Franz Pecháček

Franz Xaver Pecháček (4 July 1793 – 15 September 1840) was an Austrian-German violin virtuoso and composer of Czech origin. Besides polonaises, variations, Rondos and potpourris for violin and orchestra, he composed two string quartets and the Adagio et Polonaise for clarinet and orchestra.

Biography Franz Pecháček was born on 4 July 1793 in Vienna. He was a very gifted student and already at a very early age performed as a soloist. He was trained by his father František Martin Pecháček and by Ignaz Schuppanzigh and Emanuel Aloys Förster. When he was six he performed before the imperial court and in 1803 he went publicly with his father for the first time to Prague, where he was received with great success, thus gaining his reputation as a child prodigy. Other musical education he acquired in Vienna, where he studied composition with Förster.

From 1809 to 1822, he was a violinist at the Theater an der Wien, first as a concertmaster and later as a second conductor. These virtuoso pieces, of which he wrote around 40, do not show an especially individual style. Adagio et Polonaise for piano four-hands,'Op. 14 First concertino for violin with accompaniment of orchestra, Op. 16 (1826) Variations sur un theme hongrois for violin with orchestra or two violins, viola and violoncello, Op. 17 (1834) Polonaise for Violin with orchestra accompaniment, Op. 18 (1826) Rondoletto for violin with orchestra accompaniment, Op. 19 (1826) Divertissement for solo violin with accompaniment of orchestra or two violins, viola and violoncello, Op. 20 (1826) Introduction and Brilliant Variations on a Favorite Air for violin with accompaniment for pianoforte, Op. 28 (1845)