A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Rust
RUST. A distinguished German musical family. Friedrich Wilhelm was born at Worlitz, Dessau, July 6, 1739; his father was a person of eminence, and he received a first-rate education. He was taught music by his elder brother, who, as an amateur, had played the violin in J. S. Bach's orchestra at Leipzig; and at 13 he played the whole of the Well-tempered clavier without book. Composition, organ, anc clavier he learned from Friedemann and Emmanuel Bach, and the violin from Höckh and F. Benda; and in 1765, during a journey to Italy, from G. Benda, Tartini, and Pugnani. In 1766 he returned to Dessau, and became the life and soul of the music there. On Sept. 24 1774, a new theatre was opened through his exertions, to which he was soon after appointed music-director. He married his pupil, Henriette Niedhart, a fine singer, and thenceforward, with a few visits to Berlin, Dresden, etc., his life was confined to Dessau, where he died, Feb. 28, 1796. His compositions include a Psalm for solo chorus, and orchestra; several large Church Cantatas; Duodramas and Monodramas; Operas; music to Plays; Prologues and Occasional pieces, etc.; Odes and Songs (2 collections); Sonatas and Variations for the PF. solo—'4 dozen' of the former and many of the latter—Concertos, Fugues, etc., etc.; and three Sonatas for the violin solo, which have been republished by his grandson (Peters), and are now the only music by which Rust is known; that in D minor has been often played at the Monday Popular Concerts. His last composition was a violin sonata for the E string, thus anticipating Paganini. A list of his works, with every detail of his life, extending to 6½ large pages, is given in Mendel. His eldest son was drowned; the youngest, Wilhelm Karl, born at Dessau, April 29, 1787, began music very early; and besides the teaching he naturally got at home, learned thorough-bass with Türk while at Halle University. In Dec. 1807 he went to Vienna, and in time became intimate with Beethoven, who praised his playing of Bach, and recommended him strongly as a teacher. Amongst other pupils he had Baroness Ertmann and Maximilian Brentano. His letters to his sister on Beethoven are very interesting, and are given by Thayer, iii. 35–6. He remained in Vienna till 1827, when he returned to his native place, and lived there, teaching and making music, much beloved and sought after till his death, April 18, 1855. His memory appears to have been extraordinarily retentive and accurate, and an anecdote is given by his nephew in Mendel of his recollecting a composition of Palestrina's after 48 years. He published little or nothing.
Wilhelm Rust is the son of Karl Ludwig, brother of the foregoing, himself an advocate, and fine amateur-player on both violin and PF. Wilhelm was born Aug. 15, 1822, at Dessau; he learned music from his uncle, Wilhelm Karl, and F. Schneider. After a few years wandering he settled in Berlin, where he soon joined the Singakademie. He played at the Philharmonic Society of Berlin, Dec. 5, 1849, and was soon much in request as a teacher. In Jan. 1861 he became organist of the St. Luke's church, and twelvemonths afterwards director of Vierling's Bach Society, which he conducted till 1874, performing a large number of fine works by Bach and other great composers, many of them for the first time. The list of occasional concerts conducted by him is also very large. With 1870 he undertook the department of cownterpoint and composition in the Stern Conservatorium at Berlin, and in 1879 succeeded E. F. E. Richter as Cantor of the St. Thomas school, Leipzig, where he now resides. He has been long connected with the Leipzig Bachgesellschaft, and has edited vols. v, vii, ix–xxiii, and xxv. His original works have reached op. 33, of which eight are for the PF. and the rest for voices.