Wenzel Müller

File:Wenzel Müller.jpg

Wenzel Müller, lithograph by Georg Decker

Wenzel Müller (26 September 1767 – 3 August 1835) was an Austrian composer and conductor. He is regarded as the most prolific opera composer of all time with his 166 operas.

Life and career

Müller was born in Markt Türnau, in Moravia. He studied with Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and performed as a theatre musician in his youth. In 1786 he became Kapellmeister at the Theater in der Leopoldstadt in Leopoldstadt, Vienna. After several years at the German theatre in Prague from 1807 until 1813, he returned to Leopoldstadt, where he worked until 1830. Under his leadership, the theatre became one of the most important venues in Viennese musical life. He died in Baden bei Wien.

He was a popular and prolific composer, producing more than 250 works. Although he wrote several popular stage works (mostly Singspiele), his art songs are his enduring legacy. Often possessing witty music and lyrics or expressing a great deal of tenderness, Müller's songs were immensely popular and some of the works he wrote with Ferdinand Raimund remain in the Viennese repertory. His opera provided the theme for Beethoven's "Kakadu Variations" for piano trio, Opus 121a. He is said to have composed what has been falsely known as Mozart's Twelfth Mass, K. Anh. 232, the Missa in G major K. Anh. 232 (C1.04).

Müller was married twice, and his second wife was Magdalena Valley Reining. He had children named Therese (1791–1876), Caroline (1814–1868), Ottilia (1816–1817), Carl (born 1815) and Joseph (born 1816), all of whom became opera singers. On 3 August 1835, Müller died of natural causes in Baden bei Wien, Austria, at the age of 67.

Stage works

Title	Genre	Sub­divisions	Libretto	Première date	Place, theatre
Harlekin auf dem Parade Beth oder Nach dem Schlimmen folgt das Gute	große Pantomime		Template:HsAnton Baumann	Template:Hs1784; 14 May 1790	Brno; Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDas Sonnenfest der Braminen	heroisch-komisches Singspiel	2 acts	Template:HsKarl Friedrich Hensler	Template:Hs9 September 1790	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:Ill	Singspiel	3 acts	Template:HsJoachim Perinet	Template:Hs8 June 1791	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDas neue Sonntagskind	Singspiel	2 acts	Template:HsJoachim Perinet, after Philipp Hafner	Template:Hs10 October 1793	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDie Schwestern von Prag	Singspiel	2 acts	Template:HsJoachim Perinet, after Philipp Hafner	Template:Hs11 March 1794	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDas lustige Beylager	Singspiel	2 acts	Template:HsJoachim Perinet, after Philipp Hafner	Template:Hs14 February 1797	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDie Teufels Mühle am Wienerberg	Schauspiel mit Gesang	4 acts	Template:HsCarl Friedrich Hensler/Leopold Huber	Template:Hs12 November 1799	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDie Belagerung von Ypsilon oder Evakathel und Schnudi	Karikaturoperette	2 acts	Template:HsJoachim Perinet, after Philipp Hafner	Template:Hs4 May 1804	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Javima	Oper	3 acts		Template:Hs21 May 1807 Prague	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Samson	Melodram	3 acts	Template:HsJoseph Anton Schuster	Template:Hs1808	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Simon Plattkopf, der Unsichtbare	Singspiel	1 act	Template:HsKarl Ludwig Costenoble	Template:Hs1809	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDie Wunderlampe	Zauberoper	4 acts	Template:HsJosef Alois Gleich	Template:Hs1810	Prague
Template:HsDer Fiaker al Marquis	komische Oper	3 acts	Adolf Bäuerle	Template:Hs10 February 1816	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Aline oder Wien in einem andern Welttheil	Zauberoper	3 acts	Template:HsAdolf Bäuerle	Template:Hs9 October 1822	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDer Barometermacher auf der Zauberinsel	Zauberposse	2 acts	Template:HsFerdinand Raimund	Template:Hs18 December 1823	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDer schwarze See oder Der Blasebalgmacher und der Geist	Zauberspiel	2 acts	Lenz?	Template:Hs4 February 1825	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsHerr Josef und Frau Baberl	Posse	3 acts	Gleich	Template:Hs11 May 1826	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDie gefesselte Phantasie	Zauberspiel	2 acts	Template:HsFerdinand Raimund	Template:Hs8 January 1828	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt
Template:HsDer Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind	romantisch-komisches Zauberspiel	2 acts	Template:HsFerdinand Raimund	Template:Hs17 October 1828	Vienna, Theater in der Leopoldstadt

Sources

• Peter Branscombe. "Müller, Wenzel." Template:Link note The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992), Template:ISBN and Template:ISBN

External links

• Short biography at aieou Template:In lang
• Selected works
• Free scores by Wenzel Müller in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Free scores by Wenzel Müller at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Template:PAGENAMEBASE
• Template:Cite NIE