A new series about Franz Anton Hoffmeister, music publisher and composer. Part 1: Sinfonia Certante Nos 1 and 2, 1782-1784.
The eighth of 11 children, Franz Anton grew up in Rottenburg until 14. He then went to Vienna, where he became an organist after studying legal and musical studies with the composer Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, the future teacher of Ludwig van Beethoven. At the same time, he worked as an editor. In 1800, together with Ambrosius Kühnel (1770-1813), he founded the Music Office in Leipzig, which still exists today as the Peters Publishing House.
Hoffmeister published his first symphonies in 1778 when he was appointed choral conductor to the Hungarian Count Franz von Szécsényi.
He returned to Vienna and, in 1784, began publishing his works as well as those of composers such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Clementi, Albrechtsberger, Dittersdorf or Vanhal.
Hoffmeister was Mozart’s friend who dedicated his string quartet KV 499 to him, while Beethoven called him “my best brother”. Jean-Baptiste Vanhal also dedicated his string quartet in E-flat major to him.
Some of his works were performed at the famous Salomon concerts in the early 1790s.
