Hans Schläger

Hans Schläger was born on 5 December 1820 in Feldkirchen an der Donau (Austria). He received his first music lessons in singing and violin from his father. At the age of 12 he became student and choirboy in the nearby monastery St. Florian. There Hans Schläger also continued his violin studies under Franz Gruber. After his school days he attended a preparatory course for teachers from 1836 to 1838 and then worked as a school assistant in Regau, later in St. Florian. During his time in St. Florian Hans Schläger founded a men's choir and acted as its choir master (with Anton Bruckner being his successor in 1845). In 1845 he quit his position, moved to Vienna and studied composition at the conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde under Gottfried von Preyer. After his studies Hans Schläger first worked as a singing teacher at the Akademie der Tonkunst, from 1854 to 1861 he was director of the Vienna male choral society. In 1861 Alois Taux, the director of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, suddenly passed away and Hans Schläger was appointed its new director. In 1862 he also became director of the Liedertafel. In the following years he used his positions to improve the musical life of Salzburg with outstanding performances of renowned artists and forgotten or new repertoire. In 1868 Hasn Schäger married and as a consequence stepped down from all of his positions. Since then he focused on composing and only sporadically worked on special projects for the Mozarteum.
Hans Schläger died on 17 May 1885 in Salzburg (Austria).

The work catalogue of Hans Schläger contains 2 operas, cantatas, masses, and other sacred music, also 2 symphonies, 3 string quartets, chamber music and songs.

In my possession is the autograph manuscript of the work "Lieb' ist ein Blümelein" for 4-part men's choir by Hans Schläger. According to the manuscript the work was composed on 16 February 1863. The work was published with the title "Volkslied" in 1865 together with two other songs for men's choir (Thürmerlied, Die Quelle blinkt) as "3 Lieder für 4 Männerstimmen" by Haslinger in Vienna.