Silcher, (Philipp) Friedrich

Silcher, (Philipp) Friedrich, German composer; b. Schnait, Württemberg, June 27, 1789; d. Tübingen, Aug. 26, 1860. He studied with his father and with Auberlen, an organist at Fellbach. In 1815 he went to Stuttgart to study piano and composition with K. Kreutzer and Hummel, and in 1817 he was appointed music director at the Univ. of Tübingen, receiving an honorary Ph.D. in 1852. He was an influential promoter of German popular singing and publ, several collections of German folk songs, in which he included his own compositions; of the latter, Lorelei (Ich weiss nicht, was soil es bedeuten, to words by Heinrich Heine) became so popular that it was often mistaken for a folk song; in all, he wrote about 250 songs. He also publ. Choralbuch for 3 voices, 3 books of hymns for 4 voices, and Tübinger Liedertafel (men’s choruses). A critical ed. of his output was publ, in 1960. He wrote the books Geschichte des evangelischen Kirchengesanges (1844) and Harmonie- und Kompositionslehre (1851; second ed., 1859).

Bibliography

A. Köstlin, F. S. und Weber (Stuttgart, 1877); H. Weber, F. S., Neujahrsgeschenk an die Zürcherische Jugend von der Allgemeinen Musik-Gesellscaft Zürich, LXVII (Zürich, 1879); A. Prümers, P.F. S.(Stuttgart, 1910); A. Bopp, F. S.(Stuttgart, 1916); H. Kleinert and H. Rauschnabel, eds., F. S.(Stuttgart, 1935); A. Lämmle, F. S. (Mühlacker, 1956); H. Dahmen, F. S.: Komponist und Demokrat: Eine Biographie (Stuttgart, 1989); M. Schmid, ed., F. S., 1789–1860: Studien zu Leben und Nachleben (Stuttgart, 1989).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire