Umlauf, Ignaz
Umlauf, Ignaz
Umlauf, Ignaz, Austrian violist, conductor, and composer, father of Michael Umlauf ; b. Vienna, 1746; d. Meidling, near Vienna, June 8,1796. By 1772 he was 4thviolist in the Vienna court orch., and by 1775 he was principal violist in the German Theater orch. there, where he was made Kapellmeister in 1778. By 1782 he was deputy court Kapellmeister under Salieri. He was a highly popular composer of Singspiels. He inaugurated the season of the German Singspiels at the Burg Theater(Feb. 17, 1778) with his piece Die Bergknappen (ed. by R. Haas in Denkmäler der Tonkunst in Österreich, XXXVI, Jg. XVIII/1, 1911). His other Singspiels, all first performed in Vienna, were Die Insul der Liebe (17727), Die Apotheke (June 20, 1778), Die schöne Schusterin oder Die pücefarbenen Schuhe (June 22, 1779), Das Irrlicht oder Endlich fand er sie (Jan. 17, 1782), Welche ist die beste Nation? (Dec. 13, 1782), Die glücklichen Jäger (Feb. 17, 1786), and Der Ring der Liebe oder Zemirens und Azor s Ehestand (Dec. 3,1786). “Zu Steffan sprach im Traume,” an aria from Das Irrlicht,enjoyed great popularity; Eberl wrote a set of variations on it that was misattributed to Mozart. He also wrote a Piano Concerto, a Concerto for two Pianos, some chamber music, and sacred vocal pieces.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire