Ludwig Streicher was a contrabass

Contrabass

Contrabass refers to a musical instrument of very low pitch; generally those pitched one octave below instruments of the bass register...

ist from Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

. Familiar to many as the former principal bass of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

The Vienna Philharmonic is an orchestra in Austria, regularly considered one of the finest in the world....

 and leading bass soloist, he is also known as a self-taught instructor and as the author of a popular contrabass textbook.

Career

Entering the Vienna Music Academy at the age of 14, Streicher graduated in 1940 and spent the next four years serving as principal bass at the Kraków

Kraków

Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...

 National Theater. In 1945 he joined the Vienna Philharmonic and spent 19 years (1954 - 1973) as principal. After 1966, Streicher devoted his time to instructing young students at the Vienna Musical Theater Academy and at the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía

Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía

The Queen Sofía College of Music is a private music college founded in Madrid, Spain, in 1991 by Paloma O'Shea...

 (Queen Sofía College of Music) in Madrid.

After leaving the Vienna Philharmonic, Streicher contributed to the contrabass's development as a solo instrument. Performing solo, Streicher was able to showcase the expressive power of the instrument. As a soloist he recorded pieces ranging from Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf

----August Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf was an Austrian composer, violinist and silvologist.-1739-1764:...

's 18th century compositions to contemporary contrabass pieces.