A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Seyfried, Ignaz
SEYFRIED, Ignaz Xaver, Ritter von, born Aug. 15, 1776, in Vienna, was originally intended for the law, but his talent for music was so decided, that, encouraged by Peter Winter, he determined to become a professional musician. In this, his intimacy with Mozart and subsequent acquaintance with Beethoven were of much use. His teachers were Kozeluch for the PF. and organ, and Haydn for theory. In 1797 he became joint conductor of Schikaneder's theatre with Henneberg, a post he retained in the new Theater an der Wien, from its opening in 1801 till 1826. The first work he produced there was a setting of Schikaneder's comic opera 'Der Löwenbrunnen' (1797), and the second, a grand opera 'Der Wundermann am Rheinfall' (1799), on which Haydn wrote him a very complimentary letter. These were succeeded by innumerable operas great and small, operettas, singspiele, music for melodramas, plays (including some by Schiller and Grillparzer), ballets, and pantomimes. Specially successful were his biblical dramas, 'Saul, König von Israel' (1810), 'Abraham' (1817), 'Die Maccabaër,' and 'Die Israeliten in der Wüste.' The music to 'Ahasverus' (1823) he arranged from piano pieces of Mozart's, and the favourite singspiel 'Die Ochsenmenuette' (1823) (an adaptation of Hofmann's vaudeville 'Le menuet du bœuf) was a similar pasticcio from Haydn's works. His church music, widely known and partly printed, included many masses and requiems, motets, offertoires, graduales, a 'Libera' for men's voices composed for Beethoven's funeral, etc. Seyfried also contributed articles to Schilling's 'Universal Lexikon der Tonkunst,' Schumann's 'Neue Zeitschrift für Musik,' the 'Leipziger Allg. Zeitung,' and 'Cäcilia,' besides editing Albrechtsberger's complete works—the 'Generalbass-Schule,' 'Compositionslehre,' and a Supplement in 3 vols. on playing from score (Haslinger)—and Beethoven's Studies in Counterpoint. Herr Nottebohm's critical investigations have reduced this last work to its proper value. [See vol. i. 209 and ii. 479.]
Seyfried was elected an honorary or a corresponding member of innumerable musical societies, at home and abroad. His pupils included Louis Schlosser, Karl Krebs, Heinrich Ernst, Skiwa, Baron Joseph Pasqualati, Carl Lewy, Heissler, Kessler, J. Fischhof, Sulzer, Carl Haslinger, Parish-Alvars, R. Mulder, S. Kuhe, Walther von Goethe, Baron Hermann Lowenskiold, F. von Suppé, Köhler, and Basadona.
His closing years were saddened by misfortune, and his death took place Aug. 27, 1841. He rests in the Währinger cemetery (Ortsfriedhof), near Beethoven and Schubert.