Johann Nepomuk Hummel

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was among Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri’s best students. He also studied under Joseph Haydn. Hummel significantly influenced later piano music of the nineteenth century, particularly in the works of Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt, and Felix Mendelssohn. Life Early life Hummel was born in Pressburg, Kingdom of Hungary (now Bratislava, Slovakia). Unusually for that period, he was an only child. He was named after the Czech patron saint John of Nepomuk. His father, Johannes Hummel, was a violinist and music teacher who served in the household orchestra of Count Grassalkovich and later as orchestra director at the Pressburg Theatre before becoming music director at the military academy in Wartberg (now Senec, Slovakia) around 1780. Following the dissolution of this institution under Joseph II’s reforms, the family relocated to Vienna in late 1786 or early 1787, where Johannes became music director at the Theater auf der Wieden and later at the Apollo-Tanzsaal. His mother, Margarethe Sommer Hummel,