Ignaz Lachner

Ignaz Lachner (11 September 1807 – 24 February 1895) was a German composer and conductor. Lachner was born into a musical family at Rain am Lech. He was the second of the three famous Lachner brothers. Lachner's brothers Franz and Vinzenz were also composers. His older brother Franz was the best known, having heavily traded on his youthful friendship with Franz Schubert, certainly more than Ignaz who also knew Schubert. Ignaz was taught (as were the others) organ, piano and violin. Upon the latter instrument, he was somewhat of a prodigy, but despite this, his father insisted he become a teacher. After his father’s death, he studied violin with Bernhard Molique, a violin virtuoso and then joined his brother Franz in Vienna, where he too befriended and was influenced by Schubert. Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven were also influences. In 1826, he became organist at the Reformed Church in Vienna and then a member of the orchestra at the Hofoperntheater.