Dusseck

Dusseck (pronounced Dushek), JAN LADISLAW, composer and pianist, born 9th February 1761, at Czaslau in Bohemia, and became organist at Mechlin and Bergen-op-Zoom. At Amsterdam he met with much success, both as a teacher and performer, and here he produced his earliest works for the pianoforte; he afterwards resided at the Hague, and in Hamburg, Lithuania, Paris, Milan, and London (1788-1800), where he was very popular. In 1803-6 he lived as instructor and boon companion with Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, whose death called forth the beautiful and pathetic 'Élégie Harmonique' (op. 61); in 1807 he entered the service of Prince Talleyrand, and thenceforward devoted most of his time to composition. He died at St Germain-en-Laye, 20th March 1812. To his contemporaries Dussek was the greatest of pianoforte specialists; there was a fascination in his style that raised him above even Clementi and Cramer. Of the seventy-seven numbered opus works, besides many without opus numbers, which he left behind, all, with few exceptions, were shortly forgotten.