Franz Xaver Gebel

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German composer. (b Fürstenau, nr Breslau, 1787; bur. Moscow, 3 May 1843).A pupil of Vogler and Albrechtsberger, he was also on personal terms with Beethoven. From 1810 he was Kapellmeister at the Leopoldstadt theatre in Vienna, then moved to Pest and Lemberg, and in 1817 to Moscow. There he enjoyed a high reputation as a teacher, composer and pianist (perhaps also as a cellist), and his organization of regular chamber music evenings attracted a wide public. He played a prominent role in the musical life of Moscow in the 1830s through his excellent knowledge of Viennese Classicism, and especially of the works of Beethoven. Glinka became acquainted with Gebel in 1834 and praised the faultless workmanship of his string quartets and quintets, in which Borodin traced Russian influence. The eight quintets show Gebel’s melodic gift, able craftsmanship and confident treatment of instruments, as well as a certain preference for the cello, for which he wrote some particularly expressive passages. His output includes four symphonies, an overture, chamber music (eight string quintets, a double quintet, two string quartets and a piano trio), sonatinas, variations and fantasias for piano, a mass, an oratorio and some German songs. His manual on composition was translated into Russian and published in Moscow in 1842. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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