GOLDMARK, Carl
b Keszthely, Hungary, 18 May 1830
d Vienna, 2 January 1915, aged eighty-four

His father was a cantor in a synagogue, and he himself was taught music by a local schoolmaster, becoming a gifted violinist. He went to the Vienna Conservatory at the age of fourteen. In 1848 he joined a theatre orchestra in Gyor, in Hungary, but during the revolution he was arrested as a rebel and nearly shot, the mistake being discovered just in time He returned to Vienna to compose in 1850; studied in Budapest for a while and then in 1860 was back again in Vienna teaching piano. For several years he played in the orchestra of the Carl Theatre in Vienna, which inspired him to write operas.

1875 (45)

The Queen of Sheba, opera

1876 (46)

Rustic Wedding, symphony

1886 (56)

Merlin, opera

1896 (66)

The Cricket on the Hearth, opera

1908 (78)

A Winter's Tale, opera