Otto Nicolai

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai (9 June 1810 – 11 May 1849) was a German composer, conductor, and founder of the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai is best known for his operatic version of Shakespeare's comedy The Merry Wives of Windsor (Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor). In addition to five operas, Nicolai composed lieder, works for orchestra, chorus, ensemble, and solo instruments.

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Biography

Nicolai, a child prodigy, was born in Königsberg, Prussia. While still a youth he ran away from his home and parents and secured himself as a student of Carl Friedrich Zelter in Berlin. After initial successes in Germany, including his first Symphony (1831) and public concerts, he became musician to the Prussian Embassy in Rome. During the early 1840s he established himself as a major figure in the concert life of Vienna. In 1844 he was offered the position, vacated by Felix Mendelssohn, of Kapellmeister at the Berlin Cathedral; but he did not reestablish himself in Berlin until the last year of his life. On 11 May 1849, two months after the premiere of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and only two days after his appointment as Hofkapellmeister at the Berlin Staatsoper, he collapsed and died from a stroke. On the very same day of his death, he was elected a member of the Royal Prussian Academy of Arts.

Works

Operas

Title↓ Genre↓ Sub­divisions↓ Libretto↓ Composition↓ Première date↓ Place, theatre↓
La figlia abbandonata     1837 unfinished  
Rosmonda d'Inghilterra (given at the first performance as: Enrico II) melodramma serio 2 acts Felice Romani 1837–1838 26 November 1839 Trieste, Teatro Grande
Il templario melodramma 3 acts Girolamo Maria Marini, after Walter Scott 1839–1840 11 February 1840 Turin, Teatro Regio
Gildippe ed Odoardo melodramma 3 acts Temistocle Solera 1840 26 December 1840 Genoa
Il proscritto   3 acts Gaetano Rossi 1841 13 March 1841 Milan, La Scala
Die Heimkehr des Verbannten (revision of Il proscritto) tragische Oper 3 acts Siegfried Kapper 1843 3 February 1844 Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor
Der Tempelritter (revision of Il templario)   3 acts Siegfried Kapper 1845 20 December 1845 Vienna, Theater am Kärntnertor
Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor komische-fantastische Oper 3 acts Salomon Hermann Mosenthal, after William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor 1845–1846 9 March 1849 Berlin, Hofopera

Other

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