A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Oberthür, Charles

OBERTHÜR, CHARLES, a distinguished performer on and composer for the harp, was born on the 4th of March, 1819, at Munich, where his father carried on a manufactory of strings for musical instruments. His teachers were Elise Brauchle and G. V. Röder, the Court Director of Music. In the autumn of 1837 he was engaged by Charlotte Birch-Pfeiffer as harp-player at the Zurich theatre. He stayed there until September 1839, when, after a concert tour through Switzerland, he accepted an engagement at Wiesbaden. In 1842 he went to Mannheim, where he remained until 1844. A difference with V. Lachner, and the representations of English friends then living at Mannheim, induced Herr Oberthür in October 1844 to come to England, where he found a firm protector in Moscheles, and where he has since lived. He first obtained an engagement at the Italian Opera, but soon gave this up, and has since devoted himself to private teaching and composition, with occasional appearances as a soloist at the principal concerts in England and abroad. The list of Herr Oberthür's compositions (more than 200 in number) includes an Opera, 'Floris de Namur,' successfully performed at Wiesbaden; a grand Mass, 'St. Philip de Neri'; Overtures ('Macbeth' and 'Rübezahl'); Trios for harp, violin, and violoncello; a Concertino for harp and orchestra; 'Loreley'—a legend for harp and orchestra; a Quartet for 4 harps, etc.

[ W. B. S. ]