Sigismund Thalberg

Sigismund Thalberg (1812–1871) – eminent pianist and composer of piano works, son of Baron Moritz von Dietrichstein and Baroness von Wetzlar. As a child, he travelled to Vienna and trained with Simon Sechter and Johann Nepomuk Hummel. As a fifteen-year-old virtuoso, he initially won fame in the salons of Vienna, then from 1830 he travelled around Europe – first to Germany, with his specially composed Piano Concerto, Op. 5, then to Paris, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Russia, and during the 50s to Brazil and the USA. His piano works were highly regarded; he wrote in typically Romantic genres, such as nocturnes, scherzos, etudes and virtuosic variations on themes from popular operas.