Composer, born, the son of a Moravian schoolmaster, at Vienna; at 11 was one of the leading choristers in the court-chapel, later on became leading violinist in the school band; his talent for composition in all modes soon revealed itself, and by the time he became an assistant in his father's school (1813) his supreme gift of lyric melody showed itself in the song "Erl King," the "Mass in F," etc.; his too brief life, spent chiefly in the drudgery of teaching, was harassed by pecuniary embarrassment, embittered by the slow recognition his work won, though he was cheered by the friendly encouragement of Beethoven; his output of work was remarkable for its variety and quantity, embracing some 500 songs, 10 symphonies, 6 masses, operas, sonatas, etc.; his abiding fame rests on his songs, which are infused, as none other are, by an intensity of poetic feeling—"divine fire" Beethoven called it (1797-1828).