Franz Krommer

Franz Krommer (František Vincenc Kramář; 27 November 1759 – 8 January 1831) was a Czech composer of classical music and violinist. He was one of the most popular composers in the 19th century Vienna alongside Beethoven whom he knew. Today he is mostly known for his clarinet and double clarinet concertos.

Life
Franz Krommer was born František Vincenc Kramář in Kamenice. His parents went by a Germanized version of their surname, Krommer. His father was an innkeeper in Kamenice until the family moved to Třebíč in 1773. From 1773 to 1776, Franz studied violin 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 and later to Simontornya in Hungary, 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 of Pécs, 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. He was named a Kapellmeister in 1818. According to Carl Engel he may have been Kapellmeister as early as 1814. He died on 8 January 1831 in Vienna, at the age of 71.

Compositions
His output was prolific, with at least three hundred published compositions in at least 110 opus numbers including at least 9 symphonies, seventy string quartets and many others for winds and strings, about fifteen string quintets and much sonorous, idiomatic and at times powerful music for wind ensemble, for which he is best known today.