Fränzl, Ferdinand (Ignaz Joseph), German

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Fränzl, Ferdinand (Ignaz Joseph), German

Fränzl, Ferdinand (Ignaz Joseph), German

violinist, conductor, and composer, son of Ignaz (Fränz Joseph) Franzl; b. Schwetzingen, May 25, 1767; d. Mannheim, Oct. 27, 1833. After training from his father, he studied composition with F.X. Richter and Pleyel in Strasbourg and with Mattei in Bologna. He began his career as a violinist on concert tours with his father. In 1789 he became royal concertmaster in Munich, and then music director of the National Theater in Frankfurt am Mai n in 1792. After conducting the Kammerkapelle in Offenbach (1795–99), he gave concerts as a violin virtuoso in London, Hamburg, Vienna, and Russia. In 1806 he became music director at the Munich court, where he was made Kapellmeister in 1823.

Works

DRAMATIC Die Luftbälle, oder Der Liebhaber à la Montgolfier, Singspiel (Mannheim, April 15, 1787); Adolf und Clara, operetta (Frankfurt am Main, 1800); Der beiden Gefangenen, opera (Mannheim, 1802); Carlo Floras, oder Die Stumme in der Sierra Morena, opera (Munich, Oct. 16, 1810); Hadrian Barbarossa, opera (Munich, March 1815); Die Weihe, Festspiel (Munich, Oct. 12, 1818); Der Fassbinder, Singspiel (Munich, Dec. 21, 1824); Der Bandit, Singspiel (Mannheim, Dec. 1835); Der Einsiedler, Singspiel (n.d.). OTHER: Syms.; overtures; 9 violin concertos; Double Concerto for 2 Violins and Orch.; chamber music; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire