Josef Labor

Josef Labor was an important composer and organist of the late Romantic era in Vienna, well acquainted with key musical figures of the day. He composed a piano concerto for the left hand, the first such work in existence. Labor contracted smallpox at age three and went blind. After completing music his studies, Labor launched a piano tour of Europe that brought him into contact with George V, the ruler of the German kingdom of Hanover, who became a fan and hired Labor as Royal Chamber Pianist. Labor gave lessons to Arnold Schoenberg, Paul Wittgenstein, and Alma Schindler, the future wife of Gustav Mahler, among others. He wrote about 80 pieces, many of them for organ or chamber music combinations. By the early 2020s, some 25 of his works had been recorded.