Johann Baptist Gänsbacher

Johann Baptist Gänsbacher ( born May 8, 1778 in Sterzing, † July 13, 1844 in Vienna) was an Austrian composer, conductor and band leader.

Life

In his childhood and youth he was a choirboy in Innsbruck and Hall, later in Bolzano. In Innsbruck he began at the end of the 18th century to study philosophy and justice, before he studied in Vienna and Darmstadt composition with Georg Joseph Vogler and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Antonio Salieri from 1801.

In the years 1806 to 1810 was followed by longer trips, which it, inter alia, led to Prague, Dresden, Mannheim and Heidelberg. During this time he completed acquaintances with renowned composers of his time, here are Carl Maria von Weber and Giacomo Meyerbeer mentioned. He then worked as a composer and music teacher. In 1813 he entered the military service in 1815 and initiated the military music of the Tyrolean Imperial fighter.

In 1823 he was appointed as Director of Music at St. Stephen's Cathedral. He held until his death in 1844 this position.

His compositions include fairs, Requiem, Vespers, Litanies and chamber music as well as songs, vocal and instrumental works. Gänsbacher composed both secular as well as sacred music, which he created almost exclusively sacred music during his position as Director of Music. Among his early works are also several commissioned works. During the period of his military affiliation he also created works for brass band, mainly marches. The number of his compositions in the hundreds.

It rests on the Vienna Central Cemetery (Group 0, number 1, number 61 ), next to his son Joseph Gänsbacher, where he had been transferred from the St. Marx Cemetery. In 1894 in Vienna Landstrasse ( 3rd district ) and Simmering ( 11th district ) named the Gänsbachergasse after him.

Works (selection)

• Concerto in E Flat Major for Clarinet and Orchestra, Op 24
• Symphony in D major
• Marches " Alexander March"
• " Jubilee March"

• Mass in E flat major "Pro Bolzano "
• Missa No.5 in C major "Pro Kaltern "
• No fair. 2 in C major
• Solemn Mass in D Major
• Mass in B- flat major, Op 32