Ludwig (Louis) Schuncke (1810–1834)
Duo concertant for Piano and Horn
– First Edition –
Ludwig Schuncke was the eldest son of the hornist Johann Gottfried Schuncke (1777–1861). Numerous hornists are represented in this family, many of them influential figures of the 19th century.
Ludwig Schuncke learned the piano and studied composition under Lindpaintner and Anton Reicha. Together with his father, or with his brother, who also played the horn, he performed in concerts both as a soloist and as an accompanist. The Duo Concertant at hand may well have been written for one of these concerts. According to oral tradition (as related to me by Michael Schuncke), it is said to have been composed for Ludwig's father. However, neither a date of performance nor a date of composition is documented. It may also date from Schuncke's time in Leipzig: in 1833 Ludwig Schuncke moved to Leipzig, where he quickly developed a close friendship in his youth with Robert Schumann. In 1834 he became, together with Schumann, editor of the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik" ("New Journal for Music"). At the beginning of that year, on 27 January 1834, Ludwig Schuncke appeared as a soloist at a concert of Leipzig's famous Gewandhaus. Compositions for piano by Schuncke were published by Breitkopf & Härtel and by Julius Wunder in Leipzig. The Duo Concertant seems to breathe Schumann's spirit — it may well be this shared sense of compositional feeling and the shared desire to create something new that explains the quick and deep sympathy between the two musicians.
Regarding the composition of the Duo Concertant, it should be noted that the title "…for Piano and Horn…" is to be taken literally: the horn accompanies the brilliant piano part in a middle to low register, though it does not forgo a few virtuosic leaps. Ludwig Schuncke's Duo Concertant for Piano and Horn survives in a copy made in 1903 by his brother Hugo Schuncke (a violinist at the Stuttgart court). It remains an open question whether the piece was still conceived for the natural horn or already for the new valve horn. The unusual notes written for the horn in its low register speak in favor of the latter, though these would only have been playable by very skilled low-register natural horn soloists, and then only very softly and with a muted tone.
It is documented that valve horns were already being played in the Schuncke household during Ludwig's lifetime: in 1835 a new horn was even purchased, which survives to this day — a horn made by Moritz in 1835, now in Berlin.
Ludwig Schuncke died of pulmonary tuberculosis on 7 December 1834. He was buried at the Alter Johannisfriedhof (Old St. John's Cemetery) in Leipzig. The only surviving portrait of Ludwig Schuncke dates from his deathbed.
Robert Schumann kept this picture for the rest of his life and remembered his early-deceased friend on the anniversaries of his death.
Source: french-horn.net – Biography of Ludwig Schuncke