Maurice Strakosch
Maurice Strakosch , also Moritz Strakosch (born January 15, 1825 in Groß Seelowitz , Austrian Empire , † October 9, 1887 in Paris ) was a Czech-American composer and concert entrepreneur.
Life
Strakosch made his debut as a pianist in Brno at the age of eleven with a piano concerto by Johann Nepomuk Hummel . A year later he went to Vienna and studied piano with Simon Sechter at the Conservatory . Dreaming of becoming a great opera tenor, he accepted a job as a singer at the Zagreb Opera House . He later went to Italy, where Giuditta Pasta promoted him. She gave him singing lessons, but at the same time convinced him to pursue a career as a pianist .
In 1848 he came to New York at the invitation of the singer Salvatore Patti , whom he had met at a concert in 1843. He successfully organized a music festival with the Pattis opera company and then went on a tour of the USA with his daughter Amelia Patti and Teresa Parodi , a student of Giuditta Pasta. In 1852 he married Amelia Patti.
From 1855 Strakosch directed his own opera company. At the same time he had some success as a composer of piano pieces, and in 1857 his opera Don Giovanni di Napoli was performed in New York. He traveled through the USA with the Norwegian violinist Ole Bull as his piano accompanist. Strakosch worked as impresario for his sisters-in-law Adelina and Carlotta , as well as for Christine Nilsson , Gabrielle Krauss and Marie Heilbron . In Paris, not long before his death, he published his memoirs Souvenirs of an Impresario . His younger brother Max Strakosch was also known as an opera impresario.
literature
- Constantin von Wurzbach : Strakosch, Moriz . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 39th part. Imperial and Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1879, p. 229 f. ( Digitized version ).
- U. Harten: Strakosch Mori (t) z. In: Austrian Biographical Lexicon 1815–1950 (ÖBL). Volume 13, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2007–2010, ISBN 978-3-7001-6963-5 , p. 349 f. (Direct links on p. 349 , p. 350 ).
- Strakosch, Maurice . In: James Grant Wilson, John Fiske (Eds.): Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography . tape 5 : Pickering - Sumter . D. Appleton and Company, New York 1888, p. 716 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
- Obituary for Maurice Strakosch. (PDF) In: New York Times , October 11, 1887
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Strakosch, Maurice |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Strakosch, Moritz |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Czech-American composer and concert entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 15, 1825 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Gross Seelowitz |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 9, 1887 |
| Place of death | Paris |