View source for Carl Friedrich Abel

{{Short description|German composer (1723–1787)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Carl Friedrich Abel
| image              = Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough (c. 1777).jpg
| image_upright      = 1.1
| caption            = 1777 portrait by [[Thomas Gainsborough]]
| baptized           = {{birth date|1723|12|25|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [[Köthen]], Anhalt-Köthen, Holy Roman Empire
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1787|06|20|1723|12|25|df=y}}
| death_place        = London, England
| occupation         = {{ubl| Gambist | Composer }}
| parents            = [[Christian Ferdinand Abel]]
}}
'''Carl Friedrich Abel''' (22 December 1723{{efn|The ''[[Chambers Biographical Dictionary]]'' gives his year of birth erroneously as 1725.<ref name="CBD">Abel, Karl Friedrich, in ''[[Chambers Biographical Dictionary]]''. London: [[George Newnes Ltd|George Newnes]], 1961, Vol. 1, {{ISBN|0-550-18022-2}}</ref>}}{{rp|3}}&nbsp;– 20 June 1787) was a German composer of the [[Classical period (music)|Classical era]]. He was a renowned player of the [[viol|viola da gamba]], and produced significant compositions for that instrument. He was director of music at the [[Dresden court]] from 1743, and moved to London in 1759, becoming chamber-musician to [[Queen Charlotte]] in 1764. He founded a subscription concert series there with [[Johann Christian Bach]]. According to the ''[[Catalogue of Works of Carl Friedrich Abel]]'' (AbelWV), he left 420 compositions, with a focus on [[chamber music]].

== Life ==
[[File:Karl Friedrich Abel by Thomas Gainsborough.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Abel holding his viol, painted by Gainsborough, {{circa}} 1765]]
Abel was born in [[Köthen]],<ref name="Harvard Bio">{{cite book|editor-last=Randel|editor-first=Don Michael|title=The Harvard biographical dictionary of music|year=1996|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0-674-37299-9|pages=[https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand/page/n18 1]–2|chapter=Carl Friedrich Abel|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/harvardbiographi00rand}}</ref><ref name="CBD" />{{rp|7}} where his father, [[Christian Ferdinand Abel]], had worked for years as the principal [[viol|viola da gamba]] and [[cello]] player in the court orchestra of [[Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen]]. In 1723 Abel senior became director of the orchestra, when the previous director, [[Johann Sebastian Bach]], moved to [[Leipzig]]. The young Abel later boarded at [[St. Thomas School, Leipzig]], where he was taught by Bach.

On Bach's recommendation in 1743 he was able to join [[Johann Adolph Hasse]]'s orchestra at the [[Dresden court]], where he remained for fifteen years.<ref name=EB /><ref name=Grove>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-last=Sadie |editor-first=Stanley |date=2001 |encyclopedia=The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians |title=Carl [Karl] Friedrich Abel |edition=2nd |publisher=Grove's Dictionaries Inc. |location=New York, NY |pages=15–18 |isbn=1-56159-239-0 |volume=I A-Aristotle}}</ref><ref name="Zadow" /> In 1759<ref name="Zadow" /> (or 1758 according to ''Chambers''),<ref name="CBD" />{{rp|3}} he went to England and became chamber-musician to [[Queen Charlotte]], in 1764.<ref name=EB/><ref name=Grove/> He gave a concert of his own compositions in London, performing on various instruments, one of which was a five-string cello known as a [[pentachord (instrument)|pentachord]], which had been recently invented by [[John Joseph Merlin]].<ref>Freiberg, Sarah. [http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/merlin.htm Conversation with Magical Merlin], Internet Cello Society. Retrieved 29 January 2009.</ref>

In 1762, [[Johann Christian Bach]], a son of J. S. Bach, joined him in London, and the friendship between him and Abel led, in 1764 or 1765, to the establishment of the famous Bach-Abel concerts, England's first subscription concerts.<ref name="Zadow" /> In those concerts, many celebrated guest artists appeared, and many works of [[Haydn]] received their first English performance.<ref name=EB />

For ten years the concerts were organized by [[Teresa Cornelys]], a retired Venetian opera singer who owned a concert hall at [[Carlisle House, Soho#Carlisle House, Soho Square|Carlisle House]] in [[Soho Square]], then the height of fashionable events. In 1775 the concerts became independent of her, to be continued by Abel and Bach until Bach's death in 1782. Abel still remained in great demand as a player on various instruments new and old. He traveled to Germany and France between 1782 and 1785, and upon his return to London, became a leading member of the Grand [[Professional Concerts]] at the [[Hanover Square Rooms]] in [[Soho]]. Throughout his life he had enjoyed excessive living, and his drinking probably hastened his death.<ref name=EB>{{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Dale H. |editor-last=Hoiberg |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |title=Abel, Carl Friedrich |edition=15th |year=2010 |volume=I: A-ak Bayes |location=Chicago, IL |isbn=978-1-59339-837-8 |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Friedrich-Abel|access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref>

Abel died in London on 20 June 1787.<ref name="Harvard Bio" /><ref name=EB /><ref name="Zadow" /> He was buried in the churchyard of [[St Pancras Old Church]].

