Franz Mair
Franz Mair (15 March 1821 – 30 November 1893) was an Austrian composer and choral conductor, and founder of the Wiener Schubertbund, a choir that still exists today.
Life
Mair was born in Weikendorf in northeast Austria in 1821, son of a teacher. From 1843 to 1852 he was his father's school assistant; he moved after his father's death to Vienna, where he was a primary school teacher and district school inspector. From 1854 he was a member of the choir Wiener Männergesang-Verein. In 1861 he became assistant director of the choir; he resigned in 1862 after differences with the director Johann von Herbeck. From 1858 to 1861 he was assistant director of the newly founded Wiener Singakademie.[1][2]
In 1863 he founded in Vienna the Lehrersängerchor Schubertbund ("the teachers' choral Schubert society"). It was originally affiliated to a teachers' association, to which its 86 founding members belonged. The reference to Franz Schubert was significant in that Schubert was from a family of teachers, himself having been at one time a teacher. In 1870 the choir left the teachers' association, and was renamed Schubertbund. (In 1922, to distinguish the choir from others with a similar name, it became the Wiener Schubertbund.)[3]
He directed the choir until 1890. From 1867 to 1874 and from 1879 to 1890 he was director of the Singer's Association of Lower Austria. Mair died in Vienna in 1893.[1][2]
Compositions
Works include music for the stage, works for choir with orchestra, songs, piano works and chamber music.[2]
References
- "Mair, Franz" Österriechisches Musiklexikon Online. Retrieved 15 February 2021.
- "Mair, Franz (1821-1893), Musiker und Schulmann" Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
- "Schubertbund, Wiener (WSB)" Österriechisches Musiklexikon Online. Retrieved 15 February 2021.