Andreas Jakob Romberg

Andreas Jakob Romberg (Vechta, 27 April 1767 – Gotha, 10 November 1821) was a German violinist and composer, the son of the musician Gerhard Heinrich Romberg. His career helps us today to understand the transition between classical virtuosity and the early Romanticism of Central Europe.

He learned the violin from his father and made his debut in Münster at the age of seven, alongside his cousin Bernhard Heinrich Romberg. After tours through Frankfurt and Paris, in 1790 the two joined the electoral orchestra in Bonn, which included the young Beethoven. They fled to Hamburg after the French invasion of the Rhine in 1793 and joined the opera orchestra of the Ackermannsches Komödienhaus, where they won fame as soloists and composers. In 1795 they embarked on a two-year tour of Italy; in 1796, a visit to Vienna allowed Andreas to meet Haydn and to perform alongside Beethoven.

Following a further journey to Paris in 1800, Andreas made Hamburg his permanent home and turned increasingly towards composition. In 1809 he received an honorary doctorate from the University of Kiel. His family's financial difficulties under French occupation led him in 1815 to accept the post of Hofkapellmeister in Gotha, succeeding Spohr. His health soon deteriorated, and he died in poverty.

His fame as a violinist faded quickly. Rochlitz described his playing as vigorous and somewhat harsh; Spohr found it cold and dry, although he recognised in him a cultured and thoughtful artist. As a composer, he achieved European recognition, with Haydn and Mozart as his models. His setting of Schiller's Lied von der Glocke (op. 25, 1809) was a success that reached as far as New York. His songs with piano and his choral works were popular among amateurs, whereas only five of his eight operas were ever staged.

His children also devoted themselves to music. Heinrich Maria (Paris, 1802 – Hamburg, 1859) directed the Imperial Opera in St Petersburg, and Ciprian Friedrich (Hamburg, 1807 – 1865) was principal cellist of the Hamburg opera between 1835 and 1845. His legacy survives chiefly in his vocal and instrumental music rather than in the theatre.