Heinrich Neumann
Sérénade op.28 for horn (or basset horn) and 2 guitars
sur un Air favori de l ' Opéra " Oberon" de Weber
Unfortunately, the biography Heinrich Neumann’s lies in the dark, probably he was born in 1792 in Heiligenstadt and also died in this town 1861. Francois Joseph Fetis makes a note in his "universal biography about musicians and their music" about Neumann, that he has lived at the beginning of the 19th century in Frankfurt am Main composed important works, which most are written for clarinet. So it is sure that Neumann started with his career in Frankfurt.
After that he went to Paderborn as a conductor. The next step in his musician career was his appointement to the first clarinettist by Leopold Ist to the court orchestra of Detmold. He might have been recommended by his brother who did duty in the same orchestra as flautist and clarinettist. According to the MGG, Neumann worked as a conductor in this orchestra between 1823 and 1829.
Neumann followed a reputation to Cologne later where he conducted the court orchestra. He changed from Cologne in the same position to Antwerp where he received the title of a director of the "royal society for wind instruments". According to his job as conductor of such an ensemble some compositions are handed down to us by Neumann for woodwind ensembles, which are kept in the country library of Detmold.
The "musical literary monthly reports" of Friedrich Hofmeister in July 1832 announced: Sérénade sur Un Air became ' fav. de l Opéra Oberon de Weber p. Cor (ou Cor de Bassette) et 2 Guitarres. Oe. 28th Offenbach, André.
The work is composed for horn, and alternatively basset horn.
The composition was dedicated to Mademoiselle A. Funck. The instrumentation with 2 guitars is certainly unique.
