August Pabst

August Pabst was a German and Russian composer and pianist, and is also identified in the article as a violinist. He was born in Elberfeld on May 30, 1811, and died in Riga on July 21, 1885. He was the father of Pavel and Louis Pabst.

Pabst first worked as a cantor and organist in Königsberg, then as music director of the city theater. In 1857, he received the title of music director to the Prussian king. He also provided music at Königsberg’s Old Synagogue. From 1863 to 1864, he edited the Norddeutsche Musikzeitung, the city’s first and only publication of its kind.

In 1875, Pabst moved to Riga and took charge of its music school. His operas included The Castellan of Krakow, staged in Königsberg in 1846; Our Johann, staged there in 1848; The Last Days of Pompeii, staged in Dresden in 1851 and popular in Germany; and The Lombards, which was not performed.

He also wrote songs. His popular Song to the Bottle, to words by Rudolf Gottschall, was used as an interpolated number in Albert Lortzing’s opera Undine (1845). German singers Ludwig Hoffmann, Eduard Kandler, Paul Knüpfer, Max Loewengard, and Robert von Scheidt recorded the song in the early 20th century.