Georg Jacob Ernst Häußler (also Ernst Häusler) (born January 8, 1761 in Böblingen; died February 20, 1837 in Augsburg) was a German singer, composer, and music teacher. From 1770 to 1781, he received his school and musical education at the Ducal Military Academy Karlsschule in Stuttgart under Agostino Poli (1739–1819), Antonio Boroni, and Eligio Celestino; his classmates included Johann Rudolph Zumsteeg (1760–1802), Johann Kauffmann (1759–1834), and Jakob Christian Schlotterbeck (1757–1811). Between 1777 and 1789, he was a cellist in the Stuttgart court orchestra and at various princely courts in Vienna and Berlin. In Donaueschingen, he was appointed court musician to Prince Joseph Maria von Fürstenberg in 1789 and remained in this position for several years. After staying in Zurich from 1791 onwards – Häußler performed there as a virtuoso on the cello and as a coloratura soprano (he mastered a total of four octaves from low E flat!), and also worked as a singing teacher for several singers – he returned to Stuttgart in 1797 and continued in the same roles. In the same year, he returned to Vienna and also made a name for himself as a composer. In 1800, he became a teacher at St. Anna Gymnasium in Augsburg. In 1806, Häußler was appointed Royal Bavarian Music Director of the Protestant choir in Augsburg. He was now not only responsible for church music at St. Anna's Church in Augsburg, but also had the task of writing compositions for the peace festival music; in addition, he took over the training of the singers working at St. Anna's. Ernst Häußler endeavored to establish a “public singing and instrumental school” and submitted plans for its construction to the Royal Police Directorate in 1810 and later to the city magistrate, but these plans were not carried out for financial reasons.
As a composer, Ernst Häußler left behind not only sacred music (cantatas, Passion music, church hymns), which he was required to compose in his official capacity, but also a considerable body of secular songs, especially piano songs, many of which were published in print, as well as arias with orchestral accompaniment and the opera “Partenope.” He also set numerous poems by contemporaries to music, which he published as piano songs, including “Kennst du das Land, wo die Cytronen blühn” (“Do you know the land where the citrons bloom”) from “Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship” by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.
