Edmund Eysler

Edmund Samuel Eysler (12 March 1874 – 4 October 1949), was an Austrian composer. Biography Edmund Eysler was born in Vienna to a merchant family. He was supposed to enter the engineering profession, but his acquaintance with Leo Fall led him to study music at the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied composition under Robert Fuchs, and became educated as a piano teacher and Kapellmeister. After completing his degree with many plaudits, Eysler made ends meet by teaching piano. In 1898, he married Poldi Allnoch, with whom he had two daughters, and in 1901, he found a position as a Kapellmeister. After that, he composed chamber music and piano pieces, as well as the opera Fest auf Solhaug (Celebration on Solhaug), and the ballet Schlaraffenland. Through a magnanimous relative, Eysler met the librettist Ignaz Schnitzer, who was compiling the text for Zigeunerbaron (Gypsy King). Eysler was given the task of setting this text to the opera Der Hexenspiegel (The Witches’ Mirror) by Schnitzer. Originally, the work was supposed to be staged at the Vienna Court Opera upon completion, but it was spurned by the director for having overly simple music. Josef Weinberger encouraged Eysler to turn