Friedrich Baumfelder

Friedrich August Wilhelm Baumfelder (28 May 1836 – 8 September 1916 in Dresden) was a German composer of classical music, conductor, and pianist. He started in the Leipzig Conservatory, and went on to become a well-known composer of his time. His many works were mostly solo salon music, but also included symphonies, piano concertos, operas, and choral works. Though many publishers published his work, they have since fallen into obscurity. Friedrich Baumfelder was the third of seven children. His father was Carl Friedrich Gotthelf Baumfelder (1798–1865), a school reformer and pedagogue, and his mother was Friederike Ernestine (1806–1882). At an early age, Baumfelder was admitted to the Leipzig Conservatory where he studied with Ignaz Moscheles and Moritz Hauptmann and later obtained a scholarship. His other teachers included Johann Schneider and Julius Otto. After leaving the Leipzig Conservatory, Baumfelder returned to Dresden where he worked as a cantor and music and piano teacher at the Dreikönigskirche. He taught Georg Schumann, who became one of his most successful students. In 1875, he became director of the Robert Schumann Singakademie, a post he held for several decades. Eventually, he became a successful and well known teacher and composer. As Baumfelder gained recognition, he often went abroad to England, France, and later, the United States to perform. He and his wife Emma Baumfelder (née Skrimshire) had had five sons and two daughters: Henry (1864–1900), Fritz (1867–1888) (who composed as well), Florence (1869–1954), William (nickname Willie) (1870–1901), Gustav Baumfelder (1870–1931), Selma Marie Elisabeth (1871–1949), and Herbert Alfred Maria (1872–1946), A tribute to Baumfelder was published on May 27, 1936, in the Dresdner Gazette, a day before the hundredth anniversary of his birth. It said: It's been 100 years since Friedrich Baumfelder was born, on May 28th. In Dresden, many people will remember him as the old tall figure with the white, flowing hair under his hat...