Joseph Eybler - Divertisment für Fasching Dienstag, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken und Kaiserslautern, Reinhard Goebel (conductor)
I. Entrada - Marcia - 00:00
II. Contredanza - 02:04
III. Allemande - 8:44
Joseph Leopold Eybler (8 February 1765 - 24 July 1846) was an Austrian composer and contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
He was born into a musical family, his father was a choirmaster and schoolteacher. He studied music at the Stephansdom, the cathedral school of St. Stephen's Boys College in Vienna from 1776 thru 1779 until the choir school closed. He then took up the study of law but his home burned down in a fire in 1782. Without any financial support he was forced to make a living with music. He utilized choral skills to help coach the singers and conduct them to performances.
He studied composition with the noted composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Joseph Haydn, his distant cousin and friend, helped him and gave him music lessons as well financial support. Mozart also gave him music lessons.
In 1792 Constanze Mozart asked Eybler to complete her husband's Requiem. Eybler tried but could not complete the commission perhaps, it is thought, because of his great respect for the music of his friend Mozart. (Franz Xaver Süßmayr completed the task).
Eybler became the choir director for the Carmelite Church in Vienna and the court music teacher for Empress Maria Teresia.
In 1804 Eybler was appointed Vice Court Kapellmeister alongside Antonio Salieri. He became the Hofkapellmeister after the death of Salieri.
In 1833 he had a stroke while conducting Mozart's Requiem and for his service to the Court, he was raised to the nobility in 1835 and became known as Joseph Leopold Edler von Eybler. He died in July 24th 1846.
Eybler became known more for his friendship with Mozart than as a composer. Vocal compositions by Eybler included masses, graduals, offertories, cantatas, songs, and instrumental works included overtures, chamber music, and variations. Characteristics of his musical compositions demonstrate the influence of Mozart and Haydn.