Carl Leibl

Carl (Karl) Leibl (3 September 1784 – 4 October 1870) was a German musician, conductor, cathedral organist and cathedral conductor in Cologne. Life Born in Fußgönheim (Palatinate), Leibl comes from a family of Bavarian officials and innkeepers and first learned the cooper’s trade before he could dedicate himself to music. Leibl first worked as a music teacher at the Bayrischer Hof. In 1826 he became Cathedral Kapellmeister in Cologne and directed the “Verein der Dommusiken und Liebhaberkonzerte” (Association of Cathedral Music and Lover’s Concerts) there. In the same year he also took over the direction of the Städtischer Singverein, which in 1827 merged with the Musikalische Gesellschaft to form the new Cölner Concert-Gesellschaft, whose choir still exists today as the Gürzenich-Choir. This society, under the patronage of wealthy citizens, organized its concerts in the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne from 1857 onwards - from which the Gürzenich Orchestra of the City of Cologne, which still exists today, ultimately emerged. Leibl was active at a difficult time of political and social upheaval. As a result of laws passed after the Napoleonic occupation in 1794, the guilds were dissolved