Heinrich Werner was a German composer. He was born in 1800 into a musical family in Kirchohmfeld in the Eichsfeld district of Thuringia. Initially trained at home, he played the organ for the local church at the age of 11 and became a choral singer at Sankt Andreasberg at 15. His older brother in Braunschweig had him study music and visit the Gymnasium there. Starting in 1821, he studied in Erfurt and took the teaching examination the next year; he then led the chorus at the city's opera house and taught music students.