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Gustav Heuser (15 October 1817^[1] – 8 October 1846^[2]) was a German composer and music journalist.

Life

Born in Herzkamp [de] (today part of Sprockhövel), Heuser was the son of a teacher and attended the Wilhelm-Dörpfeld-Gymnasium [de]. There, he belonged to the youth friends of Friedrich Engels. On 18 March 1837 he left the Gymnasium to study at the Royal Music Institute of Berlin. At the same time, he took composition lessons with Adolf Bernhard Marx and was soon considered a great talent.

In 1840 Engels wrote the opera libretto Cola di Rienzo,^[3] which Heuser did not set to music, however. Marx brought on August 3, 1841 in the Humboldt University of Berlin Chorwerke Heusers zur Aufführung.^[4] On 18 November 1841 Heuser was recommended by Marx to Robert Schumann. He addressed Schumann himself the same day and subsequently wrote several essays for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik in which he discussed fundamental questions of contemporary music. His hope that Schumann could also help him to publish his compositions, however, was not fulfilled. On 22 August 1844, he paid Schumann a personal visit in Leipzig,^[5] during which his further collaboration for the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik was probably discussed. Still in the issue of November 7, 1846, "Mr. Gustav Heuser in Berlin" is expressly referred to as "our collaborator".

In 1846, he sent several musical manuscripts to an alleged publisher named Conrad Löffler, who was soon exposed as a fraud, because Löffler had Heuser's works performed in Vienna under his own name: three string quartets on 26 July and, on 13 August in the Theater an der Wien, Heuser's Ouverture triumphale,^[6] together with a symphony by August Conradi, which Löffler also passed off as his own work.

Among those who fell for Löffler's tricks was Richard Wagner, who sent Löffler his operas Rienzi, The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser in the belief that Löffler would publish them.^[7]

On 19 September 1846, Heuser attended the premiere of Michael Beers Struensee with music by Giacomo Meyerbeer and was seen for the last time the following day. His body was recovered from the Spree in October. It was suspected that he died voluntarily, because "he had left his watch and purse in his apartment".^[8]

In Elberfeld on 16 March 1850, the organist and music teacher August Weinbrenner performed a "festive overture (manuscript)" by the "ingenious, unfortunately too soon passed away G. Heuser^[9] – including the Ouverture triomphale.

Compositions

op. 1: Lieder eines Lebendigen after texts by Georg Herwegh for bass and piano, Zürich: Robert Geyser, 1843
op. 2: Geburtstags- und Weihnachtsmusik für Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass mit Begleitung des Pianoforte und sechs Kinderinstrumenten (Kuckuck, Trompete, Trommel, Knarre, Becken, Waldteufel), after a text by M. Wolff, Berlin: Schlesinger, 1844
Ouverture triomphale, circa 1846
Drei Streichquartette, circa 1846

Writings

Welche praktischen Resultate sind von der neuen Compositionslehre, der alten Theorie gegenüber, zu erwarten?, in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, vol. 15, Nr. 51, dated 24 December 1841, p. 201f.
Das moderne Pianoforte, in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, vol. 17, Nr. 49, dated 16 December 1842, pp. 199–202; Nr. 50 dated 20 December 1842, pp. 203–205; Nr. 51, dated 23 December 1842, pp. 207–210 and Nr. 52 dated 27 December 1842, pp. 211–214
Oratorium und Oper, in Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, vol. 21, Nr. 41, dated 18 November 1844, p. 161f; Nr. 45 vom 2. Dezember 1844, S. 177f.; Nr. 46, dated 5 December 1844, p. 181f.; Nr. 47, dated 9 December 1844, p. 185f.; Nr. 48 vom 12. Dezember 189f.; Nr. 49, dated 16 December 1844, p. 193f.; Nr. 50, dated 19 December 1844, p. 197f. and Nr. 52, dated 26 December 1844, p. 206f.

References

^ Taufbuch der evangelischen Kirchengemeinde Herzkamp, vol 1: 1785–181, p. 233, Nr. 70
^ Book of funerals of the Protestant parish "Neue Kirche" in Berlin 1846-1860, p. 16, No. 233: der Musiklehrer Gustav Heuser Komadantenstr. 35. According to the funeral book, he was buried on 22 October 1846.
^ Friedrich Engels for Heuser. Cola di Rienzi. Ein unbekannter dramatischer Entwurf, edited by Michael Knieriem, Wuppertal: Peter Hammer 1974
^ Berlinische Nachrichten, No. 180, dated 5 August 1841, p. [1]
^ Robert Schumann, Tagebücher, vol. 3, edited by Gerd Nauhaus, Leipzig 1982, p. 370
^ Vgl. Quartett-Soirée des Herrn Konrad Löffler, in Der Wanderer, Jg. 33, Nr. 181, dated 30 July 1846, p. 719f. (Numerized); August Schmidt, Noch einmal Conrad Löffler, in Wiener allgemeine Musik-Zeitung, Jg. 6, Nr. 121, dated 8 October 1846, p. 486 (with a letter from Heuser to Schmidt) and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, vol. 25, Nr. 38, dated 7 November 1846, p. 154 (Numerized)
^ Cf. Wagner's letters to Franz Liszt of 10 April 1846 and to Conrad Löffler of 20 May 1846, in: Richard Wagner, Sämtliche Briefe, vol. 2, edited by Gertrud Strobel and Werner Wolf, Leipzig 1970, p. 500f. and 505-507. Löffler posed as a "pensioner of the King of Prussia" to Wagner.
^ Zu Heusers Tod vgl. "K. G." (Karl Gaillard), Heuser, in Berliner musikalische Zeitung, Jg. 3, Nr. 44, dated 31 October 1846, p. [4] (Numerized); Wiener allgemeine Musik-Zeitung, Jg. 6, Nr. 139, dated 19 November 1846, p. 563 and Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, vol. 25, Nr. 49, dated 16 December 1846, p. 198 (Numerized)
^ Elberfelder Zeitung, Nr. 62, dated 13 March 1850, p. [3] (announcement) and Nr. 63, dated 14 March 1850, p. [4] (program)