Franz Krommer

Moravian by birth and Viennese by career, Franz Krommer — František Vincenc Kramář, born at Kamenice in 1759 — learned organ and violin from his uncle, worked his way across Central Europe and ended as composer to the imperial court. Symphonies, string quartets, concertos and sacred music came from him in quantity, including wind music: the clarinet and oboe concertos, the partitas and octets. He died in 1831. The lessons with his uncle Antonin Matyas Kramar ran from 1773 to 1776 at Turany, where he then became organist, and from 1785 his appointments led through Hungary: Kapellmeister to the Count of Limburg Stirum, choirmaster at Pecs Cathedral in 1790, then director of Count Karolyi's military band in 1793, followed by service to Prince Grassalkovich. He returned to Vienna in 1795, entered the service of Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798, and in 1818 took over the court post from Leopold Kozeluch. His published output passes three hundred works in some hundred and ten opus numbers. His catalogue includes nine symphonies, four of them unpublished, and about seventy string quartets.