NICOLAI

Carl Otto Ehrenfried Nicolai was born at Königsberg, 9th June, 1810; died at Berlin, 11th May, 1849. He had an unhappy home life, but found a good friend in Justizrath Adler, of Stargard, who sent him to Berlin to study music. In 1833 he went to Rome as Organist to the Prussian Embassy Chapel, where he studied both the old and the modern masters. In 1841 he became Court Kapellmeister at Vienna, where in 1842 he established the Philharmonic Society. In 1844 he became Director of the Domcher and Court Kapellmeister of the Opera in Berlin. His chief operas were: The Templar (1840), Il Proscritto (1841), and The Merry Wives of Windsor (1849). The latter met with a brilliant success, which, however, the composer did not long live to enjoy, as he died two months after its first production.