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

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; cs, Čechy ; ; hsb, Čěska; szl, Czechy) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. Bohemia can also refer to a wider area consisting of the historical Lands of the Bohemian Crown ruled by the Bohem ...

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, ja ...

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 Defi ...

. 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 Jan Antonín Koželuh (also Johann Antonin Kozeluch, Koscheluch, Jan Evangelista Antonín Tomáš; 14 December 1738 in Velvary – 3 February 1814 in Prague) was a Czech composer. Life Koželuh was a pupil of Josef Seger and studied under the Je ...

. 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 Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

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 typi ...

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 ( Scarlatti, Liszt, Scriabin, Medtner, Berg), others with t ...

s, masses, and

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir. The meaning of ...

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: * 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