Schnyder von Wartensee, Xavier

1786-1868

 

Piano teacher and composer; born of a noble family at Lucerne. Until 1810 he studied music alone, and then went to Zurich and to Vienna, hoping to study with Beethoven, but, disappointed in this, he became the pupil of Kienlen. He returned to Switzerland and taught for a while at the Pestalozzian Institute at Yverdun. In 1817 he settled at Frankfort, where he spent the rest of his life as a teacher of composition and director of different musical institutions. He was a man of unusual ability; wrote both poetry and prose, and often contributed articles to the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung and the Cacilia. His compositions included a fairy opera, Fortunat mit dem Sackel und Wunschhutlein; oratorio, Zeit und Ewigkeit; two symphonies; many Swiss male choruses; cantatas, and songs, both sacred and secular; and a piano sonata.