Adolf Von Henselt

(Georg Martin) Adolf (von) Henselt
(b Schwabach, Bavaria, 9 May 1814; d Bad Warmbrunn, Silesia [now Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój, Poland], 10 Oct 1889).

German composer and pianist. His father was a cotton manufacturer in Schwabach; the family (with six children) moved to Munich in 1817. Henselt and an elder sister began musical studies at an early age, the boy in the first instance with the violin, then the piano, on which he progressed rapidly. From the first, he was attracted to the music of Weber.

In 1826, Henselt undertook advanced tuition with Frau Geheimratin von Fladt, who like Weber and Meyerbeer had been a pupil of Abbé Vogler. Von Fladt helped Henselt secure support from King Ludwig I which enabled him to study with J.N. Hummel in Weimar, where he spent over six months in 1832. On 29 November of that year, he made his official public début in Munich, which won enthusiastic praise. He then studied with Simon Schechter in Vienna until 1834, followed by two years' seclusion in that city, during which period he developed his art and his unique contribution to piano technique. The intensity of his regime brought about severe overstrain and in May 1836 he went to Carlsbad (now Karlovy Váry) to recuperate. According to La Mara, he met Chopin there, although there is no evidence that he heard him play. Henselt revisited Hummel later that year, staying in Weimar for some months, where he became enamoured of Rosalie Vogel (née Mangen), wife of a physician to Duke Carl August and friend of Goethe. She was divorced (her husband taking custody of the four children) and Henselt married her on 24 October 1837, at Bad Salzbrunn, Silesia (now Szczawno-Zdrój, Poland). Adolf and Rosalie Henselt had one son, Alexander (1839–78).