From the long list of other noted workers appearing before 1860 may be selected Franz Commer (d. 1887), the first librarian of the Institut and an intellectual leader, Ludwig Erk (d. 1883), Ferdinand Schulz (d. 1897), Gustav Engel (d. 1895), Georg Vierling (d. 1901), founder of the Bach-Verein about 1855, and Ferdinand Sieber (d. 1895); the organists Julius Schneider (d. 1885), Ludwig Thiele (d. 1848), Ernst David Wagner (d. 1883), and Hermann Küster (d. 1878), Grell's successor at the cathedral in 1857; and the theorists or scholars Von Winterfeld (d. 1852), Flodoard Geyer (d. 1872), Karl Friedrich Weitzmann (d. 1880), Friedrich Bellermann (d. 1874), his son Heinrich Bellermann (d. 1903), Robert Eitner (d. 1905), Hermann Mendel (d. 1876), Emil Naumann (d. 1888), and August Reissmann (d. 1903).
Although until toward the end of the period there was no general instrumental composer of eminence associated with Berlin, the court-orchestra contained several specialists who wrote worthily, such as the brothers Moritz and Leopold Ganz (d. 1868, '69), Karl Böhmer (d. 1884), Hubert Ries (d. 1886), Karl Hering (d. 1889), Eduard Wendt (d. 1890), and Ferdinand Laub (d. 1875).
The earlier Berlin pianists were Theodor Oesten (d. 1870), Rudolf Viole (d. 1867), Albert Löschhorn, Theodor Kullak (d. 1882), who from 1846 was court-pianist, and Louis Schlottmann.
220. Organ Music.—The form of church music which showed decided vitality was the one connecting it with the prevailing instrumentalism—music for the organ. The Bach revival continued to bear fruit in various ways, sometimes in the diligent cultivation of the strict style in which he was eminent, sometimes in modifications looking toward a more modern expressiveness and sensuous brilliance. Catholic organists were naturally less influenced by the Bach traditions than others. The German players and composers generally clung to the older methods, but the romanticism that has now become characteristic of the French school was beginning to manifest itself. The steady improvement of organ-mechanism was providing varied tone-colors to simulate orchestral effects, and ingenious devices for handling the keyboards and the stops. Before the period closed, the capacity of the organ as a concert-instrument began to be appreciated, so that it was more used in recitals of a varied character and in combination with the orchestra. In thus enrolling the organ among the resources of concerted music, Berlioz and Liszt were active. Whether these developments promoted the best interests of the organ style may be doubted, but they constituted a noticeable feature in musical progress.
