A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Pohl, Carl

POHL, Carl Ferdinand, writer on musical subjects, born at Darmstadt, Sept. 6, 1819, comes of a musical family, his grandfather having been first maker of glass harmonicas, his father (died 1869) chamber-musician to the Duke of Hesse at Darmstadt, and his mother a daughter of the composer Beczwarzowsky. In 1841 he settled in Vienna, and after studying under Sechter became in 1849 organist of the new Protestant church in the Gumpendorf suburb. At this date he published Variations on an old 'Nachtwachterlied' (Diabelli), and other pieces. He resigned the post in 1855 on account of his health, and devoted himself exclusively to teaching and literature. In 1862 he published in Vienna an interesting pamphlet 'On the history of the Glass harmonica.' From 1863 to 1866 he lived in London, occupied in researches at the British Museum on Haydn and Mozart; the results of which he embodied in his 'Mozart und Haydn in London,' 2 vols. (Vienna, Gerold, 1867), a work full of accurate detail, and indispensable to the student. Through the influence of Jahn and von Köchel, and of his intimate friend the Ritter von Karajan, Mr. Pohl was appointed in January 1866 to the important post of archivist and librarian to the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. [See vol. i. 591.] To his care and conscientiousness the present highly satisfactory condition of the immense collections of this great institution is due. In connection therewith he has published two works, which, though of moderate extent, are full of interest, and are marked by that accuracy and sound judgment which distinguish all Mr. Pohl's works, namely, 'Die Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde und ihr Conservatorium in Wien' (Braumüller, 1871), and 'Denkschrift aus Anlass des 100 jährigen Bestehens der Tonkünstler Societät in Wien' (Gerold, 1871). He has been for many years occupied on a biography of Haydn, which he undertook at the instigation of Jahn, and of which vol. i. was published in 1875 (Berlin, Sacco; since transferred to Breitkopf & Härtel) [App. p.750 "the second volume of the Life of Haydn was published in 1882, and that the third is in course of completion by Herr Mandyczewski, to whom Herr Pohl left his materials at his death, which took place in Vienna, April 28, 1887"]. The main facts are contained in his article on Haydn in this Dictionary (vol. i. 702–722). The summaries of the musical events of each year which Mr. Pohl furnishes to the 'Signale für die musikalische Welt,' of which he is the Vienna correspondent, are most careful and correct, and it would be a boon to the student of contemporary music if they could be republished separately. Mr. Pohl's courtesy to students desiring to collate MSS., and his readiness to supply information, are well known to the musical visitors to Vienna.

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