Alfred Dörffel (24 January 1821 – 22 January 1905) was a German pianist, music publisher and librarian.
Career
Dörffel was born in Waldenburg, Saxony, the son of August Friedrich Dörffel and his wife Christiane Charlotte, née Kröhne. He received his first musical training by the Waldenburg organist Johann Adolf Trube. He later studied in Leipzig with Gottfried Wilhelm Fink, Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann.
Dörffel was editor for Breitkopf & Härtel and Edition Peters. He published a (Guide to the musical world), translated the (Instruction on scoring) by Hector Berlioz, published in 1864. He edited several volumes of the first complete edition of the Works of Johann Sebastian Bach by the Bach-Gesellschaft, known as the , beginning with cantatas in 1876 and ending with the (then attributed to Bach) in 1898. He wrote reviews for the and the Musikalisches Wochenblatt (Musical weekly). In 1881, Dörffler wrote the review of 100 years Gewandhaus for the centenary of the concert hall, , including a statistic of the concerts during this period.
Dörffler founded a library for literature on music, which became part of the , opened in 1894. He also worked as curator for the music section of the (Leipzig municipal library).
The Universität Leipzig awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1885. Gustav Flügel dedicated his , Op. 38 (1856, Leipzig, Merseburger) to Dörffel.
Dörffler was a member of the Masonic Lodge from 1842 and composed several works for their meetings, often on texts by . He was married to Charlotte Louise Benigna, née Trabert, they had several children. He died in Leipzig.
References
External links
Bach Bibliographie / Dörffel, Alfred bw.edu