Reissiger, Carl Gottlieb

Reissiger, Carl Gottlieb , noted German conductor and composer; b. Belzig, near Wittenberg, Jan. 31, 1798; d. Dresden, Nov. 7, 1859. His father, Christian Gottlieb Reissiger, was the Belzig organist and choirmaster. He studied piano and composition with Schicht at the Leipzig Thomasschule (1811–18), then theory with Salieri in Vienna (1821–22) and voice and composition with Winter in Munich (1822). Weber conducted the premiere of his opera Didone abbandonata at the Dresden Court Opera (Jan. 31, 1824). After teaching composition in Berlin (1825–26), he was called to Dresden as director of the Court Opera in 1826; was named Hofkapellmeister in 1828, and was in charge of sacred music and chamber music, as well as the Court Opera, until his death. He was highly esteemed by his contemporaries as a conductor; he built upon the foundation laid by Weber and made the Dresden Court Opera the premiere opera house of Germany. He was a prolific composer, writing with great facility but with little originality. He attained some success with his songs and pieces; his Danses brillantes pour le pianoforte or Webers letzter Gedanke (1822) was very popular, as was his melodrama Yelva (1827).

Bibliography

W. Neumann, K.G. R. (Kassel, 1854); K. Kreiser, C.G. R.: Sein Leben nebst einigen Beitragen zur Geschichte des Konzertwesens in Dresden (diss., Univ. of Leipzig, 1918).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire