Andreas Grabau (1808–1884)

Johann Andreas Grabau, like his sister, the singer Henriette Grabau, received an early music education in his parental home. His father was the Bremen organist Johann Christian Lebrecht Grabau who enlivened music life in Bremen, inter alia, through the foundation of the Grabau Singing Society and subscription concerts. Andreas Grabau was also taught by Friedrich Kummer in Dresden; he was a cellist in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra between 1828 and 1884 and also a highly valued chamber music partner. He was a member of the Gewandhaus Quartet in 1836 but also founded his own ensembles and performed in several of them. In addition, he performed in the concerts of the Leipzig Music Society Euterpe.

Andreas Grabau met Clara Wieck in Leipzig in 1828. They both played together in the Gewandhaus concerts and also in private; Robert Schumann met him from 1828 in the private “music circles” at the house of Friedrich Wieck and at the soirées organised by Henriette Voigt or Raymund Härtel. Andreas Grabau belonged for some time to the circle of the fictitious music society League of David which gathered at the Leipzig Coffe Baum tavern in the 1830s. In his music magazine Neue Zeitschrift für Musik [New Journal of Music], Schumann counted him amongst the “most outstanding members of the Orchestra” (quoted after Seibold, p. 103). Andreas Grabau promoted the distribution of Schumann’s works, especially of his chamber music, and founded a special ensemble for this purpose in the middle of the 1840s, whose members included Otto Friedrich von Königslöw (first violin), a friend of Reinecke, Wilhelm Joseph von Wasielewski (second violin), and Carl Reinecke (viola). The ensemble performed in private but also in public and even outside of Leipzig. Furthermore, Andreas Grabau took part in the premieres of Schumann’s Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 63 (in 1847) and Piano Trio No. 3 in G minor, Op. 110 (in 1851).

Schumann dedicated his Five Pieces in Folk Style for cello (violin ad libitum) and piano, Op. 102, published in 1851, to Andreas Grabau. A year earlier, the cellist, together with Clara Schumann, had performed the work to Schumann on his 40th birthday in private.

Andreas Grabau was married to Juliane Eleonore, née Ludwig (1797-1869), who came from a very wealthy family; the couple lived with their two children, Henriette Elisabeth (1835-1900) and Andreas Hermann (1837-1922) on an estate in Leutzsch near Leipzig. There, Andreas Grabau organised music gatherings which were dedicated to his preference for chamber music. In January 1846, he organised a morning performance at his house in honour of Robert Schumann.

Cf. Ute Bär: “Robert Schumann und Johann Andreas Grabau”, in: Bernhard R. Appel and Matthias Wendt (eds): Robert Schumann, das Violoncello und die Cellisten seiner Zeit. Bericht über das 8. Internationale Schumann-Symposion am 15. und 16. Juli 2004 im Rahmen des 8. Schumann-Festes, Düsseldorf and Mainz, 2007 (= Schumann Forschungen 12), pp. 136–161.
Cf. Schumann-Briefedition, Series II, Vol. 20: Briefwechsel mit Freunden und Künstlerkollegen (Briefwechsel Robert und Clara Schumanns mit Korrespondenten in Leipzig 1830 bis 1894), editorial direction: Thomas Synofzik and Michael Heinemann; editors: Annegret Rosenmüller and Ekaterina Smyka, Cologne, 2019, pp. 411–413.
Cf. Wolfgang Seibold: Familie, Freunde, Zeitgenossen. Die Widmungsträger der Schumannschen Werke (= Schumann-Studien 5), Sinzig, 2008, pp. 101–104.

(Theresa Schlegel, 2020, translated by Thomas Henninger, 2002)