Long Reads

Son of a Preacher Man

A Personal Story by Simon Murphy

Composer, organist and music director Wilhelm Gottlieb Hauff (1750 Gotha – 1816 Nijmegen) was one of the most important musical figures in 18th century the Netherlands. His work has had long-lasting impact on Dutch musical life and cultural identity.

A pioniering musical force in the international, cosmopolitan Dutch music scene of his time as a composer, performer (at home and on tour) and as city music director, Hauff played a central role in formation of the modern, internationally-orientated Dutch musical cultural identity and contributed enormously to the Dutch church music tradition. He compiled the national Dutch hymnal, a publication which was in standard national use throughout the 19th century and well into the 20th century. Many of his sons and grandsons were also church organists holding important positions throughout the country. Despite this all and despite his rich, sparklng, large and highly varied oeuvre, Hauff and his music remains virtually unknown and unheard of today.

My DUTCH CROWN JEWELS project together with the New Dutch Academy aims to change that by presenting first editions and world-premiere CD recordings of two musical gems by Hauff – his effervescent and energising Symphony in A (from the mid-1770’s) and his serene and majestic Viola Concerto in D (written in 1794).

In terms of his life story, the existing, published biographical information on Hauff is fairly minimal and he is not included in the standard reference works such as Grove or MGG at all. As oart of the DUTCH CROWN JEWELS project, I have visited archives throughout the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany and started to piece his life path together. Retracing his steps has been an exciting, exhilarating and highly moving process. Thank you to the wonderfull archivists who’ve helped me along my way especially Albrecht Loth of the Staatsarchiv Gotha. As I did together with my late colleague, Corry Klugkist, in our work exploring the life and works of symphonist and cellist at the Court of Orange, Francesco Zappa, there are still some things to check, but I hope that the information below will form the basis for me to write a formal article for publication in Grove Online (Oxford University Press), other scholarly publications and some more popular ones too.

Please note that the article below and all the information and research presented on this page is copyright Simon Murphy, 2025, and may not be reproduced in any way without explicit permission.

Work in in Progress. This is what we know, for now:

Hauff, Wilhelm Gottlieb (variously spelled Gotlieb and Godlieb) senior. Gotha, Thuringia, Germany 1750 – Nijmegen, the Netherlands 25 May 1816 (aged 66)

Organist, carillonneur, pianist, composer.

After an early career in service as a military chaplain in the Saxe-Gotha infantry regiment stationed in the Netherlands, Hauff served as titular “city organist and carillonneur” of the Grote Kerk (Stevenskerk) in Nijmegen from 1791 up to his death in 1816 as well as being director of music in the city. As both a composer and performer, Hauff was also intimately involved with the Court of Orange’s musical programme in the later 18th century. He performed at court in The Hague, for court activities in Nijmegen during the court’s period of self-imposed semi-exile there, and composed various works for the court, for members of the court and for House of Orange related events.

Hauff’s oeuvre is broad and substantial and his works were disseminated throughout Europe by some of the leading music publishers of the day. His oeuvre includes keyboard and chamber music, concertos, symphonies, cantatas and oratorios. He was also responsible for the compilation and composition of the the official hymnal of the protestant church of the Netherlands. Further, in relation to the national musical heritage of the Netherlands, he has had a strong and long-standing influence on the Dutch church music and organ-playing traditions, with his sons and grandsons also making significant contributions in these fields.

Youth

From the available historical information, given the scarcity of the name Hauff in the Gotha/Thuringia area as well as the church music background of both father and son, it seems safe to assume that Wilhelm Gottlieb Hauff was the son of Gotha-born organist, school teacher and later also soldier Johann Christian Hauff and his wife Dorothea Magdalena Mad(e)lung who was also born in Gotha. Hauff’s mother was from a well to do family in the the town with preachers, mayors, high-ranking court functionaries, notaries public and businessmen being prominent members of the family and extended-family circles. The couple were married in the Margarethenkirche in Gotha in 1742. They subsequently lived for a time in the nearby village of Gräfentonna, where Hauff’s father worked as church organist and school teacher, and where several of Hauff’s younger siblings were born. It can be assumed that the young family returned to Gotha around the time of Hauff’s birth. One of Hauff’s elder siblings died at age 5 towards what would turn out to be end of the family’s time in Gräfentonna and it seems it was a tumultous time for the family, with the father losing his job (as organist and school teacher). It seems the father joined the military, the only recourse, and the family moved back to Gotha. One of the other siblings is listed listed as attending the Garrison School in Gotha in the 1750s which would confirm this situation.

