Josef Bayer (before 1913) - Archivio Storico Ricordi FOTO000426

Josef Bayer (6 March 1852 – 12 March 1913) 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 ...

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 ...

and the director of the Austrian Court Ballet from 1883 until his death. He was born and died 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 ...

Biography

He studied at the Vienna Conservatory under the elder Josef Hellmesberger,

Anton Bruckner Josef Anton Bruckner (; 4 September 182411 October 1896) was an Austrian composer, organist, and music theorist best known for his symphonies, masses, Te Deum and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-Germ ...

and

Otto Dessoff Felix Otto Dessoff (14 January 1835 – 28 October 1892) was a German conductor and composer. Biography Dessoff was born to a Jewish family in Leipzig; his father was a cloth merchant. His musical talent was recognized by Franz Liszt, who then ...

, and was a violinist in the Wiener Hofoper (the Vienna Court Opera Orchestra), 1870-1898. In 1883 he was appointed Court Kapellmeister. Though he created over twenty one-act ballets including '' Die Braut von Korea'', he is remembered for ''Die Puppenfee'' ("The Fairy Doll") of 1888, which began life as ''Im Puppenladen'' ("In the Doll Shop"). It was the definitive Austrian court ballet, and remains in the repertory of the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August S ...

. Bayer was also friends with the

Viennese waltz Viennese waltz (german: Wiener Walzer) is a genre of ballroom dance. At least four different meanings are recognized. In the historically first sense, the name may refer to several versions of the waltz, including the earliest waltzes done in b ...

composer

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (german: links=no, Sohn), was an Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas. He composed ov ...

and it was Bayer who completed the unfinished Strauss Cinderella

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

, '' Aschenbroedel'' in 1900, Strauss having died in 1899 leaving a completed draft of the work lacking its

orchestration Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra (or, more loosely, for any musical ensemble, such as a concert band) or of adapting music composed for another medium for an orchestra. Also called "instrumentation", orc ...

. Earlier, Bayer commemorated Strauss'

golden anniversary A golden jubilee marks a 50th anniversary. It variously is applied to people, events, and nations. Bangladesh In Bangladesh, golden jubilee refers the 50th anniversary year of the separation from Pakistan and is called in Bengali ''"সু� ...

as conductor and

with Bayer's specially composed ballet "Rund um Wien" in 1894, which was performed at the Vienna State Opera. Bayer also composed several

operettas Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

including ''Der Chevalier von San Marco'' (1882), ''Mister Menelaus'' (1896), ''Fräulein Hexe'' (1898), ''Der Polizeichef'' (1904), ''Spitzbub & Cie'' (1907), and ''Das Damenduell'' (1907). He is buried in the

Zentralfriedhof The Vienna Central Cemetery (german: Wiener Zentralfriedhof) is one of the largest cemeteries in the world by number of interred, and is the most well-known cemetery among Vienna's nearly 50 cemeteries. The cemetery's name is descriptive of its ...

, Vienna.

References

External links

Josef Bayer
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bayer, Josef 1852 births 1913 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century Austrian male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century male musicians Austrian Romantic composers Austrian opera composers Ballet composers Austrian male opera composers Composers from Austria-Hungary