Gustav Peter

Gustav Peter (1833 – 1919) was a composer of popular music.

Xylophone-Solo in Souvenir de Cirque Renz

There is little known about the life of Gustav Peter.[1] He is supposed to be Austrian or Hungarian but this is still unsure. Sometimes his name is also given as Gustav Heinrich Peter or Heinrich Gustav Peter.[1][2]

Gustav Peter is the composer[3] of the widely popular piece of music Memory of Circus Renz that was published in 1894 with the original title Souvenir de Cirque Renz.[4] Its musical form is a Galop and primarily it was written for xylophone, but later adapted to various kinds of instruments. It is one of the best-known examples of circus music.

The work was composed at a time when fast dances such as the Galopp were popular in German light music, the xylophone was being rediscovered as an instrument, and Circus Renz was enjoying great popularity in Berlin. Thus, a number of Gustav Peter's contemporaries composed similar works, most of which, however, have been forgotten today.[5][6][7]

Notes
  1. Ursula Hemetek, Rudolf Pietsch, Volksmusik, Wandel und Deutung. Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2000. ISBN 3-205-99238-5. Seite 585. Preview at Google-Books
  2. "101510578" swissbib.ch: Heinrich Gustav Peter; Claus-Dieter Zimmer: Zirkus Renz (Arrangement)
  3. Evidence of authorship is given by the fact of existing sheets of music notes together with the given record in Hofmeister ; the music notes show the melody that is known as Memory of Circus Renz (Erinnerungen an den Zirkus Renz, in German). Until now there are sources that give around 1905 as the date of publication
  4. Hofmeister: Musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht über neue Musikalien, neue Schriften. Band: November 1894, Seite: 478, Musik für Schlaginstrumente: „Peter, Gustav, Souvenir de Cirque Renz. Galopp f. Xylophon m. Orch. Mk 2 n. Leipzig, Seele. – Valse-Caprice f. Xylophon m. Orch. Mk 2 n. Leipzig, Seele.“
  5. W. G. Oertel: Kunstreiter Galopp. ca. 1905, dismarc.org
  6. J. Israel: Renz-Galopp f. Pfte. hofmeister.rhul.ac.uk, darin: S. 213: J. Israel, Op. 82. Renz-Galopp f. Pfte. Altona, Hinz Mk 0,60.
  7. Hermann Fliege: Fliege, H., Opus 105, Gavotte Circus Renz f. Klavier, 1872; (worldcat)
  8. the meaning of the name Dietrich remains still unclear.
  9. H. Fliege is given as composer what is supposed to be a confusion because of his Gavotte Circus Renz Op. 105, a distinct work.
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