1785–1869 · Germany · Romantic
Johann Albert Gottlieb Methfessel (1785–1869) was a German singer, conductor, and composer who spent many years working in Rudolstadt, Hamburg, and Braunschweig. He is known above all for vocal music — choral and drinking songs for male voices. For a player, he is of interest as the composer of accessible nineteenth-century choral music.
Johann Albert Gottlieb Methfessel was born on 6 October 1785 in Stadtilm, into the family of the town organist and cantor; he was the thirteenth child in that family. His father, Johann Christian Methfessel, taught at the local school besides his church duties, and his mother's name was Sophie Marie, née Gölitz. Besides his older brother, discussed below, Albert had two sisters. That brother, Friedrich Methfessel, also became known as a song composer, although he had first trained in theology.
From an early age the boy was drawn to music: already at twelve he was writing pieces for church services that his cantor father then used. After his confirmation Albert began attending the Rudolstadt grammar school, where the prince's chapel music and the town choir caught his interest; he joined that choir and soon became its leader, composing cantatas and motets for it.
His father's hope that his son would become a theologian only grew stronger after his elder brother Friedrich, having already earned a theology degree, chose music instead. Even so, in 1807 Albert followed the same path: from 1807 to 1810 he studied philosophy and music in Leipzig and Dresden, and in Leipzig he also sang in the Gewandhaus choir. Through the patronage of the ruling house of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt he received a scholarship and spent roughly two years training as a singer in Dresden under Francesco Ceccarelli before returning home.
In 1810 Methfessel returned to Rudolstadt and became a court singer, teaching singing and various instruments alongside this role. Among the occupations later attributed to him were not only composer and Kapellmeister but also opera singer. He was acquainted with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and gave singing lessons to Emilie, the daughter of Friedrich Schiller. Even before any formal training, Methfessel had a natural gift for singing, and besides his voice he played the piano and guitar reasonably well; taking both theology and music seriously, he was well liked among his contemporaries for his personal integrity and friendly character.
In Rudolstadt Methfessel grew close to the composer Louis Spohr: in the summer of 1818 the two of them, together with two more friends, walked from town to town to the music festival at Mannheim, where the "travellers" were welcomed as celebrities — Spohr especially, who was then at the peak of his renown yet turned down a private apartment so as to stay close to his friend. On Carl Maria von Weber's recommendation Methfessel was offered a post as Kapellmeister in Prague, but he declined it; soon afterwards he moved to Hamburg, where he became a director of music and took on teaching as well.
In Hamburg he spent three years, then a further seven, until 1832, living as a travelling musician without a steady income. Already in April 1823 he had founded the men's choir known as the Hamburger Liedertafel in Hamburg — the first such choir in the city; alongside this he taught singing and conducted. Among the positions later attributed to him is also the management of a theatre.
Back in 1813, when a volunteer corps was being raised in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt against the French occupation, Methfessel dedicated to it the song "Hinaus in die Ferne"; that same patriotic spirit is reflected in his cycle of Six German War Songs from the same year. In 1818 his collection of drinking and table songs, the Allgemeines Kommers- und Liederbuch, appeared. Already during his Hamburg years he also wrote the city's hymn, first performed by the Liedertafel in April 1828, for the choir's fifth anniversary.
In 1832 Methfessel became court Kapellmeister in Braunschweig, succeeding Gottlob Wiedebein in that post. He worked chiefly on opera productions, trying to raise the standard of their performance, and also taught music, including piano playing. In 1834 he married the opera singer Louise Emilie Lehmann. Growing deafness eventually forced Methfessel to give up not only the post of Kapellmeister but his singing and conducting career altogether, and he devoted himself to composing, music criticism, and theoretical writing; the court nonetheless continued to pay him a small pension.
The death of his wife in May 1854 hit Methfessel especially hard, and his eyesight, too, kept growing weaker. Yet even after losing his hearing and almost all his sight, he kept a clear mind and, according to those who knew him, his usual good spirits; he went on corresponding with fellow musicians until the end of his life. In 1861 he served as guest composer at a large song festival held in Nuremberg, and again in 1865 at a gathering of German singing societies in Dresden. Braunschweig celebrated his eightieth birthday with festivities on 6 October 1864, and the following year Jena's university made him an honorary doctor of philosophy.
Age and money troubles caught up with Methfessel in May 1868: he had to leave Braunschweig and settle in Heckenbeck, a village near Bad Gandersheim, moving in with his eldest daughter. A severe stroke struck him that same August, wiping out what hearing and sight he still had and leaving him barely able to speak. Yet by the middle of September he had recovered enough to write to friends again, and could even sing. He died in Heckenbeck on 23 March 1869 and was laid to rest in the village's cemetery.
Methfessel worked in several genres — his output includes the opera Prinz von Basra, the oratorio Das befreite Jerusalem, and various church music — yet by common assessment these are not what left a lasting mark. His real significance lies in choral and solo singing for male voices: in this field of nineteenth-century music he became a notable figure not only within the German tradition but within male-voice choral singing generally. His contemporaries valued him not only as a composer but as a conductor and singer, and besides composing he also wrote works on music theory and history.
The bulk of his legacy consists of pieces for solo voice and choral works for male ensembles, many of them with guitar accompaniment; some of these part-songs stayed in use among German choirs well beyond the composer's own lifetime. In subject matter they range from sacred to comic, though his best-known pieces are devoted to patriotism, friendship, freedom, and love. The accompaniment in these songs is simple and merely supports the voice rather than claiming independence — in this sense Methfessel's instrumental works, written for piano, organ, guitar, and glass harmonica, matter less within his legacy than his vocal output.
Particular success came to the drinking-song collection Allgemeines Kommers- und Liederbuch (1818): it went through five editions, and the patriotic songs in it became a model for student singing. An earlier example of the same patriotic mood is the cycle Six German War Songs (1813). Contemporaries described Methfessel's songs as fresh, easy to sing, pleasant, and appealing. One of his melodies, written during his Hamburg years, became the official hymn of Hamburg.
The site currently offers one work by Methfessel — the choral piece Deutsches Weihelied for mixed choir, at medium difficulty level. Since almost everything known about Methfessel as a composer relates to choral and vocal writing, it makes sense to begin acquaintance with him through this choral score.