Karl Klindworth (25 September 183027 July 1916) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor, violinist and music publisher. He was one of Franz Liszt's pupils and later one of his closest disciples and friends, being also on friendly terms with composer Richard Wagner, of whom he was an admirer.

He was highly praised by fellow musicians, including Wagner himself and Edward Dannreuther. Among his pupils were Hans von Bülow, Georgy Catoire, and Ethelbert Nevin.

Biography

Family

Klindworth was born in Hanover in 1830 as the son of Carl August Klindworth and Dorothea Wilhelmine (1800–1853), née Lamminger, daughter of court printer Johann Thomas Lamminger (1757–1805). He was the paternal nephew of diplomat and intelligence agent Georg Klindworth and clockmaker Karl Friedrich Felix Klindworth (1788–1851).

As a child, the young Klindworth received violin lessons and taught himself to play the piano. As he was not accepted as violin pupil of Louis Spohr, he then joined a traveling theater company as a successful violinist and conductor when he was only 17. In 1850, he took over the leadership of the Neue Liedertafel in Hanover. In the summer of 1852, Klindworth went to Weimar where he took piano lessons with Franz Liszt and was soon one of his closest disciples and friends. He also became on friendly terms with Richard Wagner.

Career

In 1854, Klindworth went to London, He earned his great reputation as an editor of musical works, having re-orchestrated Chopin's second piano concerto, adopted and raised Winifred Williams to be a perfect "Wagnerite" and made the orchestration of the first movement of Alkan's solo piano concerto, the eighth of the composer's etudes in all the minor keys, though others have since orchestrated all three movements. He died in 1916 in Stolpe, near Oranienburg, aged 85.

Works

Piano works

  • Concert-Polonaise
  • Polonaise-Fantaisie, dedicated to "mes amis de Londres"

Arrangements

  • Hector Berlioz: Ballet of the Sylphs and Hungarian March from The Damnation of Faust
  • Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Roméo et Juliette for two pianos, Francesca da Rimini, for piano for 4 hands and Andante cantabile from String Quartet No. 1, Op. 11