Carl Maria von Weber was a German composer, conductor, pianist, and music critic. He is known as the founder of German Romantic Opera because he was one of the first to write popular romantic operas in German. His best-known work is the opera Der Freischutz (The Marksman) from 1821. Weber played a key role in shaping romantic music for the opera stage in Germany. Weber came from a musical family, with both his parents being musicians. He was the oldest son of Franz Anton von Weber and Genovefa Brenner, his father's second wife. Born with a hip disease, he did not walk until he was four years old but showed talent as a singer and pianist early on. His father hoped he would become a child prodigy like Mozart, who was related to the family by marriage. After his mother died of tuberculosis in 1796, Weber studied music with Michael Haydn in Salzburg. Later, when the family moved to Munich, he took piano and composition lessons from Johann Nepomuk Kalcher and voice lessons from the German singer Johann Evangelist Wallishauser. He also studied with organist J. N. Kalcher and continued his education in Vienna under Abbe Georg Vogler. He worked as a conductor in Breslau from 1804 to 1806 and then served at a ducal court in Stuttgart until he was expelled for a minor offense. Weber was the music director of the opera in Prague from 1813 to 1816 and then in Dresden from 1816 to 1826. In 1826, he moved to London to write and produce an opera at Covent Garden. Shortly after the premiere, he died of tuberculosis on June 4, 1826, at the age of 39. He left behind his wife, Caroline Brandt, who was a singer.