Nabokov, Nicolas [Nikolay]

Nissen, Constanze.

See Mozart family, (4).

Nissen, Georg Nikolaus

(b Haderslev, 22 Jan 1761; d Salzburg, 24 March 1826). Danish diplomat and music historian. After academic studies (1778–81) he became authorized agent of the General Post Office in Copenhagen in 1781. He entered the diplomatic service in 1792, and was assigned to Vienna as Danish chargé d’affaires in 1793. Four years later he befriended Mozart's widow Constanze, whom he assisted in selling and publishing Mozart's scores; he married her in 1809, in Pressburg (now Bratislava) Cathedral, proving a devoted husband and father to Mozart's two sons. After serving for ten years in Copenhagen he retired in 1820 to Salzburg, where he began collecting materials (now in A-Sm) for his Biographie W.A. Mozarts: nach Originalbriefen, Sammlungen alles über ihn Geschriebenen, mit vielen neuen Beylagen, Steindrucken, Musikblättern und einem Facsimile (Leipzig, 1828 [recte 1829], suppl. 1828 [recte 1829]; 2/1849; Fr. trans., 1869). This was the first major biography of the composer. Nissen was aided in his task by the Salzburg choir director Anton Jähndl (1783–1861) and the Altötting organist and composer Maximilian Keller (1770–1855). After Nissen's death Constanze commissioned the unstable Dresden physician and music bibliophile Johann Heinrich Feuerstein (1797–1850) to complete the work. It made public many hitherto unknown documents and details of Mozart's life from oral testimony, including from his wife and sister-in-law, and has served as a basic source ever since. Unfortunately it is problematic: large sections are taken from earlier accounts, often of dubious reliability, and it contains contradictions and errors. The letters it quotes were selected and censored. Whether Nissen or Feuerstein was responsible for its failings is unclear; the supplement is almost certainly the work of the latter.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

E. Valentin: ‘Das Testament der Constanze Nissen: mit biographischen Notizen über Constanze und Georg Nikolaus Nissen’, Neues Mozart-Jb 1942, 128–75

J.-L. Hollenfetz: ‘Trois documents inédits pour servir à l'histoire de la biographie de Mozart par Nissen’, Hommage à Charles van den Borren, ed. S. Clercx and A. vander Linden (Antwerp, 1945), 197–204

O.E. Deutsch: ‘Mozarts Nachlass: aus den Briefen Constanzes an den Verlag André’, MJb 1953, 32–7

R. Münster: ‘Nissens “Biographie W.A. Mozarts”: zu ihrer Entstehungsgeschichte’, Acta mozartiana, ix (1962), 2–14

R. Schaal: ‘Unveröffentlichte Briefe von Georg Nikolaus Nissen’, MJb 1965–6, 195–203

R. Angermüller and S. Dahms-Schneider: ‘Neue Brieffunde zu Mozart’, MJb 1968–70, 211–41

R. Angermüller: ‘Aus dem Briefwechsel M. Kellers mit A. Jähndl: Neues zu Nissens Mozartbiographie’, MISM, xix/1–2 (1971), 18–28

R. Angermüller: ‘Nissens Kollektaneen für seine Mozartbiographie’, MJb 1971–2, 217–26

R. Angermüller: Preface to G.N. Nissen: Biographie W.A. Mozarts (Hildesheim, 1972), pp.v–xvi

H.H. Hausner: ‘Gedanken zu Nissens Mozart-Biographie’, MISM, xxv/1–2 (1977) 12–18

R. Angermüller: ‘Die Sperrsrelation des Georg Nikolaus Nissen’, MISM, xxxvi/1–4 (1988), 105–13

W. Stafford: Mozart's Death: a Corrective Survey of the Legends (London, 1991)

M. Solomon: ‘The Rochlitz Anecdotes: Issues of Authenticity in Early Mozart Biography’, Mozart Studies, ed. C. Eisen (Oxford, 1991), 1–59

E. Offenbacher: ‘Linkage to Mozart: the Life Story of Johann Heinrich Feuerstein (1797–1850): II, MJb 1994, 1–63

R.Angermüller: Constanze Nissen-Mozart: Tagebuch meines Briefwechsels in Betref der Mozartischen Biographie (1828–1837) (Bad Honnef, 1999)

RUDOLPH ANGERMÜLLER/WILLIAM STAFFORD

Nissen, Hans Hermann

(b Zippnow, nr Marienwerder [now Kwidzyn], 20 May 1893; d Munich, 28 March 1980). German bass-baritone. He studied in Berlin and made his début in 1924 at the Grosse Volksoper, Berlin. The next year he was engaged by the Staatsoper in Munich, where he remained until 1967. He sang Wotan and Hans Sachs at Covent Garden in 1928 and 1934, and appeared in the Wagnerian repertory at Chicago (1930–32) and the Metropolitan (1938–9). He sang Hans Sachs at Salzburg in 1936–7 and at Bayreuth in 1943, and made guest appearances in Paris, Milan, Vienna, Berlin and elsewhere. In addition to Wagner roles, his repertory included Renato, Amonasro, Barak, Borromeo (Palestrina) and Orestes. Although his voice was not large, it was firm and evenly produced, and was used with great artistry and refinement. Among his recordings is a warm account of Hans Sachs in Böhm’s 1938 recording of Act 3 of Die Meistersinger.

HAROLD ROSENTHAL/ALAN BLYTH

Nissle.

See Nisle family.

Nîthart.

See Neidhart ‘von Reuental’.

Nitrowski.

Polish family of organ builders, probably of Slovak extraction. Jerzy Nitrowski (b c1605; d after 1673) worked on the organ at St Andrew’s, Olkusz, from 1631 to 1633. In 1632 he finished the organ (still extant) in St James’s, Lewocza, begun between 1625 and 1628 by Hans Hummel of Nuremberg or Coburg; between 1638 and 1641 he built an organ in St Mary’s, Kraków (also attributed to Józef Nitrowski). In 1662 (as ‘Jerzy of Danzig’) he built the organ in Gniezno Cathedral and in 1672–3 he and his son Andrzej (b c1640; d 1697) built an organ in St Mary’s, Danzig (now Gdańsk), for 7500 florins. Johann B. Held was one of his pupils.

Andrzej Nitrowski worked on a large organ in St Mary’s, Sandomierz (now the cathedral), between 1694 and 1697; this instrument, completed in 1698 by Mateusz Brandt from Toruń, had three manuals, pedals and 51 stops, and was well known outside Poland. His brother Daniel Nitrowski (b c1635; d after 1683) built the organ in Pelplin Abbey between 1674 and 1680 (with assistance from Wulf of Malbork; see Wulf, Jan), worked in Danzig around 1683, and in that year built a new organ in Frauenburg (now Frombork) Cathedral. The Nitrowski family built numerous instruments in the northern Polish style, using mutations and reeds alongside an appropriate number of diapason chorus and foundation stops. Most of their organs are notable for fine casing and carving.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

J. Gołos: Zarys historii budowy organów w Polsce [Outline of the history of Polish organ building] (Bydgoszcz, 1966)

J. Gołos: Polskie organy i muzyka organowa [Polish organs and organ music] (Warsaw, 1972; Eng. trans., 1992, as The Polish Organ, i: The Instrument and its History)

E. Smulikowska: Prospekty organowe w dawnej Polsce (Wrocław, 1989; Eng. trans., rev., 1993, as The Polish Organ, ii: Organ-Cases in Poland as Works of Art)

HANS KLOTZ/JERZY GOŁOS