Otto Goldschmidt

Otto Moritz David Goldschmidt (21 August 1829 – 24 February 1907) was a German composer, conductor and pianist, known for his piano concertos and other piano pieces. He married the "Swedish Nightingale", soprano Jenny Lind.

Lind and Goldschmidt
Goldschmidt in later years

Life

Goldschmidt was born in Hamburg, Germany, and his parents were salesman Moritz David Goldschmidt and women's rights activist Johanna Goldschmidt. He had seven siblings, and his wealthy and well-educated parents belonged to the community of liberal Reform Jews in Germany. Since his mother was musically gifted – an excellent singer, pianist, violinist and harpist – she focused on the musical education of her children. Goldschmidt attended the Conservatory in Leipzig from 1843 to 1846 where he studied under Felix Mendelssohn and Moritz Hauptmann. From Mendelssohn, Goldschmidt received this student certificate: "Mr. Goldschmidt has developed a fine talent for piano playing in gratifying manner and also has shown not insignificant talent in composition for his instrument."[1] Additionally, he took private piano lessons with Frédéric Chopin in Paris in 1848[2] and Clara Schumann.

Autograph of Jenny Lind after her marriage to Goldschmidt

On 5 February 1852, Goldschmidt married the world-famous soprano Jenny Lind in Boston, Massachusetts.[3] To please his wife, he converted to become Episcopalian.[4] They had three children. From 1852 to 1858 they lived in Dresden Germany.[5] In 1858 they moved to London, where he became a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in 1863, and later was vice-principal of the institution from 1866 to 1868.[6][7] He was made an honorary member of the London Philharmonic Society in 1861. In 1863, Goldschmidt and William Sterndale Bennett compiled the Chorale Book of England. In 1876, he founded the Bach Choir, which he led until 1886, and in 1863 and 1866 he conducted the famous Lower Rhine festivals at Düsseldorf.[7]

Bust of Otto Goldschmidt by Joseph Durham, 1877, at the American Swedish Historical Museum in Philadelphia, donated by Ernest Goldschmidt.

After the death of his wife in 1887, Goldschmidt released her biography Jenny Lind. Ihre Laufbahn als Künstlerin (Jenny Lind: Her Career as an Artist).[8]

Goldschmidt died at his home in West London in 1907 at the age of 77.[7]

Works

Goldschmidt wrote a piano concerto, and other piano pieces, songs and trios. In his oratorio Ruth, his wife sang the soprano part at the 1870 premiere, the last performance of her career.[9]

Notes
  1. Hans Joachim Marx: Hamburger Mendelsson-Vorträge. Hamburg 2003.
  2. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Music, accessed 8 January 2023.
  3. Wedding with Lind The New York Times
  4. Rosen, Carole. "Lind, Jenny (1820–1887)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 16 June 2011
  5. Rogers, Francis. "Jenny Lind", The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3 (July 1946), pp. 437–448 (subscription required)
  6. Kennedy, Joyce; Kennedy, Michael; Rutherford-Johnson, Tim, eds. (21 May 2013), "Goldschmidt, Otto", The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199578108.001.0001/acref-9780199578108-e-3911?rskey=ryhln5&result=3814, ISBN 978-0-19-957810-8, retrieved 23 March 2023
  7. "Obituary: Mr. Otto Goldschmidt". The Musical Times. 48 (770): 246–247. 1907. ISSN 0027-4666.
  8. Leipzig, 1891
  9. Gaynor Jones and Christopher Fifield, "Goldschmidt, Otto (Moritz David), in Grove Music Online (subscription required), accessed 27 December 2014.

Sources
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