Goldmark, Karoly (Carl) (1830-1915)

Austro-Hungarian composer. His best-known work today is the Rustic Wedding Symphony, although he established his reputation with the Wagner-influenced opera Die Königin von Saba/The Queen of Sheba (1875).

Goldmark was the son of a poor Jewish cantor, who managed to enter him at the Sopron school of music in 1842. He studied violin and made such rapid progress that he was sent to Vienna the next year and entered the conservatory in 1847. During the 1848 Revolution he played at the theatre at Györ in Hungary and was nearly shot as a rebel. In 1850 he returned to Vienna, where he eventually settled as a teacher.

Works Opera Die Königin von Saba (1875), Merlin (1886), Das Heimchen am Herd (after Dickens's The Cricket on the Hearth, 1896), Die Kriegsgefangene, Götz von Berlichingen (after Goethe, 1902), and Ein Wintermärchen (after Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale, 1908).

Orchestral symphonic poem Rustic Wedding and two symphonies; two scherzos for orchestra and overtures Sakuntala (after Kalidasa), Penthesilea (after Kleist), Im Frühling, Der gefesselte Prometheus, Sappho, In Italien, and Aus Jugendtagen; symphonic poem Zrinyi; two violin concertos.

Choral Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt (Goethe) for male chorus and horns, and other choral works.

Chamber string quartet (1860), piano quintet, three piano trios, and other chamber music; two suites and sonata for violin and piano, cello and piano sonata.

Other piano pieces; songs.