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WOELFL, JOSEPH (1772--1812)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 768 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WOELFL, See also:JOSEPH (1772--1812) , See also:Austrian pianist and composer, was See also:born in 1772 at See also:Salzburg, where he studied See also:music under See also:Leopold See also:Mozart and See also:Michael See also:Haydn. After a See also:short See also:residence at See also:Warsaw he produced his first See also:opera, Der Hollenberg, with some success at See also:Vienna, where it was soon followed by Das sell Me Milchmadchen and some other dramatic pieces. His fame now rests upon his compositions for the See also:pianoforte, and the skill with which he is said to have met their formidable demands upon his See also:power as an executant. The perfection of his technique was immeasurably enhanced by the enormous stretch of his fingers (his See also:hand could strike a thirteenth with ease); and to his wide grasp of the See also:keyboard he owed a facility of See also:execution which he turned to excellent See also:account, especially in his extempore performances. His technique was See also:superior even to that of the See also:young See also:Beethoven, who played in See also:company with him at the See also:house of See also:Count See also:Wetzlar, and in memory of this See also:exhibition of See also:good-humoured rivalry he dedicated to Beethoven his " Three Sonatas," Op. 6. Quitting Vienna in 1798, he exhibited his skill in most of the See also:great See also:European capitals, and, after spending some years in See also:Paris, made his first See also:appearance in See also:London on the 27th of May 1805. Here he enjoyed a See also:long See also:term of popularity, crowned about 18o8 by the publication of his See also:sonata, Op. 41, containing some See also:variations on " See also:Life let us cherish." This, on account of its technical difficulty, he entitled Non Plus Ultra; and, in reply to the See also:challenge, See also:Dussek's London publishers reprinted a sonata by that composer, originally called Le Retour d Paris, with the See also:title Plus Ultra, and an ironical See also:dedication to Non Plus Ultra. Woelfl died in Great Marylebone See also:Street, London, on the 21st of May 1812.

End of Article: WOELFL, JOSEPH (1772--1812)

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