Wenzel Thomas Matiegka (baptized July 6, 1773 in Chotzen; died January 19, 1830 in Vienna) was a Bohemian composer and guitarist of the Viennese Biedermeier period, as well as a choir director.
Matiegka was born in the town of Choceò in a remote corner of Bohemia, which was then part of the Habsburg Monarchy under Joseph II.
After completing his primary education, he continued his musical training with Pastor Gelinek and became an accomplished pianist while studying law at the University of Prague. After a legal position with Count Kinsky, one of Beethoven’s original sponsors, Matiegka moved to Vienna in his mid-30s in the early years of the 19th century. There he quickly became known as a guitarist, composer, and piano teacher. His immediate acceptance into Vienna’s musical circles is evident from those to whom he dedicated several of his chamber music works. As a young man, Schubert added a cello part to his Nocturne, Op. 21, for the important music patron Count Esterhazy, an enthusiastic cellist to whom Matiegka’s original music was dedicated. In fact, the work was attributed to Schubert for many years. The married Matiegka settled in the suburb of Leopoldstadt, where he also worked as a kapellmeister until his death. After that, he survived in poverty with his wife and six children, none of whom pursued a musical career.
His work, which is still well known today, includes almost a dozen guitar pieces, including solo works, transcriptions, chamber music, and songs, as well as almost as many liturgical works for small orchestra, voice, and organ.