Hauser, Miska

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Hauser, Miska

Hauser, Miska, Austrian violinist and composer; b. Pressburg, 1822; d. Vienna, Dec. 8, 1887. He studied with Kreutzer in Vienna, and traveled as a child prodigy in Europe; from 1853 to 1858 made a grand tour of America and Australia. He wrote an operetta, Der blinde Leiermann, numerous violin pieces, of which his meretricious Rapsodie hongroise and Lieder ohne Worte enjoyed undeserved popularity, and American Rhapsody for Violin and Piano (1855). During his American tour he sent correspondence to the Ostdeutsche Post which was collected and publ, in 2 vols., Aus dem Wanderbuch eines österreichischen Virtuosen (Leipzig, 1858-59). History of Music in San Francisco (San Francisco, 1939) contains Eng. trs. of some of these reports, which are not devoid of interest.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire