Martin Cornelius Rybner

Background

Martin Cornelius Rybner, the son of Johan William Rybner and Charlotte (Gosch), was born in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Education

He was educated at the University of Copenhagen and studied music at the Royal Conservatory, where his teachers included Niels Wilhelm Gade and J. P. Hartmann in composition, Tofte and Ferdinand David in violin, Neupert, Reinecke, Rubinstein, and Liszt in piano.

Career

After his debuts in Copenhagen and in Leipzig as a concert violinist and a concert pianist, Rybner made successful tours in Scandinavia, Germany, France, England, and Italy, earning merited recognition. He was awarded several decorations and was appointed court pianist to the King of Denmark and the Grand Duke of Hesse.

He established himself in Baden-Baden, as the director of its choral society, in 1875. In 1886 he was appointed director of the College of Music and the Philharmonic Society of Karlsruhe, in Baden, and, in addition to these responsibilities, in 1902 became Felix Mottl's assistant conductor at the Karlsruhe Opera, where in 1903 he conducted the first performances in Germany of Massenet's oratorio Marie Madeleine and Klose's "Grand Massachussets".

The following year, when Edward MacDowell resigned the professorship of music at Columbia University, Rybner was called as his successor and held the position, in which he won the friendship and esteem of his pupils, until 1919, when he resigned it to devote his time to composition and recital work.

After 1924 he also taught composition at the New York College of Music. He was also the author of a pedagogic work, Phases of Piano Study, and an appreciation, "Niels Wilhelm Gade: On the Centenary of His Birth" (Musical Quarterly, January 1917).

Achievements

• Rybner was the pioneer in the establishment of music departments in some American institutions. As a composer his output comprised a number of meritorious works, including a three-act ballet, "Prince Ador" (Karlsruhe, 1903), a symphonic poem, Friede, Kampf und Sieg, a Fest-Ouverture in C major, two marches for orchestra, a piano trio, a violin concerto in G minor, and a festival cantata for solo, chorus, and orchestra. In addition he wrote mixed choruses, songs and duets, violin and 'cello pieces, and some excellent Wagner concert-transcriptions for piano, including "Siegmund's Love Song, " "Wotan's Farewell and Fire Music, " "Siegfried's Funeral March, " and the "Liebestod" from Tristan und Isolde.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Die Walküre: Wotans Farewell - Magic Fire Music (Arr. C. Rübner for Player Piano)

Connections

Rybner's wife was Claudine Pezel de Corval. Their daughter, Dagmar de Corval Rybner, became an accomplished pianist, after 1912 being active in New York as a solo artist and in duet with her father until his death.

Father:

Johan William Rybner

Mother:

Charlotte (Gosch) Rybner

Spouse:

Claudine Pezel de Corval

Daughter:

Dagmar de Corval Rybner