Methfessel, Albert Gottlieb

1785-1869

German song-writer and conductor; was born at Stadtilm, in Thuringia, and died at Heckenbeck. He played at the Court of Rudolstadt in 1810, was musical director at Hamburg in 1822, and in 1832 became Court chapelmaster at Brunswick, a position which he held for ten years, when he retired on a pension. He is chiefly known for his German student songs, as Rheinweinhed, Deutscher Ehrenpreis and Krieger's Abschied. He composed an opera, Der Prinz von Basra; an oratorio, Das befreite Jerusalem; piano-music and collections of songs.