Franz Schoberlechner

Franz Schoberlechner, born Franz de Paula Jakob Schoberlechner in Vienna on 21 July 1797 and deceased in Berlin on 7 January 1843, was a German composer and pianist known primarily for his virtuosic piano writing and active concert career across Europe. A student of Johann Nepomuk Hummel, he made his debut remarkably early: at the age of ten he performed a concerto composed specifically for him by Hummel, and at twelve he premiered Hummel’s Second Piano Concerto. He later studied composition in Vienna under Emanuel Alois Förster, and by the age of fourteen he appeared publicly with a piano concerto and a symphony of his own composition.

Beginning in 1814, Schoberlechner undertook extensive concert tours. During his stay in Florence he composed a Requiem dedicated to the Grand Duke of Tuscany and wrote the comic opera I Virtuosi teatrati, staged in Florence. He also served for a period as Hofkapellmeister to Duchess Marie-Louise of Austria in Lucca. After returning to Vienna in 1820, he published his first instrumental works and composed a small German opera, Der junge Onkel, which achieved a positive reception.

In 1823 he moved to Russia, where his performances in Saint Petersburg were met with great success. In 1824 he married the singer Sofia Dal-Occa, with whom he toured Italy and Germany. Returning to Saint Petersburg in 1827, he composed the opera Il Barone di Dolzheim during his wife’s three-year engagement at the Italian Opera, and during this period the young Alexander Dargomyzhsky studied piano with him. Following further travels, the couple settled in 1831 on an estate near Florence, though they continued to undertake concert tours. During this period Schoberlechner wrote the opera Rossant, later performed in Milan.

Schoberlechner’s surviving compositions include piano variations, sonatas, fantasies, and other works reflecting the brilliance of early Romantic pianism. He also composed two piano concertos, three sets of variations for piano and orchestra, and contributed a variation to Anton Diabelli’s celebrated collection Vaterländischer Künstlerverein.

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