# Henry Litolff > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Henry_Litolff > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Henry_Litolff.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Litolff > Source revision: 1351349773 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|French and British pianist, composer, and music publisher (1818–1891)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}} {{Use British English|date=July 2012}} {{Infobox person | name = | image = Henri litolff 2.jpg | imagesize = | caption = Litolff in 1864, by [Étienne Carjat](/source/%C3%89tienne_Carjat) | birth_name = | birth_date = 6 February 1818 | birth_place = London | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1891|08|05|1818|02|06}} | death_place = [Bois-Colombes](/source/Bois-Colombes) | othername = | occupation = Pianist
Composer
Music Publisher | years_active = | spouse = {{plainlist| * Elisabeth Etherington * Julie Meyer * Louise de Larochefoucauld }} | signature = }} '''Henry Charles Litolff''' (6 February 1818Museum of Music History. [https://momh.org.uk/exhibitions/henry-litolff-1818-1891/] ''Henry LITOLFF (1818-1891)'' Retrieved 6 February 2024.Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians Vol. 2 of 1880. [https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page%3AA_Dictionary_of_Music_and_Musicians_vol_2.djvu/165] ''LITOLFF, Henry Charles'' Retrieved 6 February 2024. – 5 August 1891) was a French and British [virtuoso](/source/virtuoso) pianist, composer of [Romantic music](/source/Romantic_music), and music publisher born in London. A prolific composer, he is today known mainly for a single brief work – the [scherzo](/source/scherzo) from his Concerto Symphonique No. 4 in D minor – and remembered as the founder of the ''Collection Litolff'' (today part of [Edition Peters](/source/Edition_Peters)), a highly regarded publishing imprint of classical music scores. == Biography == Litolff was born in London in 1818 to a Scottish mother, Sophie (''née'' Hayes), and a father, Martin Louis Litolff, from [Alsace](/source/Alsace). The father, a [violin](/source/violin)ist, had been previously taken prisoner of war while serving as a band musician in the [Napoleon](/source/Napoleon)ic army during the [Peninsular War](/source/Peninsular_War). His father taught the boy Henry the rudiments of music, and in 1830, when he was twelve, he played for the renowned virtuoso pianist [Ignaz Moscheles](/source/Ignaz_Moscheles), who was so impressed that he gave him free lessons starting that same year. Litolff began to concertize when he was fourteen. His lessons with Moscheles continued until in 1835, at the age of 17, Litolff abruptly married 16-year-old Elisabeth Etherington. The couple moved to [Melun](/source/Melun), and then to Paris. He separated from Elisabeth in 1839 and moved to Brussels.{{cite book|title=The Musical World|volume=33|chapter=Henry Litolff|author=François-Joseph Fétis|authorlink=François-Joseph Fétis|year=1855|publisher=J. Alfredo Novello|location=London|page=6|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-5kPAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA6|access-date=12 December 2019}}, from ''[Revue et gazette musicale](/source/Revue_et_gazette_musicale)'' Around 1841, Litolff moved to Warsaw, where he is believed to have conducted the [Teatr Narodowy](/source/Teatr_Narodowy) (National Theatre) orchestra. In 1844 he travelled to Germany, gave concerts, and taught the future pianist-conductor [Hans von Bülow](/source/Hans_von_B%C3%BClow).{{cite book|last=Dana Andrew Gooley|first=Christopher Howard Gibbs|title=Franz Liszt and His World|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-12902-9|pages=414|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0nA_prFu6uUC&pg=PA414|access-date= 5 February 2018 }} The following year, Litolff returned to England with the idea of finally divorcing Elisabeth; but the plan backfired and he ended up not only heavily fined but imprisoned. He managed to escape and flee to the Netherlands – the escape said to have been accomplished with the assistance of the jailer's daughter.Jeffrey Engel. The Voice News; Winsted, Connecticut; 7 February 2003 ''(archived)''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20120722001303/http://www.thevoicenews.com/news/2003-02-07/Arts_And_Amusements/001.html "Happy Birthday, Litolff (Who?)"]. Retrieved 4 January 2016. Litolff became friends with the music publisher Gottfried Meyer of [Braunschweig](/source/Braunschweig) (English: Brunswick), Germany; and, after Meyer's death, he married the widow Julie in 1851 (having finally been granted a divorce from Elisabeth as a new citizen of [Brunswick](/source/Duchy_of_Brunswick)). Whilst married to Julie, the publishing firm G. M. Meyer (which she had been running successfully, and which was to become Litolff) grew substantially.