It runs in the Family

[Peter1953]

Looking at some Dutch composers it strikes me that there are a few names with more than one composer in one family. Of course this is not an exception. We all know well-sung examples in musical history.
The Dutch family names I was thinking of are Andriessen (mentioned in the tread Your Discovery of the Year), Hutschenruyter (they have their own tread), Van Boom and Van Eijken.
Not much is known of Van Boom senior. Father Jan van Boom (1783-?), composer and flautist, had two sons of which Jan van Boom the Younger (1807-1872) was a student of Hummel and Moscheles, so junior must have been a talented pianist. The only work I know is a brilliant piano piece called Fantaisie No. 1 in G major on the song 'Nära' from the 'Beautés musicales de la Scandinavie' by Lindblad. Jan went to Stockholm and became professor of piano. One of his students was Ludvig Norman. Source: see here.
Another family name is Van Eijken (sometimes written as Van Eyken). Organist Gerard van Eijken had two sons who were both composers, Jan Albert (1823-1868) and Gerrit Jan (1832-1879). Only a few works of both are available on CD of which I like to mention Johan Albert's Sonata for Violin and Piano Op. 18. Johan Albert studied in Leipzig under Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Brother Gerrit Jan was in his days even more famous (I only know his classical Sonatine for Piano Op. 3 No. 1) and went to live and work in London.

I'm sure there are many more of such families, amongst others one from Tyrol. Father composed a wonderful Cello Concerto.

[Jimfin]

There were a lot of women composers who were wives, daughters or sisters of more famous male composers: Fanny Mendelssohn (sister), Alma Mahler (wife), Avril Coleridge-Taylor and Imogen Holst (both daughters). Some of these perhaps a little late for the limits for this site.

[eschiss1]

Back when I was a math student, it interested or amused me more than it should that Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel was the grandmother of Kurt Hensel, the mathematician who invented (discovered, if you like) p-adic numbers. (apologies- off-topic.)

As to some musical relations:

*Robert and Rudolf Radecke (brothers, 19th century. "Radecke, R." in HMB could be either, at some points... "Hans [von Bülow] negotiated an amicable hand-over of his Chocieszewice teaching duties to Robert Radecke's brother Rudolph".)
*Georg and Camillo Schumann, yes?
*The Hartmann clan in Denmark...
*Scharwenkas (ok, better-known example)
*Dvorak-Suk (not the best example perhaps and by now fortunately fairly sung... well, Suk still not so much)
*Hellmesberger father and son
*Ysaÿe brothers
(for a start...)

[petershott@btinternet.com]

And Franz Paul, Ignaz, and Vinzenz Lachner (with all of whom I'm currently keeping close company - and how rewarding it is!)

Ahem, suppose no-one is going to get a prize for mentioning Richard and Siegfried..... ooh, what was the family name?

[Ilja]

There are quite a few Dutch musical dynasties: worthy of mention are also the De Lange family (father Samuel, sons Samuel and Daniël), and the Brandt Buyses (most famously Jan, who undertook a very successful career writing short, lighter pieces in Austria). And I guess one could include the Diepenbrock-Vermeulen link, Vermeulen being married to Diepenbrock's daughter.

[eschiss1]

Was going to mention the Bentzons though they're a bit late for this, but I see that they're related to the Hartmanns anyway as are some others. (Closely related, I mean, accepting claims that there's no one who's not sufficiently distantly related )

[Derek Hughes]

Prokoviev's grandson is a composer.

I'm actually surprised that it didn't happen more, especially in the days when composing was more of a profession than a divine vocation. Why were there no little Caldaras, Galuppis, or Cimarosas? Or perhaps there were.

One dynasty that hasn't been mentioned is the Puccinis. Giacomo is the fifth generation in the line--but then, although the lineage carried on, the composing didn't. In the 70s, Radio 3 did an interesting programme on the Puccini dynasty. There was a very attractive piece by his father and a harpsichord concerto by his grandfather, Domenico. The first in the line was Giacomo senior (1712-1781), the great-great-grandfather of the famous Giacomo.

There is a composer called Adrian Wagner who claims to be the great-great-grandson of Richard. I'm not sure how this can be. http://www.adrianwagner.com/awbiog.html

[Delicious Manager]

There were the Piernés, the better-known (although still quite unsung) Gabriel (1863-1937) and his (even) lesser-known cousin Paul (1874–1952).

Then back in the Classical era (rather before the remit of this forum, I admit), the Haydn brothers (Michael Haydn's music deserves FAR more currency than is the case now).

Then in the 20th century there is the brother and sister act of Grażyna Bacewicz (born in Poland, hence the Polish name) and her older sibling Vytautas Bacevičius (born just a few miles away over the border in Lithuania).

[eschiss1]

Also in the 20th century and better-known, Igor and Soulima Stravinsky (Igor's father not, I think, a composer, but certainly a musician.) (And the Shostakovich family in 3 generations at least, of musicians anyway )
Yes, was looking to identify (for reupload to IMSLP...) (the exact composer of) a violin sonata yesterday whose manuscript is in the Berlin Library and was faced with the possibility that it might be by one of two composers by the same name, one distinguished by calling him the "Milanese" and one the "Neapolitan" (one possibly the grandson of the other) (one from the earlyish Classical and one from the Baroque era). (Since the same collection has a cembalo sonata with a more exact identification of Milanese I plopped for that... maybe unwisely since the violin sonata is strictly violin-continuo... ah well, all off the subject of this forum. Sorry! )

[TerraEpon]

Hartmann.
Tcherepnin.
Avshalomoff.

And of course, Richard Strauss's father wrote at least a few pieces.


Also, Schubert. The Dresden family that is, with son Francois well know for "The Bee" decades before Rimsky...

[Delicious Manager]

Of course! How could I have forgotten the Tcherepnins?

Nikolai (1873-1945) - a fragrent cross of Rimsky-Korsakov, Skryabin and Ravel
Alexander (1899-1977) - not dissimilar to Prokofiev
Ivan (1943-1998) - avant garde/electronic post-modernist composer

There is also another modern-day composer who is doing very well, Gabriel Prokofiev, grandson of Sergei.

[John H White]

Nobody seems to have mentioned the Mozart family. I know Leopold and Wolfgang now lie outside the remit of this forum, but surely the 3rd generation represented by Franz Xaver is worthy of an honorable mention here. The Ries family also appears to have been producing musicians and composers right through the 19th Century.

[Peter1953]

Thank you all for your contributions. Actually, I was thinking of names of unsung composers only.
The Austrian I meant was Josef Pembaur (1848-1923) who composed amongst others a fabulous cello concerto and a wonderful symphony. His son Josef Pembaur (1875-1950) was a concert pianist and composer of piano music and songs. Pembaur Senior had another son, Karl (1876-1939), who was a composer of church music and songs.

[eschiss1]

and Pembaur senior (I think) composed quite a bit of church (at least 7 Lateinisches Messe(n?)) and organ music also (which is the only music of his I've encountered - so far... )

[Peter1953]

And how about father Eduard Franck (1817-1893) and son Richard (1858-1938). Music of both of them is available on CD. I hope both (?) piano concertos of Senior will be released in due course.