AUGUST WILHELM

See also:

• AUGUST WILHELM AMBROS (1816—1876)

AMBROS (1816—1876)  , Austrian composer and historian of music, was born at Mauth near Prague . His father was a cultured man, and his mother was the sister of R . G . Kiesewetter 1773—18.50), the musical archaeologist and collector . Ambros was well educated in music and the arts, which were his abiding passion; but he was destined for the law and an official career in the Austrian civil service, and he occupied various important posts under the ministry of justice, music being the employment of his leisure . From 185o onwards he became well known as a critic and essay-writer, and in 186o he began working on his magnum opus, his History of Music, which was published at intervals from 1864 in five volumes, the last two (1878, 1882) being edited and completed by Otto Kade and Langhaus . Ambros became professor of the history of music at Prague in 1869 . He was an excellent pianist; and the author of numerous compositions somewhat reminiscent of Mendelssohn . He died at Vienna on the 28th of June 1876 .