Friedrich Kiel.
Born; 8 October 1821 Bad Laasphe, Puderbach
Died; 13 September 1885 as a result of a traffic accident.
Op 18 10 piano pieces No 7 Melodie
He was taught the rudiments of music and received his first piano lessons from his father, but was in large part self-taught. Something of a prodigy, he played the piano almost without instruction at the age of six, and by his thirteenth year he had composed much music. By 1840, the eighteen-year-old Kiel was court conductor and the music teacher to the prince’s children. Two years later, Louis Spohr heard him and arranged for a scholarship which allowed Kiel to study in Berlin with the renowned theorist and teacher Siegfried Dehn. In 1866, he received a teaching position at the prestigious Stern conservatory, where he taught composition and was elevated to a professorship three years later. In 1870 he joined the faculty of the newly founded Hochschule für Musik where is taught many including Paderewski and Stanford.
Chamber music comprises a considerable part of Kiel's output and must be regarded among his most important and best compositions. Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his exceptional works from receiving the consideration they deserved. After mentioning Johannes Brahms and others, Altmann writes, “He produced a number of chamber works, which . . . need fear no comparison.”
Kiel's hobby was mountaineering and at age 60, he climbed Europe's second highest peak, the Monte Rosa, on the Swiss-Italian border.
Kiel's compositions number over seventy, including a piano concerto, motets, oratorios (including the Star of Bethlehem), as well as a Missa Solemnis and two Requiems.
https://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Friedrich_Kiel
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