Joseph Merk

Joseph Merk (18 January 1795 – 16 July 1852) was a noted Austrian cellist, often described as one of the most influential of the first half of the 19th century. He also wrote a number of compositions for the cello.

Joseph (or Josef) Merk was born in Vienna in 1795. He first studied singing, the guitar and the violin, but at the age of 15 he was bitten so severely on his left arm by a dog, that he could no longer play the violin adequately even after the wound had healed. He then turned to the cello and had lessons with the principal cellist of the Vienna Court Opera, Philipp Schindlöker (1753-1827), making such rapid progress that after only a year he was engaged by a Hungarian aristocrat to play in his string quartet, where he remained for two years.

In 1815 the guitarist Mauro Giuliani appeared with Joseph Merk, Johann Nepomuk Hummel and the violinist Joseph Mayseder in a series of chamber concerts in the botanical gardens of Schönbrunn Palace (dubbed the "Dukaten Concerte", after the price of the ticket, which was a ducat). He frequently performed with Mayseder throughout his career, and was even dubbed "the Mayseder of the cello".

After touring the Austrian provinces, in 1816 or 1818 Merk was appointed to his teacher Schindlöker's old post of principal cellist at the Vienna Court Opera.

In 1822 Franz Schubert wrote a quartet for male voices, Geist der Liebe (D.747; Op. 11, No. 3), especially for a Joseph Merk concert. Merk dedicated his 20 Études, Op. 11, to Schubert.

In 1823 Merk became professor at the Vienna Conservatory, remaining in that position until 1848. His pupils included Karl Leopold Bohm, Anton Trag, Jacque Franco-Mendes and Franz Knecht.

He became associated with Ludwig van Beethoven's Triple Concerto, his performances of it helping to bring it out of the obscurity in which it had languished since its debut in 1808 (Beethoven himself having never played it in public, unlike his piano concertos). These include performances in 1825 or 1830 with Mayseder and the pianist Carl Maria von Bocklet.

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