Franz Krommer ( cz, František Vincenc Kramář; 27 November 1759 in
Kamenice u Jihlavy – 8 January 1831 in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
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) was a
Czech composer of
classical music and violinist. He was one of the most popular composers in the 19th century Vienna. Today he is mostly known for his clarinet concertos.
Life
Franz Krommer was born as František Vincenc Kramář in
Kamenice. But even his parents were going by a Germanized version of their surname – Krommer. His father was an innkeeper in Kamenice until the family moved to
Třebíč
Třebíč (; german: Trebitsch; yi, טרייביטש Treybitsh) is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants.
The beginnings of the town's history are connected with the establishment of a Benedictine ...
in 1773. From 1773 to 1776, Franz studied
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
and
organ with his uncle, Antonín Mattias Kramář (1742-1804), in
Tuřany. He became an organist here along with his uncle in 1777. In 1785 he moved to
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
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, utc_offset = +1
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and later to
Simontornya in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...
, where he was a violinist and later a Kapellmeister for the orchestra of the
Count of Limburg Stirum. In 1790, Krommer was named choirmaster at the
Cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominatio ...
of
Pécs
Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other alternative names) is the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the country's southwest, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administr ...
, Hungary. In 1793 he became a Kapellmeister to Count Anton II Grassalkovich. He returned to Vienna in 1795, becoming Maestro di Cappella for Duke Ignaz Fuchs in 1798.
In 1818 Krommer succeeded
Leopold Koželuch as composer for the Imperial Court of Austria, the post he held until his death in 1831. He was named a
Kapellmeister
(, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...
in 1818. According to Carl Engel he may have been Kapellmeister as early as 1814.
Compositions
His output was prolific, with at least three hundred published compositions in at least 110
opus number
In musicology, the opus number is the "work number" that is assigned to a musical composition, or to a set of compositions, to indicate the chronological order of the composer's production. Opus numbers are used to distinguish among composit ...
s including at least 9 symphonies, seventy string quartets and many others for winds and strings, about fifteen
string quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet ...
s
and much sonorous, idiomatic and at times powerful music for wind ensemble, for which he is best known today.
Further reading
*Padrta, Karel. ''Franz Krommer (1759–1831); Thematischer Katalog seiner musikalischen Werke''. Prague: Supraphon, 1997. 425 pp. (pbk.)
*Zouhar, Zdeněk. ''František Vincenc Kramář: 1759–1959: výběrová bibliografie.''
Brno: Universitní Knihovna, 1959.
**Occasionally a system of classification of Krommer's works is seen in use based on Padrta's work. For example, the quintet for flute and strings opus 55 in E minor is PadK VII/3, the concerto opus 86 for flute and orchestra (also in E minor, and often played with clarinet solo) is PadK III/16. These examples are taken from the listings at a Czech radio station's website, which gives both the standard opus numbers (when available) and the newer system
Rozhlas D-Dur.
References
External links
Biography in English*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Krommer, Franz
1759 births
1831 deaths
18th-century Austrian musicians
18th-century Austrian male musicians
18th-century classical composers
18th-century Bohemian musicians
18th-century violinists
Male classical violinists
19th-century Austrian musicians
19th-century Austrian male musicians
19th-century Czech musicians
19th-century classical composers
19th-century classical violinists
Austrian people of Czech descent
Czech Classical-period composers
Czech male classical composers
Czech classical violinists
Czech expatriates in Austria
Czech expatriates in Hungary
People from Jihlava District
Musicians from Vienna
Czech Romantic composers
String quartet composers