Alexander Stadtfeld

A famous composer, died at 27 years old. (b Wiesbaden, 28 April 1826; d Brussels, 4 Nov 1853). Belgian composer of German birth. The son of a military bandmaster, as a child prodigy he attracted the attention of the Belgian King Leopold I, who made it possible for him to attend the Brussels Conservatory. From 1839 to 1849 he studied there under the personal supervision of the director, Fétis. As winner of the Prix de Rome in 1849 he went to Paris, where several of his works were successfully performed. His numerous male choruses and songs, some of them published, are completely in accord with contemporary taste. His only grand opera Hamlet (1851–3; libretto by Jules Guillaume), which was performed posthumously in Weimar (1882), was strongly influenced by Meyerbeer. His first three symphonies and his two concert overtures show a talent for instrumentation as well as a serious attempt to come to grips with Beethoven’s techniques of thematic development. In his fourth symphony, the Symphonie triomphale (1852), he succeeded in an independent synthesis of these achievements with elements of French Revolutionary music, but his early death from tuberculosis prevented the full development of his individuality. His works, almost all in manuscript, are in the library of the Brussels Conservatory.

He was a pupil of Francois-Joseph Fetis (Belgian musicologist, composer, teacher,