{{Short description|German organist and composer}} {{Infobox musical artist | background = person | honorific_prefix = | name = Gustav Merkel | honorific_suffix = | image = Gustav Adolf Merkel 1.jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = <!-- leave empty if the same "name" --> | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1827|11|12}} | birth_place = Oberoderwitz, Kingdom of Saxony | origin = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1885|10|30|1827|11|12}} | death_place = Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony | genre = Classical | occupation = Organist, composer | instrument = | years_active = 1858–1885 | past_member_of = | spouse = <!-- Use article title or common name --> | partner = <!-- (unmarried long-term partner) --> | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} or {{Official URL}} --> | module = | module2 = | module3 = }} '''Gustav Adolf Merkel''' (November 12, 1827, Oberoderwitz, Kingdom of Saxony &ndash; October 30, 1885, Dresden) was a German organist and composer.

Having been given some lessons by Schumann in his youth, Merkel spent most of his career in Dresden, concentrating on organ-playing from 1858. A Lutheran himself, he nevertheless held an appointment at the Catholic Church of the Court of Saxony from 1864 until his death. During the same period he taught the organ at Dresden's Conservatory.

His compositions include nine organ sonatas (which have been recorded several times, as well as occurring quite often in organ recitals), of which the first sonata (Op.30) is written for two organists, and several dozen miniatures (some of them based on Protestant chorale melodies). In these works, his style is broadly conservative, very much influenced by Mendelssohn, and with similarities to the output of his younger contemporary Josef Rheinberger. He also produced choral and piano pieces; his salon piece "Schmetterling" ("Butterfly"), Op. 81, No. 4 is particularly well-known.

==Further reading== * Paul Janssen, ''Gustav Merkel: Ein Bild seines Lebens und Wirkens'' (Leipzig, 1886). * Magdalene Saal, ''Gustav Adolf Merkel: Leben und Orgelwerk'' (Frankfurt, 1993).

==External links== *{{IMSLP|id=Merkel, Gustav Adolf}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Merkel, Gustav}} Category:1827 births Category:1885 deaths Category:19th-century German classical composers Category:German Romantic composers Category:German male classical composers Category:German classical organists Category:People from Görlitz (district) Category:Musicians from the Kingdom of Saxony Category:Pupils of Friedrich Wieck Category:German male classical organists Category:19th-century German organists Category:19th-century German male composers

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