Here is another brilliant talent I came across today on Youtube; an flutist from Israel Elisabeth Wentland with truly impeccable performance; I also love the videography artwork for this clip. As for the composition itself it’s truly divine, so I decided to learn more about this composer Frederick Kuhlau someone I come across for first time and to me sounds a whole lot like one of my favourite composers Amadeus Mozart and here’s a teaser about the composer – a fascinating story – I borrowed off Wikipedia;
Kuhlau was born on 11 September 1786 just south of Lüneburg in Uelzen district of Lower Saxony (Germany). At the age of seven, he lost his right eye when he slipped on ice and fell. His father, grandfather, and uncle were military oboists. Even though Kuhlau was born to a poor family, his parents managed to pay for piano lessons. Later he studied the piano in Hamburg where he also had his debut as a pianist in 1804.[1]
In 1810, he fled to Copenhagen to avoid conscription in the Napoleonic Army, which overwhelmed the many small principalities and duchies of northern Germany, and in 1813 he became a Danish citizen.
During his lifetime, Kuhlau was known primarily as a concert pianist and composer of Danish opera, but was responsible for introducing many of Beethoven’s works, which he greatly admired, to Copenhagen audiences. Kuhlau was a prolific composer, as evidenced by the fact that although his house burned down, destroying all of his unpublished manuscripts, he still left a legacy of more than 200 published works in most genres.
Here is another of his piano works.
Anyway he’s going to be my discovery todo list cause I have a feeling he’ll end up becoming another one of my all time favourite composers.
Finally, I hope you like my retouch artwork of the composer’s portrait.
Hope you enjoy!