Franz Xaver Gebauer (c1784 — 13 December 1822), born in Prussian Silesia, was an organist, composer of church music, and choirmaster and music director of the Augustinian Church, Vienna. Before his early death he organised the 'Concerts Spirituels' which promoted German music in Vienna at a time when Italian opera was particularly popular.

Life

left, Gebauer was organist in Franckstein ( Ząbkowice Śląskie) Franz Xaver Gebauer was born in Eckersdorf, County of Glatz, Kingdom of Prussia (now Bożków, Kłodzko County,

Lower Silesian Voivodeship Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province, in southwestern Poland, is one of the 16 voivodeships (provinces) into which Poland is divided. The voivodeship was created on 1 January 1999 out of the former Wrocław, Legnica, Wałbrz ...

, Poland.Bożków was located in the lands of the Count of Glatz (now County of Kladsko), which until 1742 was a

suzerain Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is calle ...

polity A polity is an identifiable Politics, political entity – a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relation, social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize ...

within the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

-ruled Kingdom of Bohemia; Empress

Maria Teresa Maria Teresa (born María Teresa Mestre y Batista; 22 March 1956) is the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg as the wife of Grand Duke Henri, who acceded to the throne in 2000. Early life and education Maria Teresa was born on 22 March 1956 in Marian ...

lost the territory to an invading Prussian army, and Glatz was formally annexed by the

Treaty of Breslau The Treaty of Breslau was a preliminary peace agreement signed on 11 June 1742 following long negotiations at the Silesian capital Wrocław (german: Breslau) by emissaries of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria and King Frederick II of Prussia ...

. ''See also'' Lands of the Bohemian Crown. He was the son of a teacher and organist who gave him his first music lessons. After further training in Breslau (now Wrocław) - about north of Glatz - he worked first as an organist in Franckstein in Silesia.An 18th century map of Glatz County shows Glatz (Kladsko) in the centre, Eckersdorf to the NW just in the NeuRoda district, and Franckstein to the NE, just by the title cartouche. In 1810 he went to Vienna, where he soon became known for his performances on the "mouth harp" (i.e.

Jew's harp Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

). In addition, he played the cello and gave music lessons. In 1816 he was engaged as choral conductor and music director at the Augustinian Church, Vienna (the 'Hofpfarr Kirche' or Court parish church). He was a founding member in 1812 of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde until its dissolution in 1848.Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Band 6
December 1822, Issue 103, pp. 821-2 F. X. Gebauer "held intercourse with Beethoven in a free and easy way without ever exciting the composer's anger." Beethoven punningly refers to him as the "Geh' Bauer" ("Go, peasant') in a letter.

'Concerts spirituels'

The 'Mehlgrube', New Market, Vienna, in 1715 Together with his friend Ferdinand Piringer he founded in 1819 the "Concerts spirituels" in the in the . These were concert seasons which promoted music by German-speaking composers, in competition against the then current craze for

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

. The concerts began before the Italian season in March, with which even Piringer was taken: in a letter to Beethoven he wrote, "To-day is the saddest in the Viennese calendar, for yesterday was the last of the Italian opera."The last sentence in Piringer's letter refers to the enthusiasm created by Rossini's operas. Schindler has much to say about it: in the year 1823, he remarks, "the little respect left for German vocal music had vanished." Piringer is often mentioned in the Conversation Books
Beethoven's Letters etc.
/ref> Beethoven's music figured prominently: during the first two seasons of the 'Concerts Spirituels' of 1820–21 and 1821–22 his eight completed symphonies were performed (the 9th was finished in 1824);

Leopoldine Blahetka Marie Leopoldine Blahetka (16 November 1809 – 17 January 1885) was an Austrian pianist and composer. Life Leopoldine Blahetka was born in Guntramsdorf near Vienna, the child of George and Barbara Joseph Blahetka Sophia, née Traeg. Her fathe ...

, aged about 11, played the B flat Concerto on 3 April 1820; and the cantatas '' Meeresstille und glückliche Fahrt'' and '' Christ on the Mount of Olives'', as well as the Mass in C were given. The choir was thought to be much better than the orchestra; the first concerts seem to have been little more than 'run-throughs' with a band of dedicated amateurs (' dilettanti') scraping their way at sight through the works of Beethoven, who referred to the concerts in his conversation books. Gebauer wrote a number of songs, which were published; other some compositions of e.g. sacred music remained in MS.

Death

Franz Xaver Gebauer died in Vienna at half past midnight on 13 December 1822 of a haemorrhage of the lungs, in his 38th year."...starb am 13. Dezember a.c.um halb ein Uhr früh, im acht und dreyssigsten Jahre am Lungenblutsturtz
Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Band 6
December 1822, Issue 103, pp. 821-2 (in German): implies he was born after 13 December 1784. The effort of an unaccustomed mountain climb and the rigorous climate on his last trip to Switzerland may have contributed to his early death. Mozart's ''Requiem'', which he venerated highly, was performed in his honour by the choir he founded under Ferdinand Piringer. Piringer took over the 'Concerts spirituels'Ferdinand Piringer
/ref> along with Karl Holz (violinist in the Schuppanzigh Quartet) and the tenor Ludwig Titze, with Eduard Lannoy as conductor.

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Sources * Eduard Bernsdorf (ed.)
''Neues Universal-Lexikon der Tonkunst.'' Band 2, 1857, Seite 122
(In German)

''Österreiche Lexicon'' (in German). AEIOU. Retrieved 9 November 2015. * Eduard Hanslick
''Geschichte des Concertwesens in Wien.'' Band 1, 1869, p. 185
(In German) *&nbs
Volume 1Volume 2

Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung, Band 6, December 1822, Issue 103
pp. 821–2 (Obituary) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gebauer, Franz Xaver 1784 births 1822 deaths German conductors (music) German male conductors (music) German organists German male organists German composers People from Prussian Silesia People from Kłodzko County 19th-century German musicians 19th-century German male musicians 19th-century organists