Steibelt, Daniel (1765-1823)

German composer and pianist. His setting of Romeo and Juliet was his most successful work after an initial rejection. It was admired by Berlioz, who may have been influenced by it in his own dramatic symphony.

Steibelt learnt much about keyboard instruments in his childhood, being the son of a harpsichord and piano maker, and studied music with Johann Kirnberger. After serving in the army, he made his first appearance as a pianist and composer in Paris during the late 1780s. At the end of 1796 he visited London, where he remained until 1799 and married an Englishwoman. He visited Hamburg, Dresden, Prague, Berlin, and Vienna, where he met Beethoven, and in 1800 again settled in Paris, but spent as much of his time in London. In 1808 he left for the court at St Petersburg, where he became director of the French Opera on the departure of Boieldieu in 1810.

Works Stage operas, including Roméo et Juliette (after Shakespeare, 1793), La princesse de Babylone, Cendrillon (1810), Sargines, and Le jugement de Midas (unfinished); ballets Le retour de Zéphyr (1802), Le jugement du berger Paris (1804), La belle laitière, La fête de l'empereur (1809); intermezzo La fête de Mars (for the victory at Austerlitz); incidental music.

Works for piano eight piano concertos (1796-1820); 50 studies and numerous pieces and transcriptions for piano.