Carl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert (* March 23, 1811 in Berlin; † January 7, 1891 in Berlin) was a German pianist and composer.
Taubert, son of the privy chancery servant Johann Wilhelm Taubert, studied philosophy, among other things, at the Friedrich-Wilhelms University in his hometown. During his studies he became a pupil of the composers Ludwig Berger and Bernhard Klein. After successfully completing his studies, he worked mostly as a music teacher until 1831.
In 1838; he dedicated his concert etude ##La Campanella op. 41 No. 1'' to Clara Wieck, which the pianist never played in public, although it is considered Taubert's most important piano work.
As early as 1831, he was appointed conductor of the Berlin Court Concerts; ten years later, Taubert advanced to music director of the Royal Opera. In this post, he founded the "Symphony Soirees" in the winter of 1842/43, which the court orchestra performed under his direction. Between 1845 and the end of 1869; he held this office; from 1849 together with Heinrich Dorn. As a conductor, he was also committed to important contemporaries: On February 13, 1843, he gave the first Berlin performance of Robert Schumann'''Symphony No. 1 in B-flat major, op. 38''.
Despite his retirement in 1870, Taubert continued to work with the court musicians and in 1875 became chairman of the Musical Section of the Academy of Arts; he had already been a member there since 1834.
Taubert composed operas and symphonies, cantatas and drama music, string quartets and piano trios, piano, violin and cello sonatas and over 300 songs, including numerous children's songs, such as ''Schlaf in guter Ruh''. It was precisely in these songs that his success was based; this was not only due to the singers who performed them (such as Amalie Joachim, Jenny Lind or Johanna Wagner).
The grave of Wilhelm Taubert
Because of his services to music, he was awarded honorary membership of the Sing-Akademie zu Ber-lin. At the end of 1889, Taubert resigned all his offices and retired to private life.
Shortly before his 80th birthday, Wilhelm Taubert died in Berlin in early 1891. His final resting place is in Cemetery I of the ''Jerusalems- und Neue Kirche'' congregation on Zossener Straße in Berlin-Kreuzberg (Dept. 3/1). A portrait medallion on the gravestone has been lost.
Wilhelm Taubert married Wilhelmine Schechner (b. 1816? in Munich, † September 14, 1892 in Zehlendorf near Berlin), a younger sister of the singer Nanette Schechner-Waagen (1804-1860), in Berlin on November 30, 1834. A son from this marriage was the writer Emil Taubert (1844-1895).
