Hieronymus (Jérome) Payer was the son of a teacher. As a 10-year-old he earned his living as a backup musician and was then hired as an assistant teacher of his father's. In 1806 he became a conductor in the so-called Meidlinger Summer Theatre, for which he even wrote some small Singspiels. Later he moved to the Innere Stadt of Vienna and performed in the Redoutensaal and Theater an der Wien successfully. He was active as a teacher, including of Leopoldine Blahetka.
Payer introduced in 1821 in Vienna for the first time the Physharmonica in a public concert. Three years later he became a conductor in Amsterdam (at the Hoogduitse Schouwburg) and in 1825, in Paris. In 1832 he returned to Vienna as conductor for a short time in the Theater in der Josefstadt. As a pianist he had been compared by his contemporaries with Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Ignaz Moscheles and Ferdinand Ries.
Jürgen Hein: Nestroy in Amsterdam, Nestroyana, 8/3–4, pp. 52–70.
Henk J. Koning: Nestroy in Amsterdam. Zur Rezeption seiner Stücke auf der holländischen Bühne des 19. Jahrhunderts, Nestroyana, 14/3–4, pp. 91–100.
Gerrit Waidelich: Dokumente zu Nestroys Amsterdamer Engagement in Korrespondenzberichten über das dortige Deutsche Theater, Nestroyana, 17/1-2 (1997), pp. 24–38.
Austria
