Joseph Weigl

Joseph Weigl (28 March 1766 – 3 February 1846) was an Austrian composer and conductor, born in Eisenstadt, Hungary, Austrian Empire. The son of Joseph Franz Weigl (1740–1820), the principal cellist in the orchestra of the Esterházy family, he studied music under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri. He became Kapellmeister at the court theatre in Vienna in 1792, and from 1827 to 1838 was vice-Kapellmeister of the court. Weigl composed a number of operas, both Italian and German and in various genres, although most of his late works are pieces of sacred music. His best known work was the opera Die Schweizerfamilie (1809). He also set Emanuel Schikaneder's libretto Vestas Feuer (1805), after his close friend Ludwig van Beethoven had composed a single scene and then abandoned it. He died in Vienna.