Daniel Steibelt facts for kids

Daniel Steibelt

Daniel Gottlieb Steibelt (born October 22, 1765 – died September 20, 1823) was a talented German pianist and composer. He wrote many of his most famous pieces while living in Paris, France, and London, England. He later passed away in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Biography

Steibelt was born in Berlin, Germany. He learned music from Johann Kirnberger. After some time, he left the army and began a journey as a pianist. In 1790, he settled in Paris. There, he became very popular as a virtuoso (a highly skilled musician). This was thanks to a piano sonata he wrote called La Coquette, which he dedicated to Marie Antoinette.

While in Paris, his dramatic opera Romeo et Juliette was performed in 1793. Many people, including the famous composer Hector Berlioz, thought this was his most original and successful work.

Steibelt then started dividing his time between Paris and London. His piano playing gained a lot of attention in London. In 1797, he performed in a concert with J. P. Salomon. In 1798, he released his Piano Concerto No. 3 in E. This concerto included a popular "Storm Rondo" known for its fast, repeating notes called tremolos.

The next year, Steibelt began a tour in Germany. He played successfully in cities like Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden, and Prague. In March 1800, he arrived in Vienna, Austria. Here, he is said to have challenged Beethoven to a piano competition. This story was written down much later by Ferdinand Ries, who wasn't there. Ries described how Beethoven won by playing a long, amazing improvisation. He used a theme from Steibelt's own music, which he reportedly placed upside down on the music stand! The story says Steibelt left the room and never returned to Vienna. However, some parts of this famous story might not be completely accurate.

After this event, Steibelt ended his tour. He returned to Paris. There, he helped organize the first performance of Joseph Haydn's oratorio The Creation on December 24, 1800. Around this time, the First Consul Bonaparte narrowly escaped a bomb attack. Steibelt had just published a beautiful sonata dedicated to Bonaparte's wife, Josephine.

Steibelt spent another three years in England, from 1802 to 1805. Then he returned to Europe, giving concerts in Brussels in April 1805. By summer, he was back in Paris. He celebrated Napoleon's victory at the Battle of Austerlitz with a musical piece called La Fête de Mars. Napoleon himself attended its first performance in February 1806.

In 1808, Tsar Alexander I invited Steibelt to Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1811, he became the director of the French Opera there, taking over from François-Adrien Boieldieu. He stayed in Saint Petersburg for the rest of his life. In 1812, he composed The Conflagration of Moscow. This was a grand piano piece dedicated to the Russian nation.

Steibelt mostly stopped performing in 1814. But he returned to the stage for his Concerto No. 8. It was first performed on March 16, 1820, in Saint Petersburg. This concerto is special because it includes a chorus (singers) at the end. This was four years before Beethoven's famous Symphony No. 9, which also features a chorus. Steibelt's concerto was one of the very first piano concertos to include a choir. Daniel Steibelt passed away in Saint Petersburg on September 20, 1823, after a long illness.

Legacy

Besides his operas and ballets, Steibelt wrote a huge number of musical pieces, mostly for the piano. People said his piano playing was brilliant and exciting. While some thought other pianists like Cramer and Muzio Clementi had deeper musical qualities, Steibelt's skills allowed him to have a successful career all across Europe. He was known for his confident personality and his ability to create popular music.

Selected list of his works

Here are some of Daniel Steibelt's many musical works:

1) Stage Works (Operas and Ballets)

• Romeo et Juliette, 3 acts (1793)
• Albert et Adelaide, 3 acts (1798)
• Le retour de Zephyr, 1 act ballet (1802)
• Le jugement du Berger, 3 acts ballet (1804)
• La Belle Laitière, ou Blanche Reine de Castille (1805)
• La Fête de Mars, intermezzo (1806)
• La Fête de l'Empereur, ballet (1809)
• Der Blöde Ritter (1810)
• Sargines, 3 acts, opera (1810)
• Cendrillon, 3 acts opera (1810)
• La Princesse de Babylone, 3 acts opera (1812)
• Le jugement de Midas (1823?)

