Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski

Origins and Training

Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski was a German violinist, conductor and writer on music, born at Grossleesen, near Danzig, on 17 June 1822, and died at Sondershausen on 13 December 1896. His importance lies chiefly in his work as a music historian, a field in which he left writings that are still consulted today.

He received his first musical education at home. On 3 April 1843 he became one of the first pupils of the Leipzig Conservatory, where his teachers were Mendelssohn, Hauptmann and David. After graduating in 1846 he played first violin in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, in various theatre orchestras and in the Euterpe concerts.

Touring Years and Düsseldorf

Concert tours followed, along with a period in Halle playing under Robert Franz. In 1850, at Schumann's invitation, he went to Düsseldorf, where he worked as a violinist and teacher. There he became a friend of the Schumann family and served as the composer's personal assistant and amanuensis, a connection that would later shape his work as a biographer.

Bonn and Musical Teaching

In May 1852 he moved to Bonn, where he conducted the recently founded choral society Concordia and later the Beethovenverein. Three years later he found a more advantageous post at Dresden, and it was there that he began to concentrate on music research, without giving up performing or teaching.

In Dresden he published music criticism in the Signale, the Leipziger Zeitung, the Dresdener Journal and other papers, and contributed numerous articles to periodicals. In 1869 he returned to Bonn as municipal director of music and became highly regarded as a conductor, although he did not succeed in obtaining a university position.

Written Work

His writings are his most lasting contribution. His biography of Robert Schumann, published in Dresden in 1858, was the first definitive work on the composer. Although it was received coolly within Schumann's immediate circle, and its approach to the music is occasionally overly formalistic, it is regarded as a comprehensive and objective study.

He also wrote valuable books on early string chamber music and on old stringed instruments, notable for their careful use of the available sources. These include Die Violine und ihre Meister (1869), Die Violine im XVII. Jahrhundert und die Anfänge der Instrumentalcomposition (1874) and Geschichte der Instrumentalmusik im XVI. Jahrhundert (1878). Other titles include Musikalische Fürsten (1879), Goethe's Verhältnis zur Musik (1880), Schumanniana (1883), Ludwig van Beethoven (1888), Das Violoncell und seine Geschichte (1889) and Carl Reinecke (1892).

Later Career

In 1871 he was decorated by the Duke of Meiningen, and he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna. He composed some partsongs and a nocturne for violin and piano, but his reputation rests chiefly on his dual career as performer and writer.

In 1884 he retired to Sondershausen, where he continued to teach music history at the conservatory and kept writing. His autobiography, Aus siebzig Jahren: Lebenserinnerungen, appeared in Stuttgart in 1897, shortly after his death.

Legacy

Wasielewski is remembered today as one of the first systematic researchers into German music history. His Schumann biography paved the way for later studies of the composer, and his work on instrumental music and string instruments remains a reference for the study of early music and the chamber repertoire.