Meet Josef Labor!
Soon Josef Labor sr. who was amongst the circle of Schubert's friends, the young Josef was born in Bohemia in 1842.
t the age of three, he survived smallpox, but the illness left him blind.
Attending the Institute for Blind People in Vienna, the studied composition under Simon Sechter (Bruckner's teacher) and piano.
Thanks to his carrer as renowed pianist, he became friend of King Georg V of Hanover, also blind.
He met and become friend with some of the greatest musical figures of his time (Johannes Brahms, Clara Schumann, Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss), and gave piano lessons to Alma Schindler (later Mahler), Arnold Schoenberg and Paul Wittgenstein. When Wittgenstein lost his right harm during World War I, Josef Labor was the first person he asked for a piece for left hand alone (followed by Ravel's Concerto, Britten's Diversions, and a lot of others).
Died in 1924, this very important composer – both for his relation with the musical world and for his importance about visibility of people with disability – is now almost forgotten.
Let's try, as usual for my channel, to give him back the fame he deserves, with three chamber pieces:
his Cello Sonata
his Violin Sonata
The Quintet's theme was later used by Franz Schmidt for the variations in his own Clarinet Quintet.
Enjoy!
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