'''Wilhelm Valentin Volckmar''' (26 December 1812, Hersfeld - 27 August 1887, Homberg (Efze) )<ref>{{cite web |title=Wilhelm Valentin Volckmar – Biographical information from the WeGA |url=https://weber-gesamtausgabe.de/en/A006781.html#biographies |website=weber-gesamtausgabe.de |access-date=23 September 2025 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Volckmar, Wilhelm (Adam Valentin) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/arts/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/volckmar-wilhelm-adam-valentin |website=www.encyclopedia.com |access-date=23 September 2025}}</ref> was a German organ virtuoso, seminar music teacher and composer.

==Life== He received his musical training from his father, Adam Valentin Volckmar (1770–1851).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Huchzermeyer |first1=Hans |title=Schaumburgische Mitteilungen 2/2019 |trans-title=Schaumburg News |pages=266–295 |url=http://www.schaumburg-lippischer-heimatverein.de/ |chapter=Adam Valentin Vol(c)kmar (1770-1851)}}</ref> He was a student of Johann Gottfried Vierling, who in turn had received his training from Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Volckmar thus, in a broader sense, came from the school of Bach 's grandchildren.

In 1835 he became a music teacher in a seminar in Homberg (Efze) in northern Hesse, where his grave can still be found today and where a street is named after him. He quickly became famous as an organ virtuoso and was awarded the title of Dr. ''honoris causa'' in 1846 and a professor in 1886. From 1861 onwards he undertook extensive concert tours as a valued organ virtuoso. During his lifetime Volckmar was famous as an organist, particularly for his masterly pedal playing, but also as an improviser and theorist. From today's musicological point of view his pedal technique is extraordinary because, as has now been revised, he was the first person to use four-part pedal playing in his Organ Symphony Op. 172 (4th movement, Intermezzo). He maintained friendly relations with Franz Liszt, whose symphonic organ style also clearly influenced his own compositional style, and with the composer Louis Spohr. He was also well acquainted with the well-known organ-building theorist Johann Gottlob Töpfer. Volckmar was a member of the Freemasons ' Association.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Schuler |first1=Heinz |title=Musik und Freimaurerei: Studien, Fakten, Biographien |trans-title=Music and Freemasonry... |date=2000 |publisher=Noetzel, Heinrichshofen-Bücher |location=Wilhelmshaven |isbn=9783795907884 |p=289}}</ref>

==Works== As a composer, Volckmar was extremely prolific, writing for many ensembles. Notable works include his 20 organ sonatas, two large organ symphonies, a fantasy and fugue on themes from Beethoven's 9th Symphony, a theory of harmony (1860), a handbook of music (1885), a large organ method, a method for violin, a fluency method for the organ, folk song arrangements for piano, and also many (particularly church) vocal works.<ref>{{cite book |title=Riemann Music Lexicon, Volume 3 |date=1961 |publisher=B. Schott's Söhne |location=Mainz / London / New York / Paris |page=867 |edition=12 |chapter=Volckmar, Wilhelm Valentin}}</ref> Volckmar also made a name for himself as an editor of numerous organ works by old and new masters, and he was the editor of the first complete edition of Mendelssohn's organ works.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Little |first1=William A. |title=Mendelssohn and the organ |url=https://archive.org/details/mendelssohnorgan0000litt/mode/2up?q=Volckmar |publisher=New York : Oxford University Press |access-date=23 September 2025 |date=2010 |via=archive.org}}</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== *[https://portal.dnb.de/opac.htm?method=simpleSearch&query=120431238 Works by and about Wilhelm Volckmar] in the catalogue of the German National Library *[https://imslp.org/wiki/Category:Volckmar,_Wilhelm_Valentin Sheet music and audio files by Volckmar] in the International Music Score Library Project *[http://de.instr.scorser.com/C/Alle/Volckmar%2c+Wilhelm+Valentin/Alle/Alphabeticly.html Volckmar scores for free download] at de.instr.scorser.com *[https://www.lagis-hessen.de/pnd/120431238 Volckmar, Wilhelm Valentin]. Hessian Biography. (As of December 26, 2019). In: State History Information System Hesse (LAGIS). *[http://www.spohr-briefe.de/index.php?id=35&m=3152 Letters from Wilhelm Volckmar to Louis Spohr] on the website Spohr Briefe

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Category:German composers Category:German male composers Category:German classical organists Category:German musicologists Category:People from Bad Hersfeld Category:1812 births Category:1887 deaths