Karl August Krebs

[2] His foster father's activities at the Neues Lusthaus Stuttgart [de] and his many contacts in artistic circles encouraged Karl August's interest in music.

As early as his sixth year, he played piano concertos by Mozart, Dussek and Ries, taught by Johann Nepomuk Schelble.

His talent for composition, nurtured by his adoptive father, also caused a great stir and he was counted among the child prodigies of his time.

In 1825, at the age of 21, he went to Vienna, studied with Ignaz von Seyfried composition and improved his piano playing skills.

[3] In 1830, he performed his opera Sylva, oder die Macht des Gesanges[4] (libretto: Georg von Hofmann), already composed in Vienna.