It is most likely that Hauff received early musical instruction from his church-organist father. This would explain his musical skills as an organist and keyboardist but also his intimate knowledge of pastoral work and music in a church setting, both of which stood him in good stead for his early career as a military chaplain, combined with his youth growing up in or around the military barracks, and for his later career as church-organist and carillonneur.

From the school attendance records in the State Archive in Gotha, we know that Hauff attended the Gotha Grammar School. He appears in the extant school attendance documents as being present in 1763 aged 13 and is still there in June 1768 aged 18. In the school documents of 1768, regarding his key personal attribute, he is described as being “musical”.

Hauff was born in and grew up in one of the most incredibly richly fertile musical and cultural areas in 18th century Europe. Gotha is a stone’s throw from Bach’s birth city of Eisenach and Handel’s birth city of Halle. The surrounding area of central Germany (including the modern-day states of Thuringia, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Brandenburg) is one of astounding cultural vision and production, encompassing life and work locations of Bach, Handel, Telemann, and later of the likes of Anna Amalia, Goethe, Schiller and Wieland, to name just a few.

Hauff’s musical education must have further benefited considerably by the high-calibre music making and heavy-weight musical and cultural personalities present in the town itself. These included some of the finest in Europe – the Hofkapellmeister Georg Benda, Hofkonzertmeister Dismas Hattasch, soprano Anna Hattasch (née Bendova), and others. The court theatre was ground breaking with Eckhof at the helm. Alongside the abovementioned musician’s connections to leading larger musical centres and other famous musical personalities of the day, the Gotha court’s cultural life was rich and active in itself, with substantial library and art collections, and an active concert and theatre programme. Benda’s brother, Franz, had studied with Tartini. … All in all, this must have provided an exciting, highly fertile educational environment for the young Hauff.

Hauff’s activities during the period from later 1768 through to the early 1770s are as yet unclear. Given his attendance at a grammar school and his first job as a military chaplain, it would seem logical that he would have attended university in these years, possibly studying theology, and if so then most probably in Jena due to the university being a joint project of the dukes in the area (including Sachsen-Gotha). In any case, Hauff is present in the regiment by the mid-1770’s where it was stationed in the period Namur then the Netherlands now modern-day Belgium.

Early Career

Hauff served as military chaplain in the Saxe-Gotha (Sachsen-Gotha) Infantary Regiment in the Netherlands and in what is now Belgium. The role is variously described in the historical documentation surrounding Hauff as Feldkantor (infantry cantor) or Feldprediger (infantry preacher).

Whilst there is no known extant portrait of Hauff, we do kind of know what he looked like on arrival in the Netherlands.

See the uniform here

In this general period, the regiment was principally stationed in Coevorden 1763 – 1768, ‘s Hertogenbosch 1768 – 1771 and Namur (Namen) 1773 – 1779, with some shorter stops/stays in other locations in between. The precise date of his entry into the regiment remains unclear but he is certainly in service in Namur in or by 1776, when the regiment’s payment records indicate the new presence of a “Prediger”, also when Hauff dedicates some of his early works to Colonel-Commander Von Salm, and where he marries the captain’s daughter … More on that in a minute.

Paris in the Spring

According to the frontispiece of his 6 Symphonies, Hauff spent some time in Paris in this period.

The frontispiece state that the 6 Symphonies by Hauff published in Paris in 1774 (according to Meusel) were also “composed in Paris”. It seems likely that Hauff received some patronage and practical support from the regiment’s commander, Count von Salm (1746 – 1794), who grew up at the French court and was firmly ensconced in Paris (when not on location with the regiment). Hauff’s String Quartets, published in Paris in 1776, are dedicated to Von Salm.

Interestingly, it was this very Von Salm who (later) had the famous Hôtel de Salm built in the 1780s as his Paris home base – a building which inspired the architectural design of many other stately homes, including the White House. During the revolutionary years, the Hôtel was for a time the residence of Madame de Stael (writer of the famous “Germany”). Following the Count’s execution, the Hôtel de Salm became, from 1804 onwards, the Palais de la Légion d’honneur.

