Hummel Note
Research notes of composer Hummel
3. The Career of Johann Nepomuk Hummel
From Kapellmeister of the Esterházy Court to a Freelance Career
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who would later become Elisabeth’s partner, is an indispensable figure for understanding her career. His early life has already been widely covered in various media, and for further details I would refer you to my own website, Hummel Note.
Let us begin the story in 1793, when Hummel returned to Vienna after several years of travel that combined both study and performance, including an extended stay in London.
Upon his return, Hummel temporarily withdrew from public performance and undertook a renewed course of study in counterpoint and composition under some of Vienna’s foremost musical authorities of the time: Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Joseph Haydn, and Antonio Salieri. During this period, he also encountered the young Ludwig van Beethoven, who had likewise come to Vienna from Bonn to study with Haydn and Albrechtsberger.
Beethoven’s overwhelming and almost untamed improvisational style is said to have initially shaken Hummel’s confidence, which had been grounded in a refined, Mozartian sense of beauty.
Nevertheless, the two eventually came to recognize each other’s talents, developing a complex relationship marked by both intense rivalry and deep mutual respect—at times clashing fiercely, at times reconciling, but always maintaining a profound artistic connection.
In 1804, at the age of 26, Hummel was appointed Konzertmeister—effectively Kapellmeister—at the court of Prince Esterházy, succeeding his former teacher Haydn and with his recommendation. This was an extremely prestigious position. During his seven years of service at the court in Eisenstadt, he composed extensively, including five large-scale Masses, as well as piano concertos, numerous chamber works, and theatrical music.
However, due to issues such as neglect of duties, he was dismissed once in 1808 (only to be reinstated through Haydn’s intervention), and ultimately dismissed permanently in May 1811.
Having lost the stability of court patronage, Hummel returned to Vienna. Despite remaining highly active—engaging in opera and ballet music, composing for court balls, and participating in collaborative concerts with leading virtuosi such as Mauro Giuliani and Johann Baptist Schuppanzigh—this was also a period of personal uncertainty, during which he began to reconsider his artistic direction and explore the path of a freelance composer and pianist.
At a time when he was perhaps more in demand as a piano teacher than as a concert pianist, Hummel established his own distinctive pianistic style, combining the elegant touch inherited directly from Mozart with the solid technique associated with Clementi. As a result, he came to be regarded as one of the leading figures of the Viennese musical world, often considered alongside Beethoven as his equal.
4. Marriage, Partnership in European Conquest, Management, and Copyright
Although this portrait is often presented—on Wikipedia and other sources—as depicting Elisabeth Röckel, the woman shown in this painting is in fact someone else.
The portrait is actually of Frau Luise Mila, painted by Johann Erdmann Hummel (1769–1852). He was a painter and is not the same person as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, nor as Carl Maria Nicolaus Hummel, the latter’s son who also became a painter.
The work is held in the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) in Berlin, Germany.
On May 16, 1813, in Vienna, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and Elisabeth Röckel were married. At the time, Hummel was 34 years old and Elisabeth was 20. One of Hummel’s teachers, the renowned composer Antonio Salieri, served as a witness at the wedding.
It has sometimes been suggested that Beethoven’s strong affection for Elisabeth prior to her marriage created tension between the two men.
However, Elisabeth later recalled that even after her marriage, Beethoven always treated her with respect. Their relationship, therefore, appears to have been grounded in mutual respect as artists.
Although Elisabeth withdrew from the operatic stage upon her marriage, this did not simply signify a retreat into domestic life. She possessed a deeper understanding than anyone of her husband’s exceptional talent and assumed a powerful, almost producer-like role in elevating his career onto a broader international stage.
As mentioned earlier, Hummel at the time had no permanent position and faced financial uncertainty. Elisabeth strongly encouraged him to resume concert touring across Europe, bringing his artistry and compositions directly to audiences.
In 1814, during the Congress of Vienna—a unique gathering of European royalty, nobility, and cultural figures—Hummel took part in the premiere of Beethoven’s Wellington’s Victory, performing as a percussionist (playing the bass drum under Salieri’s direction). At the same time, he actively organized concerts to showcase his own virtuosity.
The Congress brought together rulers and aristocrats from across Europe, and the high acclaim he received there led to numerous invitations from various regions. This marked the beginning of an extensive and demanding concert tour, during which the couple traveled throughout Europe, including Russia, Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands, and Poland.
From the perspective of music business history, these tours were groundbreaking. With the rise of the Industrial Revolution and the maturation of bourgeois society, the audience for music was rapidly expanding beyond aristocratic patrons to include the emerging middle class.
Hummel actively marketed his works to this vast new audience, strategically tailoring his repertoire to suit the tastes of listeners in each city. Moreover, he cultivated relationships with multiple publishers across different countries and engaged in pioneering practical negotiations toward the establishment of international copyright protection for musical works.
Behind the construction and success of this modern “concert tour” business model stood Elisabeth’s dedicated management and remarkable social skills—from organizing travel schedules to negotiating with influential figures. It is hard not to be impressed by her effectiveness at such a young age.