Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (9 August 1789 in Montmédy, Meuse, France – 6 January 1856 in Sydney, Australia) was a musician and composer.
The son of a Bohemia-born musician Karl Bochsa (de), Nicolas-Charles Bochsa was able to play the flute and piano by the age of seven. In 1807 he went to study at the Paris Conservatoire. He was appointed harpist to the Imperial Orchestra in 1813, and began writing operas for the Opéra-Comique. However, in 181...
More
Robert Nicolas-Charles Bochsa (9 August 1789 in Montmédy, Meuse, France – 6 January 1856 in Sydney, Australia) was a musician and composer.
The son of a Bohemia-born musician Karl Bochsa (de), Nicolas-Charles Bochsa was able to play the flute and piano by the age of seven. In 1807 he went to study at the Paris Conservatoire. He was appointed harpist to the Imperial Orchestra in 1813, and began writing operas for the Opéra-Comique. However, in 1817 he became entangled in counterfeiting, fraud, and forgery, and fled to London to avoid prosecution. He was convicted in absentia, and sentenced to branding and hard labour.
Safe from French law in London, he helped found the Royal Academy of Music in 1821, and became its secretary. He taught there, amongst others, the British harp virtuoso Elias Parish Alvars. When his criminal conviction was revealed in 1826 he was forced to resign. He then became Musical Director of the Kings Theatre in London.
In 1839 he became involved in another scandal...
Less
