Wagner, Karl Jakob

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Wagner, Karl Jakob

Wagner, Karl Jakob, German oboist, conductor, and composer; b. Darmstadt, Feb. 22, 1772; d. there, Nov. 24, 1822. He was apprenticed to the Darmstadt Hofkapelle when he was 16, becoming a member of its orch. as violinist and horn player at 18; he studied theory with Abbé Vogler. In 1800 he was named master of military music; after touring as a concert artist, he was active in Paris (1805-11), then returned to Darmstadt as Hofkapellmeister (1811-20). He wrote 4 operas for Darmstadt, Der Zahnarzt (1803), Pygmalion (1809), Siuph und Nitetis (1811), and Chimene (1821), as well as incidental music to plays, orch. pieces, chamber music, vocal works, and piano pieces.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire