Sigismund Neukomm

Sigismund Neukomm Sheet Music

  • Born: 10th July 1778
  • Died: 3rd April 1858
  • Birthplace: Salzburg, Austria

Sigismond Neukomm or Sigismund Ritter von Neukomm [after ennoblement as a knight] was an Austrian composer and pianist. Neukomm first studied with the organist Weissauer and later studied theory under Michael Haydn, though his studies at Salzburg University were in philosophy and mathematics. He became honorary organist at the Salzburg University church in 1792, and was appointed chorus-master at the Salzburg court theater in 1796. Neukomm was kapellmeister at St. Petersburg's German theatre from 1804 to 1809, and in the 1810s he spent time in Brazil, South America, where he popularized the works of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Mozart. He worked at D. João VI's court in Rio de Janeiro. His works had some currency in the nineteenth century: Johann Nepomuk Hummel's op. 123 is a Fantasie for Piano on themes by Hummel and von Neukomm. Boston's Handel and Haydn Society, for example, gave 55 performances of his oratorio David during the 1830s.