Anton Teyber
1756-1822
Anton Yeyber was born in Vienna in 1756, enjoyed great success in the city and eventually died there. Today he is almost unknown, but why?
Read on.
A contemporary of Mozart (the Teyber and Mozart families were good friends) Teyber’s father was a a violinist in the Hofkapelle in Vienna.
Teyber studied music from an early age and toured the capitals of the Europe seeking to improve and broaden his horizons. He was sufficiently renowned for his performances to come to the attention of the imperial court in Vienna.
The Emperor Leopold II hired him to serve as the deputy of Salieri in the orchestra of the Court Opera. Then in 1793, under Leopold’s successor Anton was employed as composer in the Court chamber orchestra.
He was music teacher to all the children in the royal family and he remained at the Imperial Court in Vienna for 30 years until his death in 1822.
His obscurity though, may be due entirely to an act of kindness. Following his death, Archduke Rudolf bought Teyber's entire musical estate from his widow which gave her some financial security. Unfortunately it seems to have resulted in Teyber’s (considerable) collection of music never seeing the light of day.
Very few pieces ever made it into print.
Happily the piece below is one of them:
It's OK, but bit like Mozart having an off day. What did this Archduke Rudolf do with the music, do we know? Why did it mostly disappear? Is there a sequel to "Amadeus" hiding in plain sight?!
The violas & cellos had a big part in this which was fun. I liked it but it’s not something I’d rush to listen to again. Thank you though, for another unknown to be rightly highlighted.