Sigismund von Neukomm

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sigismond or Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm (born Salzburg, July 10, 1778 - Paris, April 3, 1858) was an Austrian composer and pianist.

Neukomm first studied with the organist Weissauer and later studied theory under Michael Haydn, though his studies at Salzburg University were in philosophy and math. He became honorary organist at the Salzburg University church in 1792, and was appointed chorusmaster at the Salzburg court theater in 1796. Neukomm was kapellmeister at St. Petersburg's German Theater from 1804 to 1809, and in the 1810s he spent time in South America, where he popularized the works of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Mozart.

Neukomm's compositional output is large. He made arrangements of Haydn's works, including the oratorios The Seasons and The Creation. He wrote a clarinet quintet, several organ voluntaries, ten operas, incidental music for four plays, 48 masses, 8 oratorios, and a large body of smaller works including vocal pieces, works for piano solo, and about 200 songs.

[edit] Source

Don Randel. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Harvard, 1996, p. 633.