A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Kirchner, Theodor

KIRCHNER, Theodor, one of the most gifted of the living disciples of Schumann, a composer of 'genre pieces' for the pianoforte, was born 1824 [App. p.691 "Dec. 10"] at Neukirchen near Chemnitz in Saxony, and got his musical training at the Conservatorium of Leipsic. Having completed his schooling he took the post of organist at Winterthur in Switzerland, which town in 1862 he left for Zürich, where he acted as conductor and teacher. In 1875 he became director of the 'Musikschule' at Würzburg, but after a few months' experience he threw up that appointment and settled at Leipsic.

Kirchner's works extend to op. 42. Except a string quartet, op. 20, a 'Gedenkblatt,' a 'Serenade' for piano, violin and violoncello, and a number of Lieder, they are all written for pianoforte solo or à 4 mains, are mostly of small dimensions, and put forth under suggestive titles such as Schumann was wont to give to his lesser pieces. The stamp of Schumann's original mind has marked Kirchner's work from the first; yet though sheltered under Schumann's cloak, many minor points of style and diction are Kirchner's own, and decidedly clever. At best, his pieces are delicate and tender, frequently vigorous, now and then humorous and fantastic; at worst, they droop under a taint of lachrymose sentimentality. They are always carefully finished and well shapen, never redundant, rarely commonplace. Among his early publications, 'Albumblatter,' op. 9, became popular as played by Madame Schumann; and among his later, 'Still und bewegt,' op. 24, and particularly 'Nachtstücke,' op. 25, deserve attention.

[ E. D. ]