Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg: His Short Biography and Aesthetic Representation of His Works

of rare precision and penetrating power. Whether he was playing a solo or accompanying, he possessed an expression that reached deep into the heart because it came from the heart; and it was this expression that, at first glance, distinguished him from the most practiced technician and heralded him as a true musical poet.

He received his first instruction from Kapellmeister musical director Poli, but he did not leave it at that. He studied the works of Mattheson, Marpurg, and d’Alembert with diligence, just as the compositions of Bach, Benda, and Jomelli were the models after which he formed himself, and into whose spirit and innermost meaning he penetrated.

At the same time, he studied the best theoretical writings on the art of music, read the best classical poets of Germany with feeling and taste, and thus became the sensitive interpreter of many of their most charming pieces.

What had to contribute even more to his education was his familiar association with Schiller, whose friend in youth and heart he was, and with other talented young men. He set several of Schiller's earliest poems