Josef Forster (composer)

Josef Forster (20 January 1838, Trofaiach - 23 March 1917, Vienna) was an Austrian composer; known primarily for his operas and operettas.

After beginning his musical training at home, he became a choir boy at Admont Abbey, where he received further instruction from their organist, Franz Traunbauer (1775-1864).

During the 1870s and 1880s, he premiered numerous operettas and ballets; notably The Assassins, inspired by a poem by Archduke Johann Salvator, who responded by giving Forster the Tuscan Knight's Cross for civil merit.

Der dot Mon (1902), based on a Fastnachtsspiel [de] (burlesque) by Hans Sachs, failed, even though it received good reviews and was premiered at the Vienna State Opera with its director, Gustav Mahler, conducting.

This resulted in a continuing argument with the committee in charge of awarding the Wolfskehl-Preis [de]; worth 100,000 Goldmarks to anyone who could prove they had found a solution.