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Emanuel Aloys Förster (26 January 1748 – 12 November 1823) was a

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and music teacher, who spent most of his life in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Early life

Emanuel Aloys Förster was born in Niedersteine bei Glatz, County of Glatz (

Kingdom of Prussia The Kingdom of Prussia (, ) was a German state that existed from 1701 to 1918.Marriott, J. A. R., and Charles Grant Robertson. ''The Evolution of Prussia, the Making of an Empire''. Rev. ed. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1946. It played a signif ...

). Almost nothing is known of his family or parents except that his father was an administrator in an economics office. From his early youth, Emanuel composed several

concerto A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ...

s and many

sonata In music a sonata (; pl. ''sonate'') literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''cantare'', "to sing"), a piece ''sung''. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until th ...

s purely from his correct musical ear. He acquired only later a copy of a theoretical work by

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (8 March 1714 – 14 December 1788), also formerly spelled Karl Philipp Emmanuel Bach, and commonly abbreviated C. P. E. Bach, was a German composer and musician of the Baroque and Classical period. He was the fifth ch ...

(probably ''Versuch über die wahre Art das Klavier zu spielen'', "Essay on the true art of keyboard playing"), which he copied out. When he had left school he went to work for some years in his father's office, and then he was called up into the

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

n army and spent the last two years of the

Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War, 1756 to 1763, was a Great Power conflict fought primarily in Europe, with significant subsidiary campaigns in North America and South Asia. The protagonists were Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and Kingdom of Prus ...

as an oboist in the "Fouquet'schen Regiment". After that (around 1763) he went to Mittelwalde where he lived in the intimate circle of, and studied with, the (at that time) famous organist Johann Georg Pausewang. Probably through his agency, Förster went to Prague from 1776 to 1779, after which he settled in Vienna, where he worked as a composer and music teacher. Through his marriage to Eleonore von Reczka, he developed contacts to the Viennese aristocracy, which furthered his reputation. In Vienna, he became friends with

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

and

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

—both of whom are said to have influenced Förster's musical style—while his students included Louis Niedermeyer and Franz Pecháček. Through Prince Karl Lichnowsky, he met

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

; the composer, 22 years his junior, appreciated his talents and recommended students to him, including Andreas Rasumofsky and

Charles Neate Charles Neate (1806–1879) was an English politician and academic, economist and political writer. Life He was the fifth of the eleven children of Thomas Neate, rector and squire of Alvescot, Oxfordshire, and his wife Catherine, born at Adstoc ...

. Förster's compositions were often played, along with those of Beethoven and Haydn, by the legendary Schuppanzigh Quartet. In addition to his compositions, he wrote an "Introduction to the Figured Bass," a treatise for composition students. Förster and Eleonore had five children. Their daughter Eleonore (b. 1799) became a renowned pianist who herself composed variations for piano, violin, viola and cello; she married a Count Conti in 1823. Her brother Joseph, a year younger, was also a pianist and cellist. Förster's daughter Michaelina married the violinist Pietro Rovelli (1793–1838).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Foerster, Emmanuel Aloys 1748 births 1823 deaths 18th-century classical composers 19th-century classical composers 18th-century Austrian male musicians 19th-century Austrian male musicians Austrian Classical-period composers Austrian male composers Austrian music educators Austrian people of Prussian descent People from Prussian Silesia String quartet composers People from Radków 18th-century Austrian composers Composers from the Austrian Empire

Early life

Further reading

References

External links