It is surprising but also heartbreaking to note that the only extant example of Hauff’s Symphonies (Library of Brussels Conservatorium) is so unusually full of mistakes and printing errors (for example, the flute 1 and 2 parts of the set are printed on the front and back of the same sheets of paper resulting in half of both parts being missing) that one can only hope that this particular copy was some sort of as yet uncorrected proof for an upcoming edition. For the modern-day and first complete edition of Hauff’s symphonic music, prepared by me for the world-premiere performances and recording of Hauff’s Symphony in A, the work needed considerable corrections of slips of the engraver’s stylus as well as a reconstruction of a large amount of missing material including the recomposition of the flute solos in the middle movement. It’s been very exciting to experience it come to life in rehearsal, in concert and soon on the new reocording.

It seems more than likely therefore that in relation to Hauff’s presence in Paris in the mid-1770’s that the Count helped him in some capacities, perhaps providing him with some transport and accommodation, some cultural introductions and even some financial support during some periods of leave from the regiment. Given the relative proximity of Namur to the city, it seems likely that the Count himself would have also been in Paris somewhat regularly during this period making it relatively easy for Hauff to perhaps accompany him on occasion.

Saxe-Gotha Regiment

For a military outfit, the Saxe-Gotha regiment was rather culturally loaded. In the second half of the 18th century century, alongside Von Salm, the regiment was associated with other highly culturally-engaged figures including various princes from the House of Saxen-Gotha. It is clear that Hauff moved in close proximity to highly cultivated figures from the ruling classes from very early on in his career, and would continue to do so later on with his contact with and services for members of the House of Orange.

Interestingly, the Sachsen-Gotha regiment had earlier directly and indirectly already helped feed the Netherlands with quality musicians. The later Hofkapellmeister to the Oranges C.E. Graaf, first visited the Netherlands when his brother F.H. Graf was serving in the regiment, then stationed in Zeeland. C.E. Graaf subsequently worked his way up to the republic’s top musical position.

Captain’s Table

In any case, we know for certain that Hauff was with the regiment by the later 1770s in Namur for it was then and there that he met his future wife – the Captain’s daughter – , married her, and subsequently, where had their first child together. In c. 1778, Hauff married Johanna Barbara Lintz (also variously spelled Linsen, Lensen, …) (Namur 1748 – 1 Aug 1826 Groningen), the daughter of captain Wilhelm Gotfried (sp?) Lintz (also appearing as Linz, Linstein, …) and his wife Carolina (last name currently not known). There in Namur, the Hauff’s first son, future composer and piano and organ virtuoso, Ferdinand Hauff (Namur 1778/1779 – Nijmegen 1813) was born shortly afterwards.

Early Compositions

Alongside his military pastoral and probably also musical duties, Hauff was already highly active as a composer of (civilian, secular) music in the 1770s. Publications of his works from this period include the Six Symphonies in 8 parts, the Six String Quartets, as well as Six Sextets for Winds and Three Keyboard Trios.

1780’s Moving On Up & Settling On Down

In the period 1779 to 1782, the regiment is moving around a lot (variously Scheldeforten, Willemstad, Tholen, Arnhem and Doesburg) but seems to be principally based in Zutphen in the period 1780 – 1782. There is a report of him appearing in a concert in the in hall of the Stadsmuziekcollege in Arnhem in 1781: “W.G. Hauff with 6 musicians from the Saxen-Gotha Regiment.”

1782 onwards

This is the moment where Hauff leaves the regiment and strikes out on his own as an independent musician. According to Rogge, in 1782 Hauff was appointed organist and carillonneur in Nijmegen as well as to a coaching function in the “stadsmusicqcamer” – to assist members in music making during the fortnightly meetings.

Hauff’s next three children are also born in Nijmegen, Philippina (Nijmegen 18 January 1784-), Wilhelm August (Nijmegen 6 July 1785-), and Johanna Louisa (Nijmegen 7 July 1787-) further substantiating his sustained presence there. Further documenting his presence in the city is his “Cantata for St Cecilia’s Day, composed in Nijmegen and performed at the Maendaagsche Music-Collegie of Nijmegen, on 22 November 1784, for Soloists, Choir and Orchestra” (‘Cantate op Sicilia, gecomponeerd en geexecudeert op het Maendaagsche Music-Collegie te Nymegen, den 22 Nov. 1784, voor soli, koor en orkest’).

