Ludwig Wilhelm Maurer

Born in Potsdam in 1789 and died in St Petersburg in 1878, Maurer was initially a violin pupil of Carl Haack in Berlin and became a violinist in the Prussian court orchestra in 1803. After his dismissal in 1806 due to the turmoil of war, he travelled to Russia and made connections in the musical life of the cities of Riga and Moscow. After ten years as concertmaster in Hanover, he returned to Russia, where he initially entered the service of Count Vsevolozhski in St Petersburg. In 1834, he gave the first performance of Beethoven's Violin Concerto op. 61 in St Petersburg. Maurer was hired in 1835 as music director at Saint Petersburg's French Theatre. From 1841 to 1862, he worked as inspector of the Imperial Orchestra and from 1841 to 1871 as conductor of the symphony concerts of the St Petersburg Concert Society. Based on a libretto by Filippo Taglioni, Maurer created the ballet music L'Ombre, which was premiered in December 1839 at the Bolshoi Theatre in St. Petersburg with achoreography by Taglioni and with Marie Taglioni in the leading female role. Pierre Lacotte reconstructed this ballet in 1993 for the Ballet de Lorraine in Nancy.