Führer, Robert (Johann Nepomuk)
Führer, Robert (Johann Nepomuk)
Führer, Robert (Johann Nepomuk), Bohemian composer and organist; b. Prague, June 2, 1807; d. Vienna, Nov. 28, 1861. He studied with Johann Vitasek, and was an organist in provincial towns before succeeding his teacher as Kapellmeister at the Prague Cathedral in 1839. He became involved in fraudulent transactions and was dismissed from his post in 1845. He then held various positions as an organist and choral conductor in Vienna, Salzburg, Munich, Augsburg, and Gmunden. A series of embezzlements and other criminal offenses perpetrated by him resulted in his dismissal from several of his positions, but he continued to compose and perform. In 1856 he was Bruckner’s competitor for the post of organist in Linz, arousing great admiration for his skill, even though Bruckner was selected. He served a prison term in 1859, but was given full freedom to write music. He publ. numerous sacred works and many organ pieces as well as handbooks on harmony and organ playing. Despite his notoriously dishonest acts and professional untrustworthiness (he publ. one of Schubert’s masses under his own name), he enjoyed a fine reputation for his musicianship.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire