Franz Hauser

Who was Franz Hauser?

Franz Xaver Hauser was a singer, voice teacher, and music manuscript collector.

At his father's insistence, he first studied medicine, but he then studied singing with Johann Wenzel Tomaschek and composition with oboist Josef Triebensee.

He made is stage debut in 1817 in Prague as Sarastro in Mozart's Magic Flute. He found great success at the opera theaters in Vienna, Leipzig, and Berlin. He retired from the stage in 1838 and taught singing in Vienna. In 1846 he was appointed as director of the newly established conservatory in Munich, serving as its director until 1864. He retired in 1865 to Karlsruhe and two years later to Freiburg im Breisgau.

Contemporary critics considered Hauser cold as an actor but approved of his pure voice. He was known for his interpretation of Weber and as Figaro, Bertram, William Tell, and Spohr's Faust.

Hauser had many students including Jenny Lind and Henriette Sontag. He wrote a popular singing manual, Gesanglehre für Lehrer und Lernende. As a composer, he was known for his songs. His correspondence with composer Moritz Hauptmann was published in two volumes in 1871.