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WIEPRECHT, WILHELM FRIEDRICH (1802—1872)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 623 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WIEPRECHT, WILHELM See also:FRIEDRICH (1802—1872) , See also:German musical conductor, composer and inventor, was See also:born on the loth of See also:August 1802, at See also:Aschersleben, where his See also:father was See also:town musician. According to his autobiography, Wieprecht See also:early learned from his father to See also:play on nearly all See also:wind See also:instruments. It was in See also:violin-playing, however, that his father particularly wished him to excel; and in 1819 he went to See also:Dresden, where he studied See also:composition and the violin to such See also:good purpose that a See also:year later he was given a position in the See also:city See also:orchestra of See also:Leipzig, playing also in those of the See also:opera and the famous Gewandhaus. At this See also:time, besides playing the violin and See also:clarinet in the orchestra, he also gave See also:solo performances on the See also:trombone. In 1824 he went to See also:Berlin, where he became a member of the royal orchestra, and was in the same year appointed chamber musician to the See also:king. His See also:residence at Berlin gave Wieprecht ample opportunity for the exercise of his See also:genius for military See also:music, on which his fame mainly rests. Several of his See also:marches were early adopted by the regimental bands, and a more ambitious military composition attracted the See also:attention of Gasparo See also:Spontini, at. whose See also:house he became an intimate See also:guest. It was now that he began to study See also:acoustics, in See also:order to correct the deficiencies in military musical instruments. As the result, he improved the valves of the See also:brass instruments, and succeeded, by constructing them on sounder acoustic principles, in greatly increasing the See also:volume and purity of their See also:tone. He also inventedthe See also:bass See also:tuba or See also:bombardon in order to give greater richness and See also:power to the bass parts. In recognition of these inventions he was, in 1835, honoured by the Royal See also:Academy of. Berlin.

In 1838 he was appointed by the Prussian See also:

government director-See also:general of all the See also:guards' bands, and in recognition of the magnificent performance by massed bands on the occasion of the See also:emperor See also:Nicholas I.'s visit the same year, was awarded a See also:special See also:uniform. In 1843 he became director-general of the bands of the loth Confederate See also:army See also:corps, and from this time exercised a profound See also:influence on the development of military music through-out See also:Germany, and beyond. He was the first to arrange the symphonies and overtures of the classical masters for military instruments, and to organize those outdoor performances of See also:concert pieces by military bands which have done so much to popularize good music in Germany and elsewhere. The performance arranged by him of See also:Beethoven's " See also:Battle of See also:Vittoria," in which the See also:bugle calls were given by trumpeters stationed in various parts of the See also:garden and the See also:cannon shots were those of real guns, created immense sensation. Besides the See also:great See also:work he accomplished in Germany, Wieprecht, in 1847, reorganized the military music in See also:Turkey and, in 1852, in See also:Guatemala. He composed military songs as well as numerous marches, and contributed frequently on his favourite subject to the Berlin musical papers. He died on the 4th of August 1872. Wieprecht was a See also:man of genial, kindly and generous nature, and was associated with many charitable See also:foundations established for the benefit of poor musicians.

End of Article: WIEPRECHT, WILHELM FRIEDRICH (1802—1872)

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