Franz Volkert (2 February 1767 – 22 March 1845) was an Austrian organist and composer. He composed church music, and a great amount of music for dramatic works at the

Theater in der Leopoldstadt The Theater in der Leopoldstadt (also: Leopoldstädter Theater) was an opera house in the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna, founded in 1781 by Karl von Marinelli, following the ''Schauspielfreiheit'' (ending of the court's monopoly on entertainment ...

in Vienna.

Life

Volkert was born in Friedland (now

Frýdlant Frýdlant (; also known as Frýdlant v Čechách, german: Friedland in Böhmen) is a town in Liberec District in the Liberec Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 7,400 inhabitants. The town centre is well preserved and is protected by la ...

in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

), and received music lessons at home and later in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

, where for a few years he was in the opera chorus. In 1790 he became assistant to Ignaz Haas, organist at the cathedral in Königgrätz (now

Hradec Králové Hradec Králové (; german: Königgrätz) is a city of the Czech Republic. It has about 91,000 inhabitants. It is the capital of the Hradec Králové Region. The historic centre of Hradec Králové is well preserved and is protected by law as a ...

), succeeding him on Haas's death in 1800. At Königgrätz he composed church music, and also composed music for travelling theatre companies.

In Vienna

In 1810 Volkert was organist in Vienna at the

Schottenstift The Schottenstift ( en, Scottish Abbey), formally called Benediktinerabtei unserer Lieben Frau zu den Schotten ( en, Benedictine Abbey of Our Dear Lady of the Scots), is a Catholic monastery founded in Vienna in 1155 when Henry II of Austria bro ...

. In 1821 he was assistant to

Wenzel Müller Wenzel Müller (26 September 1767 – 3 August 1835) was an Austrian composer and conductor. Other than Rossini, Verdi, or Puccini, he is regarded as the most prolific opera composer of all time with his 166 operas. Life and career Müller wa ...

Kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

at the

. He composed music for more than 100 dramatic works performed at this theatre: comic operas, '' Possen mit Gesang'' and pantomimes, by dramatists Karl Meisl, Josef Alois Gleich and others. Little of this music has survived. He wrote one dramatic work, for which he also wrote the music, a '' Zauberoper'' entitled ''Die Abenteuer auf der Schlangenburg'', staged in 1814 at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, which was well received; a revival of the opera at the

Theater in der Josefstadt The Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna. It is often referred to colloquially as simply ''Die Josefstadt''. Following ...

in 1818 was a failure.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Volkert, Franz 1767 births 1845 deaths Austrian classical organists Austrian classical composers 19th-century Austrian musicians 19th-century Austrian male musicians