Anselm Huttenbrenner

Full biography Anselm Huttenbrenner

Anselm Huttenbrenner was an Austrian composer and pianist who lived from 1794 to 1868. He was a contemporary and close friend of Franz Schubert, with whom he shared a love of music and spent a great deal of time discussing music. Over the course of his life, Huttenbrenner composed a considerable amount of music, including eight symphonies, a number of string quartets and quintets, operas, overtures, masses, and requiems.

Although Huttenbrenner was a respected composer and pianist during his lifetime, he is perhaps best known today for his connection to Schubert. The two shared a deep and lasting friendship, and Huttenbrenner was one of the few people who was with Schubert at the time of his death in 1828.

Huttenbrenner played an important role in preserving Schubert's music, and he was instrumental in getting many of Schubert's works published after his death. He was also an influential figure in the Vienna music scene, and he mentored a number of younger composers and musicians.

Today, Huttenbrenner's music is not as well known as that of his contemporaries such as Schubert and Beethoven, but it is still performed and recorded on occasion. His compositions are characterized by their melodic lyricism and their attention to formal structure and harmonic development.