Johann Nepomuk Hummel

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837) was an influential teacher, composer, and musical innovator considered by many to be the greatest pianist of Europe in his lifetime. Hummel played a significant part in the transformation of musical style during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries; he was one of the first professional musicians to take on multiple roles as both an artist and an entrepreneur—a model that continues to be followed to this very day.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician's Life and World is the first English-language study of this important composer and performer. Its thirteen chapters focus on different aspects of Hummel's life, music, and career, such as his family and early years, his experiences living under the regime of the Habsburg monarchy, and his personal and musical relationships with important composers of both the classical and romantic periods, including Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin. Author Mark Kroll gives a survey of Hummel's legacy as a performer and composer, placing his life and works within the context of the social, political, economic, and cultural transformations occurring at the time. Kroll offers a complete picture of this pivotal juncture in music history and the role of the musician in that society as well as our own. Numerous musical examples are also included. An appendix providing the original language version of all translations, an exhaustive bibliography, and a complete, annotated list of Hummel's works conclude this invaluable treatise.