Rummel, Christian Franz Ludwig Friedrich Alexander

Conductor, Composer

born: 27.11.1787 in Prichsenstadt (Lower Franconia)

died: 13.02.1849 in Wiesbaden

Rummel received his musical training in Mannheim and Darmstadt. In 1806, he joined the 2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment as a military bandmaster and took part in Napoleon's campaign against Spain from 1808. There he was taken prisoner of war and was released in 1813.

He resigned from military service after the Battle of Waterloo. On the initiative of Nassau General August von Kruse, he came to Wiesbaden. He taught at the Pädagogium and became the founder and director of the private ducal court chapel in Biebrich. This orchestra was considered one of the most renowned court orchestras of its time. When the orchestra was dissolved in 1842 and integrated into the theater orchestra, Rummel took over its direction.

As a pianist, violinist and clarinettist, Rummel was not only a versatile musician whose concert tours took him to various major German cities as well as to the Netherlands, Belgium and Switzerland, but also a composer whose works, which were widely performed at the time, were published by Schott. Rummel's catalog of works comprises around 100 compositions in a wide variety of genres, including military music, numerous orchestral arrangements (including Beethoven's Kreutzer Sonata), works for piano two and four hands and chamber music for wind instruments. His "Concerto for Clarinet" and the "Concerto Militaire for Piano and Orchestra op. 68" attracted particular attention. As early as 1805, he composed "Six Waltzes for the Pianoforte", which he dedicated to the "building inspector" Christian Zais.

Four of Rummel's six children followed their father's musical ambitions. Josephine (1812-1877), Joseph (1818-1880) and August (1824-1886) made a name for themselves as pianists, while Franziska (1821-1888) made a guest appearance at the Wiesbaden Theater in 1843 and accompanied her father on several concert tours. She married the music publisher Peter Schott in Brussels.