Franz Seraphin Lauska was a Moravia

Moravia

Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...

n pianist, composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

, and teacher of Giacomo Meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...

. Lauska was considered "one of the most brilliant executants of his time."

Biography

Lauska may have been a student of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger

Johann Georg Albrechtsberger was an Austrian musician who was born at Klosterneuburg, near Vienna.He originally studied music at Melk Abbey and philosophy at a Benedictine seminary in Vienna and became one of the most learned and skillful contrapuntists of his age...

 while studying in Vienna in 1784. He also spent time in Italy, played chamber music while serving at the Bavarian court in Munich, taught in Copenhagen from 1794 to 1798, and then moved to Berlin. There he performed as a pianist, wrote music, and was a piano teacher of the Prussian

Kingdom of Prussia

The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...

 royal family and the young Giacomo Meyerbeer. He conducted the Sing-Akademie

Berlin Singakademie

The Sing-Akademie zu Berlin is a musical society founded in Berlin in 1791 by Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch, harpsichordist to the court of Prussia, on the model of the 18th century London Academy of Ancient Music.-Early history:...

 in rehearsals while Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter

Carl Friedrich Zelter was a German composer, conductor and teacher of music.Zelter became friendly with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and his works include settings of Goethe's poems...

 was away in 1802 and later became a member of Zelter's Liedertafel

Tafelmusik (musical term)

Tafelmusik is a term used since the mid-16th century for music played at feasts and banquets. Often the term was also used as a title for collections of music, some of which was intended to be so used...

. Lauska probably knew Beethoven, for whom he read proofs, and was friends with Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria von Weber

Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, guitarist and critic, one of the first significant composers of the Romantic school....

, who dedicated his second sonata in A-flat major to Lauska.

Works

Lauska wrote a great deal of piano music (approximately 25 sonatas, rondos, variations, polonaises, capriccios, etc.), much of it technically undemanding and intended for beginners, amateurs, and his pupils. His music is uncomplicated and typical of the musical style at the time. The following list of works is incomplete.

• Piano music:
  • Grande Sonate, Op. 1, for harpsichord or piano (Hamburg, ca. 1795)
  • Menuette varié, for piano, on a theme from Sonata, op. 1 (Copenhagen, no date)
  • Grande Sonate, Op. 4, for harpsichord or piano (Hamburg, ca. 1797)
  • Eine grosse Sonate für's Pianoforte, Op. 6 (Hamburg, 1797)
  • Sonata, Op. 7, for piano (Hamburg, 1797)
  • Eight variations for piano on the air "Ich küsse dich o Schleier" from Geister Insel by Reichard (Munich, 1799)
  • Grande Sonate, Op. 9 (Hamburg, ca. 1800)
  • Grande Sonate, Op. 10 (Hamburg, ca. 1800)
  • Sonata, Op. 20, for piano (Leipzig, ca. 1812)
  • Polonaise, Op. 23 (Leipzig, ca. 1815)
  • Polonoise, Op. 25 (Leipzig, ca. 1809)
  • Sonata, Op. 26 (Leipzig, ca. 1810)
  • Rondeau and polonaise, Op. 27 (Berlin, ca. 1815)
  • Deux grandes polonaises en forme de rondeau, Op. 29 (Berlin, ca. 1812)
  • Capriccio, Op. 32, for piano (Leipzig, ca. 1815)
  • Grande Sonate, Op. 34 (Berlin, no date)
  • Sonata, Op. 35 (Berlin, no date)
  • Capriccio and Polacca, Op. 36, for piano (Leipzig, ca. 1819)
  • Sonate brillante, Op. 37 (Leipzig, ca. 1818)
  • Polonoise, Op. 42, for piano (Leipzig, no. date)
  • Rondeaux brillants et agréables, Op. 44 (Leipzig, ca. 1820)
  • Sonate agreeable, Op. 46 (Leipzig, no date)
  • Der Fackeltanz, for piano four hands (Berlin, ca. 1823)
• Chamber music:
  • Sonate facile, Op. 18, for piano and violin (Munich, 1802–1803)
  • Sonata, Op. 28, for piano and cello (Berlin, ca. 1812)
  • Introduzzione e rondoletto for piano and cello (Berlin, ca. 1818–1819)
  • Concerto for harpsichord or piano and orchestra
• Vocal music:
  • Neun deutsche Lieder und Variationen, Op. 2, for voice and piano (Hamburg, 1792)
  • Lied von den Militair-Eleven (Munich, 1806)
  • Twelve songs for voice and guitar (Hamburg, before 1821)
  • Fünf Tafel-Lieder für Männerstimmen, for the Liedertafel in Berlin (Berlin, ca. 1826)
  • Mass
  • Quando corpus morietur for 4 voices (1825)

Sources

• Brzoska, Matthias (2001). "Meyerbeer [Beer], Giacomo [Jakob Liebmann Meyer]" in Sadie 2001.
• Meyerbeer, Giacomo; Letellier, Robert Ignatius, editor (1999). The Diaries of Giacomo Meyerbeer, Volume 1, 1791–1839. Madison, New Jersey: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. ISBN 9780838637890.
• Thompson, Oscar; Bohle, Bruce, editors (1975). The International Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (tenth edition, edited by Bruce Bohle). New York: Dodd, Mead. ISBN 9780396070054.
• Sadie, Stanley, editor (2001). The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd edition. London: Macmillan. ISBN 9781561592395 (hardcover). (eBook).
• Wagner, Undine (2001). "Lauska [Louska, Lausca], Franz [Franz Seraphicus; Franz Seraphinus; František Ignác]" in Sadie 2001.