== Works ==
One of Abel's works became famous due to a misattribution: in the 19th century, a manuscript symphony in the hand of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] was catalogued as his [[Symphony No. 3 (Mozart)|Symphony No. 3]] in E flat, [[Köchel-Verzeichnis|K]]. 18, and was published as such in the [[Alte Mozart-Ausgabe|first complete edition of Mozart's works]] by [[Breitkopf & Härtel]]. Later, it was discovered that this symphony was actually the work of Abel, copied by the boy Mozart, evidently for study purposes, while he was visiting London in 1764. That symphony was originally published as the concluding work in Abel's Six Symphonies, Op. 7.

A first catalogue of Abel's works was published in 1971 by {{ill|Walter Knape|de}}, ''Abel-Werkverzeichnis'', with 233 work numbers.<ref name="Zadow">[[Günter von Zadow|Zadow, Günter von]]: [http://www.ortus-musikverlag.de/de/home/om322 Catalogue of Works of Carl Friedrich Abel] Ortus Musikverlag 2023</ref>

In 2015 new manuscripts of Abel's viola da gamba music were found in the library of the [[Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań]], in a collection from the [[Maltzahn]] family palace in the town of [[Milicz]] in Poland,<ref name="Güntersberg">{{cite web |url=http://www.guentersberg.de/pdf-download/druckkatalog_en.pdf |title=Catalogue: Carl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787) Maltzan Collection |publisher=[[Edition Güntersberg]] |date=December 2018 |access-date=7 January 2018 |page=3}}</ref> originally brought back from London by {{ill|Count Joachim Carl of Maltzan|de|Joachim Carl von Maltzan}}. Many of them were published by [[Edition Güntersberg]].<ref name="Güntersberg" />

A new catalogue, of now 420 works, was published by Ortus Musikverlag in 2023, ''[[Catalogue of Works of Carl Friedrich Abel]]'' or AbelWV, edited by [[Günter von Zadow]]. It takes into account many newly discovered works, and additional sources for known works.<ref name="Zadow" />

=== Major works by opus number ===
{{listen|image=none|help=no|type=music
 | filename     = Carl Friedrich Abel (1723- 1787) - Allegro, WKO 205 from 27 Pieces for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba.ogg
 | title        = From 27 Pieces for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba, New York. NYp, Drexel 5871 (ca.1790-99): [Arpeggio], AbelWV A1:A26
 | description  = 
 | filename2    = Carl Friedrich Abel (1723- 1787) - Allegro from 27 Pieces for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba.ogg
 | title2       = From 27 Pieces for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba, New York. NYp, Drexel 5871 (ca.1790-99): Allegro, AbelWV A1:A28
 | description2 = 
 | filename3    = Allegro from 27 Pieces for Solo Viola da Gamba by Carl Friedrich Abel.ogg
 | title3       = From 27 Pieces for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba, New York. NYp, Drexel 5871 (ca.1790-99): [Allegro], AbelWV A1:A29
 | description3 = 
 | filename4    = Carl Friedrich Abel (1723- 1787) – Sonata in G-Major, WKO155 for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba.ogg
 | title4       = Sonata in G-Major, AbelWV A3 for Unaccompanied Viola da Gamba. Composed for the Lady Pembroke, London. GB-Lbl, Add.Ms.31697 (1760-1770)
 | description4 = Performed by Phillip W. Serna, [[Viol]]
}}
{{listen|image=none|help=no|filename=Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787) - Duetto in G-Major, A35A from the Maltzan Collection.ogg|title=Duetto in G major, AbelWV A3:5A from the Maltzan Collection|description=Performed by ViolMedium - Eric Miller & Phillip W. Serna|format=[[ogg]]}}
* Op. 1: 6 Overtures or Sinfonias (1761)
* Op. 2: 6 Sonatas for keyboard, and violin and cello (ad libitum) (1760)
* Op. 3: 6 Trio Sonatas for 2 violins and basso continuo (1762)
* Op. 4: 6 Overtures or Sinfonias (1762)
* Op. 5: 6 Sonatas for keyboard, and violin and cello (ad libitum) (1762)
* Op. 6: 6 Sonatas for keyboard and flute (1763)
* Op. 7: 6 Symphonies (1767)
* Op. 8: 6 String Quartets (1768)
* Op. 9: 6 Trio Sonatas for violin, cello and basso continuo (1771)
* Op. 10: 6 Symphonies (1771)
* Op. 11: 6 Concerti for keyboard and strings (1771)
* Op. 12: 6 Flute Quartets (1774)
* Op. 13: 6 Sonatas for keyboard and violin (1777)
* Op. 14: 6 Symphonies (1778)
* Op. 15: 6 String Quartets (1780)
* Op. 16: 4 Trio Sonatas for 2 flutes and basso continuo (1781)
* Op. 16: 6 Trio Sonatas for violin, viola and cello (1782)
* Op. 17: 6 Symphonies (1785)
* Op. 18: 6 Sonatas for keyboard and violin (1784)

