Julius Benedict

Perhaps the most telling contributions to the catalogues of music by Benedict were his editions of Beethoven's piano music as well as sonatas and other works by Dusik, Weber and Mendelssohn. A formidable contribution was also his biography of Carl Maria von Weber. He was a student of Hummel but a pupil of Weber's. While he was with Weber he had the opportunity to meet Beethoven. His conducting skills took him to Naples, Paris and London. He conducted his own one act opera "Un amo ed un giorno" as well as works by Wallace and Balfe, his contemporaries. Though a resident Londoner after his travels, Benedict did not have the greatest talent for English ballads which he was hard-pressed to develop because of the talents of Balfe and Wallace in this genre. The opera "The Lily of Killarney" was his most pleasing to the public because he finally learned the secret of this English medium. His finest critical work however was "The Legend of St. Cecilia." Benedict was an accomplished pianist and present in some of his piano compositions; most of them, however, suffer from a lack of ingenuity. He also composed choral cantatas, oratorios, and anthems and he even tried his hand at light chamber pieces. ~ Keith Johnson