Josef Mayseder

Josef Mayseder was an Austrian violinist, chamber musician and composer. A student of Paul Wranitzky, Ignaz Schuppanzigh and Emanuel Förster, he debuted in Vienna at the age of eleven. From 1810 he served as concertmaster of the Court Opera orchestra, later becoming a soloist of the imperial chapel and, from 1835, imperial chamber virtuoso. He was a leading figure of Viennese chamber music: first as second violin in Schuppanzigh’s quartet and then for more than forty years as leader of his own quartet. His playing was admired for precision, elegance and refined tone.

Mayseder composed violin concertos, concertinos, duos, chamber works, guitar ensembles, seven string quartets and sacred music including a Mass (1846). His pupils included Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst, August Lanner, Heinrich Panofka, Louis Schlösser, Miska Hauser, Arthur Saint-Léon and Cesare Trombini.

Born in Vienna on 26 October 1789, Mayseder was recognized early for his musical talent and performed public concerts at the Augarten in his youth. In later years he conducted the Hofburg chapel orchestra from 1836 and organized the popular Ducaten concerts, which enhanced his reputation as one of Vienna’s most celebrated violinists of the early nineteenth century. Critics such as Eduard Hanslick and Hector Berlioz praised his noble elegance, technical certainty and brilliance.

Mayseder maintained close contact with prominent contemporaries, including Niccolò Paganini during the latter’s Viennese period. His string quartets belong to the genre of the "Quartett brillant," emphasizing a virtuoso first violin line.

He received numerous honors during his lifetime: he became an honorary citizen of Vienna in 1817, an honorary member of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, and was appointed to the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome. In 1862 he was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Franz Joseph. He also contributed to the Vaterländischer Künstlerverein. After his death on 21 November 1863, he was buried in a grave of honour in Vienna’s Central Cemetery, and Maysedergasse in the Innere Stadt was named after him in 1876.

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