Honorary grave of the composer Franz Schmidt (1874-1939) at the Vienna Central Cemetery.
Franz Schmidt was the son of Franz Schmidt, a merchant from Bratislava, and his Hungarian-born wife Maria - an outstanding pianist - noticed his outstanding talent, gave him piano lessons as a child, and introduced him to the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. In 1914 Schmidt was offered a professorship in piano at the Vienna Academy of Music. In 1925 he became director there and was rector from 1927 to 1931. As a teacher of piano, violoncello, counterpoint and composition, he trained many musicians, conductors and composers who later became important at the Music Academy. In the last year of his life, Schmid, who was terminally ill, witnessed the “Anschluss” of Austria to the German Reich. On February 17, 1939, Schmidt’s remains were laid out in the Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein, his body was subsequently blessed in the Karlskirche and buried in a grave of honor in the Central Cemetery.
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