Josef Proksch or Joseph Proksch (4 August 1794, Reichenberg (now Liberec) – 20 December 1864,

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

) was a

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pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

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 ...

. His daughter, Marie Proksch, was also a well-known pianist and composer.

Biography

Proksch, who became blind at the age of 13, was a pupil of Jan Antonín Koželuh. In 1830, Proksch opened the ''Musikbildungsanstalt'' (Music Academy) in Prague. His teaching method of having several students play simultaneously during piano lessons was continued for over a hundred years. His most famous student was

Bedřich Smetana Bedřich Smetana ( ; ; 2 March 1824 – 12 May 1884) was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style that became closely identified with his people's aspirations to a cultural and political "revival". He has been regarded ...

, whom Proksch taught piano and

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

from 1843 to 1847.

Selected works

Besides pedagogical works for piano, Proksch wrote a

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 ...

for three pianos,

piano sonata A piano sonata is a sonata written for a solo piano. Piano sonatas are usually written in three or four movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with two movemen ...

s, masses, and

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

s, and adapted numerous

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

l works to four to eight pianos for use in his lessons. *''Versuch einer rationellen Lehrmethode im Pianoforte-Spiel'' – 50 volumes, pedagogical work (1841–1864) *''Die Kunst des Ensembles im Pianoforte-Spiel'' – 7 volumes, pedagogical work (1859)

References

1794 births 1864 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century classical pianists Composers from the Austrian Empire Blind classical musicians Male classical composers Austrian classical pianists Male classical pianists Austrian music educators Musicians from Liberec Romantic composers German Bohemian people {{pianist-stub