Mozart’s Contemporaries

I think many piano learners here would have gone the route of learning Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven sonatas at some point. The three are among the most widely known of ‘classical’-period music composers from the mid 1700s to early 1800s.

There are numerous other composers who lived around their time though, and also wrote marvelous music. It’s a pity that their compositions weren’t recorded as prolifically in the early days of audio recording. But with many of the lesser-known but no less skilled European orchestras and also budget recording labels getting into the act from the 1980s onwards, there’s been many relatively obscure works coming to the fore and finally seeing the light of day outside live performances in theatres.

I’ve been exploring many of these ‘contemporaries’ of Mozart by way of the emusic subscription service I’ve been on for a year now, and it’s been an incredible experience digging out the hundreds of piano concerto and symphonies composed by many others during the early 18th century but all got overshadowed over the years by output from the H., M. B. trio. Among some of my findings include:

Cramer, Johann Baptist (English) – Wrote some absolutely lovely Piano Concertos
Gyrowetz, Adalbert (Bohemian) – Symphonies
Gossec, François Joseph (Belgian) – Symphonies
Herschel, William (English) – Wrote Symphonies but also known for his work in astronomy LOL
Hoffmeister, Franz Anton (German) – Symphonies
Kraus, Joseph Martin (Bohemian) – Symphonies
Krommer, Franz (Moravian) – Clarinet and Oboe Concertos. Gigantic output that I’ve just barely scratched the surface of.
Kozeluch, Leopold (Czech) – Symphonies.
Mysliveček, Josef (Czech) – Symphonies. A close friend of Mozart and who provided some of his early inspiration to.
Pichl, Wenzel (Bohemian) – Symphonies
Pleyel, Ignace Joseph (French) – Symphonies. Famous during his time but whose works are rarely heard today.
Richter, Franz Xaver (German) – Symphonies
Ries, Ferdinand (German) – Piano Concertos and Symphonies. Friend, pupil and performer of Beethoven.
Rosetti, Antonio (Bohemian) – Symphonies
Stamitz, Karl Philipp (German) – Clarinet Concertos and Symphonies
Vanhal, Johann Baptist (Bohemian) – Symphonies
Wesley, Samuel (English) – Symphonies
Wranitzky, Pavel (Moravian) – Symphonies. Highly regarded by H., M. and B – and even their preferred conductor by Haydn and Beethoven for their new works.

Apparently, the brother of the more famous Wesley was himself a composer, and considered during his time as the English equivalent of Mozart.:)