Josef Ferdinand Norbert Seger
1716 — 1782
Josef Seger was an organist, composer, and educator from Bohemia. After graduating in philosophy from the Charles University in Prague and studying music under Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský, Jan Zach, and others, Seger became organist of two churches in Prague and remained there until his death.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article on Josef Seger.
From the period sources
Josef Ferdinand Norbert Seger, born in Repin, Bohemia, in 1716, was educated in Prague, where he graduated as a Master of Philosophy, according to Grove’s Dictionary (1908). He was a pupil of Bohuslav Cernohorský, a Franciscan friar who also taught Christoph Willibald Gluck, as noted in Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1888). Seger’s early career included serving as an alto singer at St. James’s Church in Prague, then as second violinist and later organist at St. Martin’s, and also as first violinist at the Teinkirche. He was appointed organist of the Teinkirche in 1741, a position he held until his death in 1782, and additionally served as organist at the Kreuzherrenkirche for thirty-seven years, from 1746 to 1782, as detailed in Grove’s Dictionary (1908) and Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1890).
Seger was considered one of the most celebrated organ players of his time, forming many distinguished pupils, including Anton Czermak, who learned composition and organ from him, according to Biographie universelle des musiciens (1883) and Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1888). Johann Sebastian Bach himself, as Grove’s Dictionary (1908) records, advised Count Millesimo to place Matěj Sojka under Seger, remarking that he could not entrust him to “a better teacher.” The unanimous testimony of his contemporaries proclaimed Seger as one of the finest organists of his era, with Burney mentioning him as “a fine organ-player, a good linguist, and an excellent musician” in his Present State of Music, Germany (vol. ii, pp. 13-14), cited by Grove’s Dictionary (1908). Emperor Joseph II, delighted by Seger’s masterly performance during a visit to Prague in 1781, determined to offer him a court appointment in Vienna; however, the official document arrived just after Seger’s death in April 1782, as recounted in Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians (1890) and Grove’s Dictionary (1908). Of his numerous compositions, only eight toccatas and fugues for organ, along with preludes, were published posthumously in 1798, edited by Daniel Gottlob Türk.