Perhaps Hauff’s most notable activity at this time, in Nijmegen, is his substantial involvement in the musical activities of the Court of Orange during the stadholder’s family’s period of self-imposed semi-exile in Nijmegen in 1786-1787. Hauff’s intimate involvement in the music making of the stadholder’s family speaks for his reputation and the esteem in which he was held both more broadly, and in this case in the, at the time, musically highly-demanding members of the Stadholders family of the House of Orange. His ongoing relationship with them after their stay in Nijmegen would confirm this.

Court of Orange

In 1786, Stadholder Prince of Orange William V together with his wife Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, other family, and other entourage including 6 key members of the hofkapel (official court musicians) decamped from The Hague to Nijmegen (via Het Loo in Apeldoorn), taking up residence in Het Valkhof, a mediaeval castle freshly renovated for the situation to the tune of 13.000 gilders. This self-imposed semi-exile was an attempt by the court to alleviate rising pro-republican political tensions particularly in Amsterdam and the governmental centre and court residence city of The Hague.

Music was of critical importance to the Stadholder’s family, particularly the Princess Royal, William V’s wife, Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange Nassau . She was a favourite niece of Frederick the Great, and was brought up by his mother and his wife in Berlin in the 1750s and 1760s, surrounded by some of the finest music making available in the world. Her own standards and therefore expectations were, needless to say, high. Her brother would become the famously music-loving “cello king”, Frederick William II of Prussia.

The six instrumentalists from the hofkapel who were taken along to Nijmegen, included Malherbe, Spandau and Collizi. So that the court(-in-exile’)s enthusiasm for quality musical activities would be able to continue, in style, unabated, and relatively unhindered by the circumstances, additional external personnel was called upon when necessary. This included Hauff.

Hauff was well paid for his services, which included, alongside musical performances, the tuning of 2 pianofortes.vii For an exile, in times of revolution, the programme and scale of music making points to just how important it was deemed to be by the Stadholder’s family, with the programme incorporating everything from intimate, delicate chamber music right through to full orchestral. The latter is demonstrated by Hauff’s Cantata Herr gib dem besten Fürsten Glück. Written for the Prince of Orange’s visit to the Lutheran Church in Nijmegen in 1786, it is scored for soprano and 8 part orchestra (strings, 2 flutes and 2 horns). (‘Cantate pour 2 Violens, 2 Flûtes, 2 Cors, Alto solo et Basso, Soprano solo. Gecomp. voor Syne Doorluchtige Hoogheid den Prince van Oranien by intreede in de Luthersche Kerk te Nymegen’, 1786).

After the court’s return to The Hague, it seems that Hauff remained in good favour with the Stadholder’s family. Hauff was invited to give a series of concerts at the court in The Hague in April 1790 together with his son (pianoforte and violin). Further confirming his respect for and fondness of the Stadholder’s family is his later composition Lykzang ter nagedachtenisse van den Printzen Willem George Frederik van Oranje en Nassau, overleeden te Padua den 6 Jan. 1799, published by J. H. Henning, Amsterdam 1799. Interestingly, this work was written and published during the period of the French occupation of the Netherlands (1795 – 1813), long after the Stadholder’s family had already fled the country, thereby suggesting some sort of ongoing professional relationship between Hauff and the Oranges.

Musical Career-building in 18th century the Netherlands

Interestingly, Hauff’s career pathway to and in the Netherlands is very similar to that of the Hofkapellmeister to the Oranges, Christian Ernst Graaf (Rudolstad 1723 – The Hague 1804), but with a twist. Some 30 years Hauff’s senior, Graaf came to the Netherlands, not as a military musician himself, but because his brother was one – in the very same Sachsen-Gotha regiment, then stationed in Zeeland (as outlined above). C.E. Graaf preceded to establish roots in the community where he found himself, became involved in the local music society, reached out to publishers and made connections, published early works, and then gradually made his way up the ladder. Graaf made it all the way to becoming Hofkapellmeister in The Hague, Hauff to the post of city organist of Nijmegen. Both rather impressive.

Alongside his activities in Nijmegen, we know that Hauff was also active in nearby Zaltbommel in this period. In 1786, Hauff was part of the approval process of the organ of the Grote Kerk in Zaltbommel together with Pieter Beijen (who he would later follow in the role of city organist in Nijmegen). Hauff becomes the organist of the church in the later 1780s and stays for several years before returning to Nijmegen. The Graf- en Begraafboek St. Maartenskerk Zaltbommel 1740 – 1810 lists that in 1789 on the 24th of August a child of the organist Hauff was laid to rest in the church in a children’s tomb (“24 Aug. Het kind van de Orgenist Hauff. Legt in een kerk kinder groeft”). Hauff is, further on in the document, described as organist of the church and the compiler of the document. It seems therefore that Hauff and family were based in Zaltbommel for the last few years of the 1780s before returning to Nijmegen upon Hauff’s appointment there as city organist in 1791.

