Matthäus Stegmayer

Matthäus Stegmayer (also Matthias; 29 April 1771 – 10 May 1820) was an Austrian composer, musician, music publisher, librettist and actor. Life and career Born in Vienna, Stegmayer was the son of a master tailor and citizen of Vienna and. His sons were Karl Stegmayer (1800–1862; conductor, and the author of several montanistic half-timbering and stage plays), Ferdinand Stegmayer (1801–1863; choirmaster) and Wilhelm Stegmayer (born 1805; a child actor and later a military officer). Stegmayer was a member of the Wiener Sängerknaben in the Dominican Church, Vienna and attended the Akademische Gymnasium from 1783 to 1789, but following his inclination he joined the acting society of Johann Christian Kunz and in 1790 the troupe of Christof Ludwig Seipp in Bratislava, with whom he travelled the Austrian provinces. From 1792, he started to compose incidental music for the stage with Seipp, his first work being the music for August von Kotzebue’s Singspiel Der Eremit von Formentara. In the same year, he was engaged at the Theater in der Josefstadt as a young lover. From 1796, he worked at Emanuel Schikaneder’s Theater auf der Wieden as a composer, comic actor and playwright. From 1801, he