Josef Hellmesberger Sr. (3 November 182824 October 1893) was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist, conductor, 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 ...

. Born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, he was the son of musician and

pedagogue Pedagogy (), most commonly understood as the approach to teaching, is the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences, and is influenced by, the social, political and psychological development of learners. Pedagogy, taken as ...

, Georg Hellmesberger Sr. (1800–1873), and was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatory. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother, Georg Jr. (1830–1852); son, Josef Jr. (1855–1907); and son

Ferdinand Ferdinand is a Germanic name composed of the elements "protection", "peace" (PIE "to love, to make peace") or alternatively "journey, travel", Proto-Germanic , abstract noun from root "to fare, travel" (PIE , "to lead, pass over"), and "co ...

(1863–1940). In 1851, Hellmesberger became violin professor at the Vienna Conservatory, artistic director and conductor of the

Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (), also known as the Wiener Musikverein (German for 'Viennese Music Association'), is an Austrian music organization that was founded in 1812 by Joseph Sonnleithner, general secretary of the Court Theat ...

concerts as well as director of the Vienna Conservatory. After the division of the two roles in 1859, he remained director of the Conservatory, while Johann Herbeck became conductor of the concerts. He was professor until 1877, but continued on as director until his death in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In 1860 he became

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (U.K.) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (or clarinet in a concert band). After the conductor, the concertmaster is the second-most signifi ...

of the Court Opera orchestra and took on various other positions in Vienna's music life. Hellmesberger founded the

Hellmesberger Quartet The Hellmesberger Quartet was a string quartet formed in Vienna in 1849. It was founded by Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. and was the first permanent named String Quartet. Composition Violinist Leopold Jansa had started a string quartet in 1845. Hellme ...

in 1849. Later his son, Josef Jr., joined playing second violin. He surrendered leadership and the first chair to Josef Jr. in 1887.

References

Josef Hellmesberger Sr. biography
at the ''Tribal Smile Music Encyclopedia''

at ''

aeiou Encyclopedia Austria-Forum is a freely accessible online collection of reference works in both German language, German and English language, English about Austria-related topics. Background The predecessor of Austria-Forum, the AEIOU project was launched in ...

''
Hellmesberger family biographies

External links

* * 1828 births 1893 deaths Austrian Romantic composers Austrian conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Austrian classical violinists Hellmesberger family Academics of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna 19th-century classical composers 19th-century conductors (music) 19th-century classical violinists Male classical violinists {{Austria-composer-stub