Andreas Jakob Romberg

Andreas Romberg was a German violinist and composer of chamber music, symphonies, concertos, and vocal works. In the 1790s, he was a member of the court orchestra in Bonn with his cousin Bernhard Romberg, and also Beethoven and Lucchesi. Romberg was born in Vechta in 1767 to a musical family. His father, Gerhard, and uncle Anton were both professional musicians, following in the steps of their father and grandfather. Romberg began his musical training at a very young age with violin lessons from his father and started performing in public in 1774 with his cousin Bernhard. They were marketed as child prodigies and performed under the stage name "The Young Romberg Brothers." There isn't much surviving documentation regarding his schooling following his father's instruction, but there were many brilliant musicians around Germany at the time to learn from, including Andrea Lucchesi, Leopold Mozart, and Joseph Haydn on occasion. In 1782, they joined their fathers in the court orchestra in Münster. For the next three years, the cousins toured and performed with their fathers in Frankfurt and Paris. It was also around this time when Romberg began composing his violin concertos. He wrote these works with the intention of performing them himself, and only four of them were published. In 1790, he and his cousin both joined the court orchestra in Bonn, which was led by Andrea Lucchesi, and included the young organist Ludwig van Beethoven. This appointment ended in 1793 due to the French Revolution, and Romberg sought refuge in Hamburg, where he began performing at the Ackermannsches Komödienhaus, directed by F.L. Schröder. In 1795, he developed a close friendship with Joseph Haydn, whom he affectionately referred to as "Papa Haydn." By 1800, Romberg had settled in Hamburg and gradually shifted his focus to composing, since his style as a violinist was falling out of fashion. His reputation as a composer peaked in 1809 with the debut of his setting of Schiller's poem Das Lied Von der Glocke, Op 25. However, the French siege of Hamburg from 1813 to 1814 had catastrophic consequences on his finances. In an effort to achieve financial stability, he began an appointment in 1815 as the Court Kapellmeister in Gotha, thanks to the help of his friend and predecessor Louis Spohr. Romberg spent his final years in poverty with increasing health problems until his death in Gotha in 1821. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi