(b Teutendorf, 27 April 1812; d Darmstadt, 24 Jan 1883). German composer. Of an aristocratic family, he attended the Paris Conservatoire and came under the influence of Auber, Rossini, Meyerbeer, Donizetti, Halévy and Adam, and later Gounod and Offenbach. By 1835 he had completed his first opera, Pierre et Cathérine, but he gained public notice only with Le naufrage de la Médeuse (1839). His most successful works were the tuneful if unsubstantial Alessandro Stradella (1844) and the delightful Martha, oder Der Markt zu Richmond (1847), both to texts by F.W. Riese. None of his 15 later operas rivalled the popularity of Martha, which in its concerted music shows dramatic flair and in its sentimental numbers (including ‘The Last Rose of Summer’) period charm and a delicate, romantic wistfulness. He also wrote instrumental music and songs.
Flotow, Friedrich von (frē'drĭkh fən flō'tō), 1812-83, German operatic composer. Flotow's operas show the influence of French opéra comique, which set the tone for light opera in the 19th cent. Many of his 29 operas were translated into English, French, or Italian for performances throughout Europe. The most successful were Alessandro Stradella (1844) and Martha (1847), which incorporates the Irish tune "The Last Rose of Summer."
Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand Flotow, Freiherr von Teutendorf, became one of the best-known figures in popular German opera. His opera Martha was a staple of the nineteenth century repertory.
As his lengthy name and title indicate, Flotow came from an aristocratic family. His father was an estate owner who wanted his son to become a government official, but did not oppose his growing interest in music. Flotow attended the Paris Conservatory from 1828 to 1830, studying composition with Antonin Reicha and taking in the city's lively operatic scene with its productions of works by Auber, Meyerbeer, Rossini, and Donizetti.
Revolution broke out in Paris in 1830, and Flotow quickly left for Teutendorf, taking with him what he had written of his first opera, Pierre et Cathérine, finishing it there. The work concerned Tsar Peter the Great's incognito stint as a shipbuilder in Holland. In a German translation by Flotow's uncle, it was performed several times in small German towns.
Flotow returned to Paris, trying to break into the operatic big time. After some private performances of small works, he gained recognition when he collaborated with the better-established Albert Grisar, writing numbers for a pair of new operas, Lady Melvil (1838) and L'eau merveilleuse (1839). He agreed to write another joint opera, Le naufrage de la Méduse, with Grisar and Auguste Pilati. Flotow wrote both acts two and three of the successful opera. A Hamburg company then contracted to perform it, but a fire at the theater destroyed the manuscript. Flotow entirely rewrote it with a new German libretto by Friedrich Wilhelm Reise, under the name Die Matrosen. The two worked together congenially and produced two other operas, Alessandro Stradella (which actually preceded Die Matrosen), and Martha. Those two operas, Flotow's greatest successes, are the only ones still staged; Martha was given all over Europe and America. Interestingly, its most famous music is the familiar Thomas Moore Irish ballad, "The Last Rose of Summer," which plays a role in the plot. Flotow once again fled Paris during the Revolution of 1848.
In 1849 Flotow married Elise von Zadow, who died shortly after the birth of their only son. In his grief, Flotow lived for a while with a friend, Putlitz, at the latter's estate at Retzien. Putlitz wrote the text for some of Flotow's operas after this, but none had more than moderate success. In 1853 Flotow married Anna Theen, a 20-year-old dancer; the couple had two sons, who both survived into maturity, and in 1855 Flotow took a position as intendant of the grand ducal court theater in Schwerin, retaining that position until 1863. He wrote an opera there, as well as some occasional works. After moving back to Vienna, he divorced his wife in 1867 and married her much younger sister, Rose Theen, a singer. They bought a villa in Lower Austria, lived there until 1873 when Flotow moved back to Teutendorf, and in 1880 moved to Darmstadt, Flotow's last residence.
Flotow's many operas failed to enter the repertoire partly because he tended to choose serious topics, while his talent ran toward rather sentimental, undemanding music. Only in Martha did he chose a text that matched his music exactly. He wrote a large number of songs that are often very nice, but have that cloying Victorian quality. His relatively small quantity of instrumental music shows a true dramatic flair, and his operas have many defenders among those who have studied them closely.
Grave of Friedrich von Flotow in the "Alter Friedhof" (old cemetery) in Darmstadt, Germany
Friedrich Adolf Ferdinand, Freiherr von Flotow (27 April 1812 – 24 January 1883) was a German composer. He is chiefly remembered for his opera Martha, which was popular in the 19th century.
He completed his first opera in 1835, Pierre et Cathérine, but his breakthrough came with Le naufrage de la Méduse (1839), based on the wreck of the warship Méduse. The three-act romantic opera Alessandro Stradella of 1844 is recognized as one of Flotow's finer works. Martha was first staged in Vienna at the Theater am Kärntnertor on 25 November 1847.
Between 1856 and 1863 Flotow served as Intendant of the court theatre at Schwerin. He spent his last years in Paris and Vienna and had the satisfaction of seeing his operas mounted as far away as Saint Petersburg and Turin. He died in Darmstadt at the age of 70.
In all, Flotow wrote about 30 operas. Many of these works were performed in different versions and under different titles, in German, French and sometimes other languages. Some survive, some are lost. All but Martha and Alessandro Stradella have fallen into relative obscurity, though there have been a number of attempts to revive other Flotow works in recent years.
His best known aria is probably "Ach! so fromm, ach! so traut." This was added to Martha eighteen years after the Vienna premiere. It was originally written for a Flotow opera of 1846. It has been much recorded in its Italian version, "M’apparì tutt’amor."
