Becher, Alfred Julius

1803-1848

Teacher, editor and composer. He was born, of German parentage, at Manchester, England, and met his death at Vienna, in which city he was tried by court-martial for political offenses and condemned to death. He left England in his childhood and went to live in Germany. Was trained for the profession of law, and practised for awhile at Elberfeld. He studied music at Heidelberg, Berlin, and elsewhere, and in 1840, was appointed teacher of harmony at the London Royal Academy of Music. The following year Becher moved to Vienna, where he served as musical critic of the Wiener Musik-Zeitung and the Sontagsblatter. Of extreme revolutionary views, as editor of Der Radikale, he came under the ban of the Government, and was shot by order of the court-martial. He is the author of many songs and pieces for the piano, and of the two pamphlets, Jenny Lind: eine Skizze ihres Leben; Das niederrheinische Musikfest, assthetish u historisch betrachtet.