'''August Wilhelm Ambros''' ([[November 17]], [[1816]] – [[June 28]], [[1876]])<ref name=Blom>Blom, Eric. (2005) ''Everyman's Dictionary of Music'', Kessinger Publishing. p. 15. ISBN 1-4179-8918-1.</ref> was an [[Austria]]n composer and music historian of [[Czech people|Czech]] descent.
==Life==
He was born at [[Vysoké Mýto]] near [[Rokycany]], [[Bohemia]].<ref name=Blom /> His father was a cultured man, and his mother was the sister of [[Raphael Georg Kiesewetter]]<ref>Todd. R. Larry. (1991) ''Mendelssohn and His World'', Princeton University Press. p. 304. ISBN 0-691-02715-3.</ref> ([[1773]]-[[1850]]), the musical archaeologist and collector. Ambros studied at the [[Charles University of Prague|University of Prague]]<ref name=Blom /> and was well-educated in music and the arts, which were his abiding passion. He was, however, destined for the law and an official career in the Austrian civil service, and he occupied various important posts under the ministry of justice, music being an avocation.
From [[1850]] onwards he became well-known as a critic and essay-writer, and in [[1860]] he began working on his magnum opus, his ''History of Music'', which was published at intervals from [[1862]]<ref>Lang, Paul Henry. (1997) ''Music in Western Civilization'', W. W. Norton & Company. p. 987. ISBN 0-393-04074-7.</ref> in five volumes, the last two ([[1878]], [[1882]]) being edited and completed by [[Otto Kade]] and [[Wilhelm Langhans]].
Ambros was professor of the history of music at [[Prague]] from [[1869]] to [[1871]].<ref>Meinong, Alexius & Guido Adler. (1995) ''Eine Freundschaft in Briefen Alexius'', Rodopi. p. 8. ISBN 90-5183-867-0.</ref> Also in Prague, he seated on the board of governors in the [[Prague Conservatory|Prague Royal Conservatory]]. By 1872, he was living in Vienna and was employed by the Department of Justice as an officer and by [[Prince Rudolf]]'s family as his tutor. Through his work in Vienna, he was given leave of absence for half the year in order to let him travel the world to collect musical information to include in his ''History of Music'' book. He was an excellent [[pianist]], and the author of numerous compositions somewhat reminiscent of [[Felix Mendelssohn]].
Ambros died at [[Vienna]], Austria at the age of 59.
==Notes==
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==References==
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[[Category:1816 births]]
[[Category:1876 deaths]]
[[Category:Austrian composers]]
[[Category:Romantic composers]]
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