AMBROS, AUGUST WILHELM (1816-1876), Austrian composer
and historian of music, was born at Mauth near Prague. His
father was a cultured man, and his mother was the sister of
R. G. Kiesewetter (1773-1850), the musical archaeologist and
collector. Ambros was well educated in music and the
arts, which were his abiding passion: but he was destined
for the law and an official career in the Austrian civil
service, and he occupied various important posts under
the ministry of justice, music being the employment of his
leisure. From 1850 onwards he became well known as a
critic and essay-writer, and in 1860 he began working on his
magnum opus, his History of Music, which was published
at intervals from 1864 in five volumes, the last two
(1878, 1882) being edited and completed by Otto Kade and
Langhaus. Ambros became professor of the history of music
at Prague in 1869. He was an excellent pianist, and the
author of numerous compositions somewhat reminiscent of
Mendelssohn. He died at Vienna on the 28th of June 1876.
Initial text from 1911 encyclopedia -- Please update as needed