Johann Sigismund Kusser

Johann Sigismund Kusser was a Hungarian composer and conductor of the Baroque era who was active in Germany, London, and Dublin. During his lifetime he was respected for his expertise as an opera conductor, and for his extensive knowledge of the French school of violin performance. He was born in Hungary in 1660, and probably received his initial musical instruction from his father Johann Ján Kusser, who worked as a Protestant cantor in Bratislava. Around 1674, he and his family moved to Stuttgart to escape religious persecution as the Hungarian Counter-Reformation escalated. For six years, Kusser learned the French style of composing by studying the works of Lully but there is no evidence to confirm that he ever received any instruction from the French composer. From 1680 to 1682 Kusser was employed by Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden, and then in 1683 he moved to Germany where he held various short-lived conductor appointments, and he taught violin lessons in the French style. In 1690 he accepted the position of Kapellmeister at the Opernhaus am Hagenmarkt in Brunswick, and in the following year he married Hedwig Melusine von Damm and they had four children together. Kusser left his position in Brunswick in 1694 after a disagreement with the court librettist and opera manager Friedrich Christian Bressand. Two years later, Kusser formed a successful traveling opera company that performed in Nuremberg, Augsburg, and Stuttgart. He also took guest conductor appointments and had a reputation for dramatically improving the ensembles he conducted. He was known to be disciplined at rehearsals but was also kind and devoted to helping anyone who needed it regardless of their skill level. From 1700 to 1704 he served as Oberkapellmeister of the royal court in Stuttgart, followed by a move to London, where he taught music lessons, performed, and composed commissioned works for the top singers of the time. He relocated to Dublin in 1707 and quickly became integrated with the musical community at Dublin Castle. He was given the honorary title of Chapel-Master at the Trinity College in 1711 and was promoted to the official and paid position of Chief Composer and Music Master in 1716. He was responsible for composing the music for royal celebrations, which included birthdays, weddings, and other festive events. Kusser was also working on a doctoral degree in music theory but was unable to complete it due to his unexpected death in Dublin in 1727. ~ RJ Lambert, Rovi