Franz Krommer (Czech: František Vincenc Kramář) (November 27, 1759, Kamenice u Jihlavy – January 8, 1831, Vienna) was a Czech composer of classical music, whose seventy-year life began the year of the death of George Frideric Handel and ended a few years after that of Ludwig van Beethoven.
The main events of his life were somewhat as follows:
* From 1773 to 1776, he studied violin and organ with his uncle, Antonín Mattias Kramár, in Turán. Here he became organist along with his uncle in 1777. In 1785 he returned to Vienna as violinist in the orchestra of the duke of Styria, now in Simontornya in Hungary. * In 1790 Krommer was named Maestro di Capella at the Cathedral of Pécs in Hungary. He returned again to Vienna in 1795, before becoming Maestro di Capella this time for Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798. * From 1813 (and from 1818, Kapellmeister, according to the HOASM biography) until his death in 1831, Krommer was the successor to Leopold Kozeluch in the position of court composer for the Imperial Court of Austria.
He may have been Kapellmeister as early as 1814. The article by Carl Engel in The Musical Quarterly (October 1918) suggests that Beethoven's opinion towards such music of Krommer's as he heard was poor.
His output was prolific, with at least three hundred published compositions in at least 110 opus numbers including at least five symphonies, seventy string quartets and many others for winds and strings, about fifteen string quintets and much music for winds by themselves and with other instruments, for which he has perhaps become best-known.
Franz Krommer
Biography
Franz Krommer (Czech: František Vincenc Kramář) (November 27, 1759, Kamenice u Jihlavy – January 8, 1831, Vienna) was a Czech composer of classical music, whose seventy-year life began the year of the death of George Frideric Handel and ended a few years after that of Ludwig van Beethoven.The main events of his life were somewhat as follows:
* From 1773 to 1776, he studied violin and organ with his uncle, Antonín Mattias Kramár, in Turán. Here he became organist along with his uncle in 1777. In 1785 he returned to Vienna as violinist in the orchestra of the duke of Styria, now in Simontornya in Hungary.
* In 1790 Krommer was named Maestro di Capella at the Cathedral of Pécs in Hungary. He returned again to Vienna in 1795, before becoming Maestro di Capella this time for Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798.
* From 1813 (and from 1818, Kapellmeister, according to the HOASM biography) until his death in 1831, Krommer was the successor to Leopold Kozeluch in the position of court composer for the Imperial Court of Austria.
He may have been Kapellmeister as early as 1814. The article by Carl Engel in The Musical Quarterly (October 1918) suggests that Beethoven's opinion towards such music of Krommer's as he heard was poor.
His output was prolific, with at least three hundred published compositions in at least 110 opus numbers including at least five symphonies, seventy string quartets and many others for winds and strings, about fifteen string quintets and much music for winds by themselves and with other instruments, for which he has perhaps become best-known.