Josef Fiala

Josef Fiala (; 3 February 1748 – 31 July 1816) was a Czech composer, oboist, viola da gamba virtuoso, cellist and pedagogue of the Classical period. Life He was born in Lochovice in Bohemia and began his musical career there as an oboist in the service of Countess Valpruga Netolická. The countess supported his studies of oboe with Jan Šťastný in Prague. He also studied violoncello and viola da gamba with František Josef Werner. In 1774, he left to Bavaria to play the oboe in the orchestra of Count Ernst Kraft von Oettingen-Wallerstein. In 1777 he moved to Munich to serve in the court orchestra of Elector Maximilian Joseph. Here he married Josefina Procházková, a daughter of his colleague from the orchestra, horn player Matyáš Procházka. That year in Munich, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart befriended Fiala and was greatly impressed by his compositions. After the death of the Elector in 1778 Mozart helped him secure a position in Salzburg. From 1778 to 1785, Fiala lived in Mozart’s birth house at Getreidegasse No. 9 in Salzburg. He was an oboist for archbishop Hieronymus von Colloredo’s orchestra and played violin and violoncello in Salzburger Landestheater. In 1785 Fiala moved to Vienna, wh