Joseph Messner
Austrian composer (1893-1969)
Joseph Messner (27 February 1893 – 21/23 February 1969) was an Austrian composer of contemporary classical music and priest. He was among the most important 20th-century composers active in Salzburg.
Life
Joseph Messner, brother of the social ethicist Johannes Messner, was born in Schwaz/Tyrol as the son of a miner (in the Silberbergwerk Schwaz) and a tobacco worker. He received music lessons in singing, violin, piano and organ at an early age. At the age of twelve he moved to Salzburg in 1905 and from then on received his musical education at the Kapellhaus, Sigmund-Haffner-Gasse 20, then at the Mozarteum. After graduating from the Privatgymnasium Borromäum he studied theology and was ordained a priest in 1916. Later he trained in Munich under Friedrich Klose (composition) and continued studying the organ with Josef Gabriel Rheinberger's student Josef Becht.
In the 1920s, Messner enjoyed great success as a composer, especially in Germany. "Joseph Messner Organ Festivals" were held in several cities, and in Duisburg the "Joseph Messner Days" were held in 1924, when his Sinfonietta for piano was premiered. Archbishop Ignatius Rieder appointed him as second cathedral organist at the Salzburg Cathedral in 1922, but appointed and paid him as a cooperator of Pfarrwerfen.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q90482. VIAF identifies the subject as 194842. The Library of Congress control number is n88093114. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1893, 1969, 1905 and 1916.
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This entry incorporates text from “Joseph Messner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.