Josef Proksch

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Josef Proksch (4 August 1794 – 20 December 1864) was a Bohemian-German pianist and composer. He was born in Reichenberg (now Liberec) and died in Prague. He became blind at age 13 and studied with Jan Antonín Koželuh. In 1830 he opened the Musikbildungsanstalt (Music Academy) in Prague. His teaching method had several students play together at the same time, and this approach was used for more than a century. His best-known student was Bedřich Smetana, whom he taught piano and music theory from 1843 to 1847. Proksch wrote piano teaching works, a concerto for three pianos, piano sonatas, masses and cantatas, and he adapted many orchestral pieces for four to eight pianos for use in his lessons. His daughter Marie Proksch was also a noted pianist and composer.