German composer.

He was a pupil of Reinecke and he studied at the School of Music in Copenhagen with Weise (with a royal Danish scholarship). For a long time, he worked there as a military bandmaster and then as an army conductor. In 1851 he went back to Altona (which lies near Hamburg), where he became an organist at the main church in 1864. He also was teacher at the School of Music in Hamburg. In 1874 he became Royal Preussian "Musikdirektor" (director of a musical society).

Gurlitt belonged to the circle of friends of Schumann and Brahms. His small works for young people and for amateurs were particularly beloved.

References

1. Hugo Riemann, Musik-Lexikon, 9th ed., Max Hellers Verlag, Berlin, 1919.
2. S.A.M Bottenheim, Prisma Encyclopedie der Muziek, Het Spectrum, Utrecht, 1957.
3. Sylvia van Ameringen, Elseviers Encyclopedie van de muziek, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 1962.
4. Percy A. Scholes, John Owen Ward, The Oxford Companion to Music, 10th ed., Oxford University Press, London, 1974.
5. Th. Willemze, Componistenlexicon, Het Spectrum, Utrecht 1981.