Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich
Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (20 February 1803 – 16 October 1836) was a Swiss early Romantic composer.
Also recorded as Friedrich Theodor Froehlich
Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
- Born
- 1803 · Brugg.
- Died
- 1836 · Aarau.
- Nationality
- Switzerland
- Occupation
- composer · musician · music director · voice teacher
- Fields
- music
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Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (20 February 1803 – 16 October 1836) was a Swiss early Romantic composer.
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Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (1803–1836) was a Swiss composer, music director and musician, among other activities. Born in Brugg, the composer died in Aarau. Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich was active in music.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 30 September 2026
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wikidata · Q1462495 · wikipedia · Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich
In this article
Biography
Biography
Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich was born in Brugg, Aargau, Switzerland, the 6th child of a Swiss family living in Brugg. His older brother Abraham Emanuel Fröhlich was a priest, writer and politician. After completing the gymnasium in Zürich, he started studying jurisprudence in Basel and later in Berlin. In 1824 he returned to Aarau because of illness. There he took lessons in musical composition under Michael Traugott Pfeiffer. In 1826–1828 he received a grant from the cantonal government of Aargau to go to Berlin and take musical lessons from Carl Friedrich Zelter and Bernhard Klein. In Berlin he met Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. In 1830 he returned to Switzerland. Although Fröhlich had minor success in Berlin, he never received any recognition or support for his art in his home town of Aarau. He struggled financially and eventually marital trouble led to depression. On 16 October 1836 he committed suicide by jumping into the river Aare.
Works
Works
His work consists of over 700 compositions, of which more than 300 were for piano and more than 300 for choir.
Orchestral works
Orchestral works
• Overture for Dyhrn's Konradin (1827) • Symphony in A major (1828) • Overture B major (1832) • Overture for a Passion in F minor (1835)
Chamber music
Chamber music
• Pastorale and rondo for oboe and piano (1824) • Three sonatas for violin and piano (1826) • Four string quartets (1826–32) • Sonata for cello and piano in F minor (1830) • Quintet for piano, 2 cellos and 2 horns (1833) • Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello (1835) • Fantasia for violin and piano (1832) • Fugue for string quartet (1828)
Piano works
Piano works
• Sonata in A major, op. 11 (1831) • Six elegies, op. 15 (1833) • Waltzes and Ländler • Piano pieces for four hands
Vocal music
Vocal music
• Jesus, der Kinderfreund, cantata (1834) • Der 137. Psalm (1827) • Canticum Simeonis (24 December 1829) • Totenfeier (1829) • Stabat mater (dt.) (1829) • Weihnachtskantate (1830) • Gesang der Geister über den Wassern (Goethe) (1831) • Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Goethe) (1831) • Passionskantate (1831) • Das Unser Vater (1832) • Litany (1832) • Wem Gott will rechte Gunst erweisen (1833) • Preis der Liebe (1834) • 2nd Mass (1835) • Der 1. Psalm (1836) • Domine, Jesu Christe (1836) • Various pieces and Lieder for choirs of men, women and children
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Brugg.
Birth place
Aarau.
Death place
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich Website about the composer. Retrieved 7 May 2020
- 2.Meier, Titus J. Der Unbekannte, dessen Musik dem damaligen Zeitgeist voraus war. Aargauer Zeitung. CH Media. October 12, 2016.
Bibliography printed in the source article · 4
- Heinrich Nidecker: Theodor Fröhlich und seine Thurgauer Bekanntschaften. In: Thurgauer Jahrbuch, Bd. 32, 1957, pp. 101–118 (online version)
- Edgar Refardt: Theodor Fröhlich, ein Schweizer Musiker der Romantik. Amerbach-Verlag, Basel 1947
- Pierre Sarbach: Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich. Winterthur 1984
- Michael Schneider: Fröhlich, (Friedrich) Theodor. In Ludwig Finscher (ed.): Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart (MGG). 2nd ed., Personenteil, Band 7, Kassel Basel 2002,
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,438 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Friedrich SchütterPerson
- Friedrich SeitzPerson
- Friedrich SilcherPerson
- Friedrich SpeePerson
- Friedrich von FlotowPerson
- Friedrich WieckPerson
- Friedrich WildgansPerson
- Friedrich Wilhelm ArnoldPerson
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