Pokorny, Franz (actually, František Xaver Jan)

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Pokorny, Franz (actually, František Xaver Jan)

Pokorny, Franz (actually, František Xaver Jan) , Bohemian clarinetist, conductor, and composer; b. Lstiboř, Dec. 22, 1797; d. Meidling, near Vienna, Aug. 7, 1850. He was a clarinetist in the Josefstadt Theater orch. from 1819 to 1822, and then in the theater orchs. in Pressburg and Baden (1822–27). In 1827 he was made conductor and in 1835 director of the Pressburg Theater. He also was director of the Baden Theater (from 1836) and the Josefstadt Theater in Vienna (from 1837). In 1845 he purchased the Theater an der Wien in the latter city, but continued to serve as director of the Josefstadt Theater as well. He composed the successful Singspiel Der Zauberschleier (1842).

—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire