Gustav Lange

Gustav Lange (13 August 1830 – 20 July 1889) was a German composer known mainly for his melodious salon music for the piano.

This article is about a German composer. For the Norwegian musician, see Gustav Fredrik Lange.

Life

Lange was born in Schwerstedt, near Erfurt, Prussian Saxony, in 1830. He received initial musical training from his father on the piano and organ, followed by conservatory studies in piano, organ, thorough bass, and composition – probably at the Royal Institute for Church Music in Berlin.[1] His teachers included August Wilhelm Bach, Eduard Grell, and Albert Löschhorn.

He lived for many years in Berlin and died at Wernigerode in 1889.

Music

Encouraged by the success of some 1860s compositions, Lange produced a large number of works, most of which were light and popular piano pieces of which he wrote around 500. Edelweiss op. 31 and Blumenlied op. 39 (alternatively known as Flower Song in English) are perhaps two of his best-known works today.

A contemporary English source says: "Many of these pieces are very pleasing and pretty in character, but they are not marked by any very striking features".[2]

Selected compositions (piano)

References
  1. It is not exactly clear at which conservatory he studied. Lange's article in the German Wikipedia mentions a conservatory at Erfurt, but this was not founded before 1911. The nearest to Erfurt would have been at Leipzig. The French Wikipedia mentions the following names of teachers, and these were all involved as teachers at the Berlin institute.
  2. Brown, James Duff: Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Paisley and London: Alexander Gardner, 1886; reprint Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 1970), p. 374.
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