Heinrich Esser


Heinrich Joseph Esser was a German violinist, influential conductor and composer.

Biography

Heinrich Esser was born in Mannheim. He got musical instruction by Franz Lachner who was court conductor in Mannheim from 1834. Esser followed Lachner to Munich in 1836 and went to Vienna in 1839 in order to complete his studies under Simon Sechter.
In 1840, he had a position as court conductor at the National Theatre Mannheim, but left for his new appointment as a conductor of the singing society in Mainz during the following year. During his time in Mainz, Esser was teacher in music composition of Peter Cornelius. In 1847, Esser became conductor at the Vienna Court Opera which he directed temporarily in 1860/1861. He also became an honorary member of the Vienna Men's Choral Association in 1859 and conducted concerts of the Vienna Philharmonic. In the course of his activities as a consultant for the publisher Franz Schott, Esser got in contact with Richard Wagner in 1859, whose musical works he strongly supported..
In late 1869, Esser retired and moved to Salzburg where he died of tuberculosis in 1872.

Works

Esser composed operas, five symphonies, two suites for orchestra and a large number of lieder that were largely known at their time. His two best known operas are Thomas Riquiqui oder die politische Heirath and Die zwei Prinzen. Furthermore, his Fourth Symphony and Second Suite