Mayseder, Joseph

1789-1863

Violin virtuoso, whose brilliance and elegance of execution won for him the foremost position on the concertstage at Vienna, his native town. At the age of eight he became the pupil of Suche and Wranitzky, making his first public appearance in Augarten in 1800. Eleven years later he received the Gold Salvator Medal, and in 1816 he entered the Court Chapel, becoming solo-violin in the Court Theatre in 1820, and chamber-violinist to the Emperor in 1835. While still very young, Schuppanzigh, who took great interest in him, gave him the position of second violin in his famous quartet. As early as 1812 he was considered by Spohr himself to be the greatest violinist in Vienna. He received the order of Franz-Jose'ph from the Emperor of Austria in 1862. In concert work he gave concerts with Merk, the violoncellist, and with Hummel, Moscheles and Guiliani, but after 1837 he never appeared in public. He could scarcely be prevailed upon to play in strange cities, and his only performance when he visited Paris in 1820 was at a small gathering of distinguished musicians, among them Kreutzer, Lafont, Cherubim, Baudiot, Habeneck and Viotti. He was greatly admired for beauty and purity of tone and surety of touch. He published sixty-three works, with the exception of one mass, all being chamber-music, concertos, polonaises, quartets, etudes and duets for violin, and trios and sonatas for piano.