{{IMSLP|work=Litolff|descr=music publisher,}} This second marriage lasted until 1858, when he divorced her and once again moved to Paris. After the divorce, the publishing firm was run by Litolff's adoptive son, {{ill|Theodor Litolff|de}} (1839–1912). In Paris he found a third wife, Louise de La Rochefoucauld; and, upon her death in 1873, a fourth (who had previously nursed him through an illness). Litolff died at [Bois-Colombes](/source/Bois-Colombes), near Paris, in 1891, just short of his seventy-third birthday. == Works == {{Main|List of compositions by Henry Litolff}} His most notable works were the five ''concertos symphoniques'', essentially [symphonies](/source/Symphony) with piano [obbligato](/source/obbligato). The first one, in D minor, is lost; the others (not in the concert repertoire, but available in modern recordings) are: * Concerto Symphonique No. 2 in B minor, Op. 22 (1844) * Concerto Symphonique No. 3 in E-flat major, Op. 45 (c. 1846) * Concerto Symphonique No. 4 in D minor, Op. 102 (c. 1852) * Concerto Symphonique No. 5 in C minor, Op. 123 (c. 1867) The only one of Litolff's compositions still performed at all regularly is the somewhat [Mendelssohnian](/source/Felix_Mendelssohn) [scherzo](/source/scherzo) from the Fourth Concerto Symphonique, although his music was admired by [Franz Liszt](/source/Franz_Liszt) and he was the dedicatee of Liszt's own [First Piano Concerto](/source/Piano_Concerto_No._1_(Liszt)). [Peter Donohoe](/source/Peter_Donohoe_(pianist)) recorded four of the ''concertos symphoniques'' for Hyperion.{{Cite web |title=LITOLFF Piano Concertos 3,5 [RB]: Classical CD Reviews- Aug 2002 MusicWeb(UK) |url=https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Aug02/Litolff35.htm |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}{{Cite web |title=Litolff Concerti Symphonique [CC]: Classical CD Reviews- Jan 2003 MusicWeb(UK) |url=https://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Jan03/Litolff.htm |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.musicweb-international.com}}{{Cite web |title=Litolff Hyperion C - Classics Today |url=https://www.classicstoday.com/review/review-7234/ |access-date=2025-10-06 |website=www.classicstoday.com}} Tingyue Jiang began recording some of his solo piano music in 2023.[https://toccataclassics.com/product/henry-litolff-piano-music-volume-one/?goal=0_1d4d20a99c-3 ''Henry Litolff: Piano Music Volume 1''], Toccata Classics CD TOCC0666 Litolff's ''Drame symphonique'' No. 1 ''Maximilien Robespierre'', Op. 55, was one of the works conducted on Christmas Eve 1925 by [Yuri Fayer](/source/Yuri_Fayer) at the [Bolshoi Theatre](/source/Bolshoi_Theatre) in Moscow to accompany the world's first showing of [Sergei Eisenstein](/source/Sergei_Eisenstein)'s film ''[Battleship Potemkin](/source/Battleship_Potemkin)''.{{cite web|url=http://www.kennedy-center.org/artist/composition/4058|last=Freed|first=Richard|authorlink=Richard Freed|title=About the Work: Suite from ''The Gadfly''|publisher=[John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts](/source/John_F._Kennedy_Center_for_the_Performing_Arts)|year=2008}}. Retrieved 4 January 2016. thumb|Henry Charles Litolff's tomb in Bois-Colombes == References == {{Reflist}} '''Sources''' * Blair, Ted M., Cooper, Thomas: "Litolff, Henry (Charles)" in [Grove Music Online](/source/Grove_Music_Online), ed. L. Macy == External links == {{Commons category|Henry Litolff}} * [http://data.bnf.fr/13896698/henry_litolff/ Henry Litolff] on [data.bnf.fr](/source/data.bnf.fr) *{{IMSLP|id=Litolff, Henry Charles|cname=Henry Charles Litolff}} *[http://www.editionsilvertrust.com/litolff-piano-trio1.htm Henry Litolff Piano Trio No.1 in d minor, Op.47] Soundbites and discussion of work *{{YouTube|XE4i9Eqe_gs|(07:21) Philippe Entremont – Scherzo from Concerto Symphonique No 4. Op. 102}} (with score) *{{YouTube|Y7k9fdU7PoQ|(05:02) Sinae Lee – Scherzo from Concerto Symphonique No 4. Op. 102|link=no}} *{{YouTube|i_IbUBQxNUo|(01:13) MTT talks about Litolff's Scherzo from Concerto symphonique No. 4 featuring pianist Yuja Wang}} * William Melton - [https://d2vhizysjb6bpn.cloudfront.net/TOCC0666DIGIBKLT.pdf ''Henry Litolff: Piano Music''], notes to Toccata CD TOCC0666 (2023) {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Litolff, Henry Charles}} Category:1818 births Category:1891 deaths Category:19th-century British composers Category:19th-century French classical composers Category:19th-century British classical composers Category:19th-century classical pianists Category:British classical pianists Category:British male classical composers Category:British male pianists Category:British Romantic composers Category:Male classical pianists Category:Musicians from London Category:19th-century male pianists Category:19th-century French male composers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Henry Litolff](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Litolff) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Litolff?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.