2) Orchestral Works

• Concerto No. 1 for Piano and Orchestra in C (1794)
• Concerto No. 2 for Piano and Orchestra in E minor (1796?)
• Concerto No. 3 for Piano and Orchestra in E "L'orage" (The Storm) (1798)
• Concerto No. 4 for Piano and Orchestra in E♭ (1800?)
• Concerto No. 5 for Piano and Orchestra in E♭ "À la chasse" (To the Hunt) Op. 64 (1802)
• Concerto No. 6 for Piano and Orchestra in G minor "Le voyage au mont Saint-Bernard" (The Journey to Mont Saint-Bernard) (1817)
• Concerto No. 7 for Piano and Orchestra in E minor "Grand concerto militaire dans le genre grec", with 2 orchestras (1818)
• Concerto No. 8 for Piano and Orchestra in E♭ "with bacchanalian rondo, acc. chorus" (1820), not published.
• Harp Concerto (1807)
• Ouverture en Symphonie (1796)
• Marches and Waltzes

3) Chamber Music (for smaller groups of instruments)

• Rondo favorite, for violin or flute, and guitar
• 3 String Quartets, Op. 17 (1796)
• 3 Quintets for Piano and Strings, Op. 28 (1797)
• 6 String Quartets, op. 34 (ca 1799)
• 3 Duos for Violin and Guitar, Op. 37
• 3 String Quartets, Op. 49 (1800)
• 3 Violin Sonatas, Op. 69
• 1 Quartet for Piano and Strings
• 26 trios for piano and strings
• 6 trios for harp and strings
• 115 duos for piano and violin (?)
• 6 duos for Piano and Harp (or for two pianos)
• 6 sonatas for harp
• 36 bacchanals and 12 divertissements for Piano, tambourine and triangle ad lib.
• 77 sonatas for piano solo
• 45 rondos
• 32 fantasias
• 21 divertissements
• 12 caprices or preludes
• 20 pots-pourris
• 2 series of serenades
• 25 series of variations
• 16 sonatas for piano 4 hands
• Descriptive pieces (Triumph, sieges, marches funebres ... )
• Waltzes, danses.
• Studies, Op. 78

4) Methode de Pianoforte (1805) - A piano teaching method book.

5) Songs

• 6 romances (1798)
• Air d'Estelle (1798)
• 30 songs, Op. 10 (1794)

Selective discography

Here are some recordings of Daniel Steibelt's music:

• Variations on two Russian Folksongs, Irina Ermakova, piano (Arte Nova ANO 516260, 1996)
• Sonata in E major, Hiroko Sakagami, piano (Hans Georg Nägeli, publisher and composer, MGB CD 6193, 2002)
• Grand Sonata in E-flat major, dedicated to Madame Bonaparte, Daniel Propper, piano (Echoes of the Battlefields, Forgotten Records, fr 16/17P, 2012)
• The Conflagration of Moscow, a grand fantasia, Daniel Propper, piano (Echoes of the Battlefields, Forgotten Records, fr 16/17P, 2012)
• Grand concerto for harp, Masumi Nagasawa, harpe, Kölner Akademie, dir. Michael Alexander Willens (Ars Produktion, ARS 38 108, 2012)
• Sonata in C minor, Op. 6 No. 2, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Gega New, GD 362, 2013)
• Etudes, Op. 78 (Nos. 50, 32 and 3), Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Gega New, GD 362, 2013)
• Sonata in D major, Op. 82, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Gega New, GD 362, 2013)
• Concerto in G minor, No. 6, Le voyage au Mont St. Bernard, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Gega New, GD 362, 2013)
• Rondo The Storm, from his Concerto No. 3, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Forgotten Records, fr 32P, 2015)
• Rondo Les Papillons, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Forgotten Records, fr 32P, 2015)
• Fantaisie and Variations on two Russian themes, Anna Petrova-Forster (Forgotten Records, fr 32P, 2015)
• Sonata in G major, Op. 64, Anna Petrova-Forster (Forgotten Records, fr 32P, 2015)
• Etudes op.78, Nos. 10, 11, 24, 26, 30, 31, 33, Anna Petrova-Forster, piano (Toccata Classics, TOCN0005, 2021)

See also

In Spanish: Daniel Steibelt para niños