Meinardus, Ludwig (Siegfried)
Meinardus, Ludwig (Siegfried)
Meinardus, Ludwig (Siegfried), German conductor, composer, and writer on music; b. Hooksiel, Oldenburg, Sept. 17, 1827; d. Bielefeld, July 10, 1896. He was a pupil at the Leipzig Cons., and also studied in Berlin, in Weimar (with Liszt), and with Marx in Berlin. From 1853 to 1865 he was conductor of the Singakademie at Glogau, then was a teacher at the Dresden Cons.; from 1874 to 1887 he lived in Hamburg as a composer and critic, then went to Bielefeld. He wrote a kind of autobiography, Ein Jugendleben (2 vols., 1874); other writings include Rückblick auf die Anfänge der deutschen Oper (1878), Mattheson und seine Verdienste um die deutsche Tonkunst (1879), Mozart: Ein Künstlerleben (1882), Die deutsche Tonkunst im 18.-19. Jahrhundert (1887), Klassizität und Romantik in der deutschen Tonkunst (1893), and Eigene Wege (1895). Among his compositions were 2 operas and 6 oratorios, including Luther in Worms (Leipzig, 1876), his most successful score. He also composed 2 syms. (c. 1875, 1879), many choral works, and much chamber music.
Bibliography
C. Kleinschmidt, L. M., 1827–1896: Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der ausgehenden musikalischen Romantik (Wilhelm-shaven, 1985).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire