique, praises his charming,
equable touch and quiet self-possession, and
says that Herz was a zero compared with
him. Still Chopin seems from the first to
have been of Mendelssohn's opinion, who said
to him soon after, ' You had nothing to learn
from Kalkbrenner ; you play better than he
does.'
Kalkbrenner was a man of great vanity,
and far from scrupulous as to the means by
which he strove to enhance his reputation.
Professor Marx used to tell a story how Kalkbrenner
called on him in 1834 at Berlin,
anxious to make a good impression, as the
Professor was then editor of the new Berliner
Mxi.sikzeitinxg, and an influential personage.
The visitor in moWng terms deplores the decay
of the good old art of improvisation, saying
that since Hummel had retired he was the only
one who still cultivated it in the true classical
spirit. He opens the piano and improvises for
a quarter of an hour with fluent fancy and
gi'eat neatness, interweaving all manner of
themes, even a little fugue, much to the Professor's
edification. Next day a parcel of music
just printed at Paris arrives for review. The
altered the music and interpolated fresh pieeesi for its appearance
on the Paris at-Lje, Sept, 17, 1S05 (see Lajartc, Bibl. m(«, de I'Op^ra
ii. S). [See Lach.vith.)