Ferdinand Hummel

Who was Ferdinand Hummel?

Ferdinand Hummel German harp player, pianist, conductor and composer.

Hummel started as a child prodigy, and his father, who was a flute player in the Royal Orchestra in Berlin, took care of his son's first musical training instructing him in both the piano and the harp from the age of four gaining a King Wilhelm von Preussen Stipendium, so he could study with Antonio Zamara at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

In the years 1864 to 1867, the boy toured with his father to South and North Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Russia, where he was hailed as a great harp virtuoso. Through a Royal grant, he later went to study at New Academy of Music, Berlin from 1868 to 1875 and later at the Royal High School for Music and Composition with Woldemar Bargiel and Friedrich Kiel as his prime teachers.

After his education, he functioned as harp player in B. Bilse's Orchestra, which was later to become the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1892, Hummel was appointed leader of the stage music at the Royal Theatre in Berlin, becoming director from 1897 to 1917.

As a composer, Hummel was very productive writing operas, chamber music, piano pieces and choral works. Today his music is mostly forgotten, but his operas are at least of some interest since they form a German equivalent to the Italian Verismo-style of Puccini, Mascagni and Leoncavallo.