1808 – 1864
Joseph Netzer was born in Zams near Landeck in Tyrol. In Vienna, where he was taught by both chapel master Johann Baptist Gänsbacher and Simon Sechter, he made the acquaintance of Franz Schubert. After travelling to Italy, Netzer composed the opera Mara in 1840, with which he achieved great success. After stops in Leipzig, Mainz and once again Vienna, he moved to Graz in 1853. There he was appointed director of the Styrian Music Association and assumed the artistic direction of the Graz Male Choral Society.
