Otto Nicolai

German composer Otto Nicolai (1810-1849) is known for The Merry Wives of Windsor (1848), the only German comic opera to join the repertory. Nicolai ran away from home at age 16 to escape attempts by his father to market him as a musical prodigy. Nevertheless, he studied music in Berlin, and became enamored of Italian culture while serving as an organist at the Prussian Embassy at Rome. In 1841, Nicolai moved to Vienna, where he led the Hoftheater and founded the Vienna Philharmonic. Nicolai had barely enjoyed the triumph of The Merry Wives of Windsor when he suddenly died of a stroke.