Hauff’s Ode aan God, opus 15 (Van Paddenburg, Utrecht) was published while he was serving as organist in Zaltbommel. Other major compositions of his from the 1780s include the Cantata De dood van Jesus Christus of 1789, a work which was still found to be of importance in the mid 19th century.

1790s, 1800s and 1810s – Consolidation & Later Years

Just as in the previous decade, the 1790s see Hauff continue to produce an enormous and varied array of compositions. The career difference in the 1790s, however, is that Hauff consolidates upon his already impressive musical activities in Nijmegen and surrounding area, and manages to roll these into formal, major appointments and positions of stature. In 1791 he was appointed official titular “City Organist and Carillonneur” of the Grote Kerk (Sint Stevenskerk) in Nijmegen, following Pieter Beijen (in function 1781 – 1790). Hauff held this post up until his death in 1816. Hauff also became the director of the Musicq Collegie in Nijmegen which would further explain the substantial amount of large scale choral and orchestral compositions which he produced during this time.

It is impressive to see how much music he composed in this period and, looking at the repertoire, how much energy he contributed to further developing and growing what was clearly and impressively active music life for a relatively/comparatively small town of, then, around 15.000 residents. (For context, The Hague was around 40.000, Bach’s Leipzig was around 30.000, Weimar 5.000, but Vienna 300.000 and London already 1 million.)

As well as a church musician and city music director, Hauff was active as a concert organist in his home town as well as on tour, with his Groote Bataille and Onweer (Grand Battle and Thunderstorm pieces) being particular crowdpleasers. Outside of Nijmegen, he gave guest solo performances on particularly choice, historic Dutch organs, for example in Maassluis in 1797 and in the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam where he performed Haydn’s Sieben Letzte Worte.

In the early 19th century, Hauff continued composing and performing sacred and secular works of larger and smaller scales. Importantly, this period also sees his Evangelische Gezangen (Hymnal) in SATB-settings published (Allart, Amsterdam 1810), which became the standard reference work for musical worship in the Dutch Reformed Church in the 19th century.

From the registry of deaths of the Nijmegen municipality, we know that Hauff, aged 66, born in Gotha, died in Nijmegen at 8 am on the 25th of May 1816, aged 66. In the register, he (spelt here as Wilhelm Godlieb Hauff) is described as “Stadsorgel- en klokken-ist, husband of Johanna Linsen.” He was laid to rest in the Stevenskerk on 28 May 1816 (spelt Wilhelm Gotlieb Hauff in the church’s burials register).

Legacy

Hauff exerted a tangible and enduring influence on Dutch church music and on the strong Dutch church organ-playing tradition. This continued through the work of his sons and grandsons. His youngest son Ferdinand Hauff (Namur 1778/1779 – Nijmegen 1813) was a celebrated composer, and piano and organ virtuoso, who left an enormous opus of works including piano concertos, orchestral and vocal works, and a slew of chamber repertoire, most often featuring the piano. His manual on organ improvisation became a standard reference work and is still in print and in use to train younger church organists in the Netherlands. Just like his father, Ferdinand Hauff’s compositions, however, also remain largely unexplored in modern times.

W.G. Hauff’s longest living son, Wilhelm Gottlieb Hauff junior (Nijmegen 1793 – Groningen 1858), also followed in his father’s footsteps as an organist and composer. Hauff junior won the coveted position of organist at the Nieuwe Kerk Amsterdam in 1832 but chose to stay on as organist at the Martinikerk in Groningen where he served from 1816 – 1858. In turn, Hauff junior’s sons were also organists, most notably Wilhelm Reinier Hauff (Groningen 1833 – Utrecht 1903) who served as organist and carillonneur in diverse posts throughout the country.

And on a rather touching family note to finish with, when Wilhelm Gottlieb senior died in Nijmegen in 1816, his widow, Johanna, went and lived in Groningen where her son Wilhelm Gottlieb junior looked after her in her final years. She died ten years later in 1826 leaving her own long-lasting legacy: a family dynasty which had, and would continue to have, an important and substantial impact on the musical life and musical heritage of the Netherlands.

Simon Murphy, April 2025