HAUSER, MISKA (MICHAEL):

By: Isidore Singer, Joseph Sohn

Hungarian violin virtuoso; born at Presburg, Hungary, 1822; died at Vienna Dec. 8, 1887; pupil of Joseph Matalay, and later of Kreutzer, Mayseder, and Sechter, at the Vienna Conservatorium. In 1839-40 he first gave a number of concerts in various cities of Germany, and then traveled through Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and Russia. Ten years later he visited England, North and South America, the West Indies, the South Sea Islands, and Australia, returning to Europe in 1858 by way of India, Turkey, and Egypt. In 1864 he made a tour through Italy and played also in Berlin and Paris, where his feats of virtuosity won him great applause. He made his last public appearance in 1874 at Cologne.

Hauser's compositions, now rarely played, comprise the operetta "Der Blinde Leiermann," and numerous fantasies, rondos, and variations for the violin. His "Wanderbuch eines Oesterreichischen Virtuosen: Briefe aus Californien, Südamerika und Australien" (2 vols., Leipsic, 1858-59) was a reprint of his letters to the "Ostdeutsche Post," Vienna, on his American and Australian tour.

S. J. So.