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

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 ...

) was a Bohemian-

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

and composer. His daughter,

Marie Proksch Marie Proksch (1836 – 17 May 1900) was a Bohemian pianist, music educator and composer. Biography Marie Proksch was the daughter of blind pianist Josef Proksch (1794–1864) who also taught music to Bedřich Smetana. Proksch was born in Prague ...

, 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 i ...

, whom Prosch taught piano and music theory from 1843 to 1847.

Selected works

Besides pedagogical works for piano, Proksch wrote a concerto 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 movement (music), movements, although some piano sonatas have been written with a single movement (Domenico Scarlatti, Scarlatti, Liszt, Scr ...

s, masses, and cantatas, 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: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

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 Blind classical musicians German male classical composers German classical pianists Male classical pianists German music educators Musicians from Liberec German Romantic composers 19th-century German composers German pianists German male pianists 19th-century German male musicians German Bohemian people {{pianist-stub