Joseph Drechsler (26 May 1782 – 27 February 1852) was an Austrian organist, teacher, composer and conductor; in Vienna he was organist and choirmaster at several churches, and theatre conductor and composer of incidental music.

Life

Drechsler was born in Wällisch Birken, (

Vlachovo Březí Vlachovo Březí () is a town in Prachatice District in the South Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 1,800 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument z ...

, now in the Czech Republic), son of a teacher. He was a choirboy in

Passau Passau (; ) is a city in Lower Bavaria, Germany. It is also known as the ("City of Three Rivers"), as the river Danube is joined by the Inn (river), Inn from the south and the Ilz from the north. Passau's population is about 50,000, of whom ...

and in Vornbach Abbey, where he studied

basso continuo Basso continuo parts, almost universal in the Baroque era (1600–1750), provided the harmonic structure of the music by supplying a bassline and a chord progression. The phrase is often shortened to continuo, and the instrumentalists playing th ...

with the organist Dionys Grotz. He studied law and theology in Prague. He moved to Vienna in 1807, being invited by Karl Friedrich Hensler to direct the orchestra of the Theater in der Leopoldstadt; he turned down this offer and remained in Vienna as a music teacher. In 1810 he was

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

and from 1812 assistant director at the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial theatre in Sloane Square, London, England, opene ...

."Drechsler (Traxler), Joseph"
''

Neue Deutsche Biographie (''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...

'' vol 4 (1959), p 106."Drechsler (eig. Traxler), Joseph"
''Oesterreiches Musiklexikon Online''. Retrieved 9 June 2022. For a while he was theatre conductor at Pressburg (

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

) and Baden. In Vienna he was from 1814 organist at the Servite Church, and from 1816 choirmaster at St Anne's Church. From 1823 until 1845 he was choirmaster at the University Church and the . At the same time, from 1821 he was theatre conductor 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 ...

, and in 1824 he succeeded Franz Volkert as theatre conductor at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt, remaining until 1830. He composed incidental music for these theatres, notably for Ferdinand Raimund's '. From 1844 to 1852 he was director of music at St Stephen's Cathedral, succeeding Johann Baptist Gänsbacher. His students included Joseph Wolfram and

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

. Drechsler died in 1852, and was buried at St. Marx Cemetery in Vienna.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Drechsler, Joseph 1782 births 1852 deaths People from Prachatice District Classical organists Composers from the Austrian Empire