== Abel Fest ==
[[File:Abel Fest Köthen.jpg|thumb|Opening concert of the Abel Fest at the Spiegelsaal of [[Schloss Köthen]]]]
[[File:Abel Fest,, Köthen, Leonore von Zadow-Reichling and Günter von Zadow.jpg|thumb|Leonore von Zadow-Reichling and Günter von Zadow (r.) at the concert]]
As Abel was born in 1723, the city of Köthen announced an international tricentennial festival around his music on four days in June 2023, held at historic locations including the [[Schloss Köthen|palace]] and its gardens. It was initiated by gambist and musicologist [[Thomas Fritzsch]]. The city also created a biennial Abel Prize. The first recipients in 2023 were Leonore von Zadow-Reichling and Günter von Zadow of [[Edition Güntersberg]] for their efforts to retrieve and publish Abel's works. They published more than 150, many as first publications.<ref name="Musik heute">{{cite news| url=http://www.musik-heute.de/25479/stadt-koethen-vergibt-carl-friedrich-abel-preis/ |work=Musik heute |title=Stadt Köthen vergibt Carl-Friedrich-Abel-Preis |date=10 May 2023 |language=de |access-date=13 May 2023}}</ref>

==Notes and references==
;Notes
{{notelist}}
;References
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Abel, Karl Friedrich|volume=1|page=39}}
* S. M. Helm: ''Carl Friedrich Abel, Symphonist''. London 1953
* ''Karl Friedrich Abel (1723–87)'' by Andrew Pink, in [https://www.honorechampion.com/fr/9045-book-08532496-9782745324962.html ''Le Monde maçonnique des Lumières (Europe-Amériques) Dictionnaire prosopographique'']. Charles Porset and Cécile Révauger (eds) Paris: Editions Champion, 2013. {{ISBN|978-2-7453-2496-2}}
* Knape, Walter: ''Bibliographisch-thematisches Verzeichnis der Kompositionen von Karl Friedrich Abel (1723–1787)'', Cuxhaven, 1971
* Knape, Walter: ''Karl Friedrich Abel, Leben und Werk eines frühklassischen Komponisten'', Bremen: Schünemann, 1973

==External links==
{{Commons category|Carl Friedrich Abel}}
* {{IMSLP|id=Abel, Carl Friedrich|cname=Carl Friedrich Abel}}
* {{IMSLP|work=List of works by Carl Friedrich Abel|cname=AbelWV, list of works by Carl Friedrich Abel}}
* {{NPG name}}
* {{cite encyclopedia |editor-first=Dale H. |editor-last=Hoiberg |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |title=Abel, Carl Friedrich |edition=15th |year=2010 |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |volume=I: A-ak Bayes |location=Chicago, IL |isbn=978-1-59339-837-8 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/24 24] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/newencyclopaedia2009ency/page/24 }}

{{Classical period (music)}}
{{Portal bar|Classical music|Biography}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Carl Friedrich}}
[[Category:1723 births]]
[[Category:1787 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Köthen (Anhalt)]]
[[Category:People from Anhalt-Köthen]]
[[Category:German male classical composers]]
[[Category:German Classical-period composers]]
[[Category:German viol players]]
[[Category:18th-century German classical composers]]
[[Category:People educated at the St. Thomas School, Leipzig]]
[[Category:Pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach]]
[[Category:Alcohol-related deaths in England]]
[[Category:Burials at St Pancras Old Church]]
[[Category:German string quartet composers]]
[[Category:18th-century German male musicians]]