Johann Schobert was a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 and harpsichordist

Harpsichordist

A harpsichordist is a person who plays the harpsichord.Many baroque composers played the harpsichord, including Johann Sebastian Bach, Domenico Scarlatti, George Frideric Handel, François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau...

. His date and place of birth are disputed. Some sources say he was born in 1735 in Schlesien, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

; others have him from Silesia

Silesia

Silesia is a historical region of Central Europe located mostly in Poland, with smaller parts also in the Czech Republic, and Germany.Silesia is rich in mineral and natural resources, and includes several important industrial areas. Silesia's largest city and historical capital is Wrocław...

, as suggested by Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm

Friedrich Melchior, baron von Grimm

Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm was a German-born French author.-Early years:Grimm was born at Regensburg, the son of a pastor...

, or from Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

, as claimed by Christian Schubart in his autobiography. The date of Schobert's birth is given variously as about 1720, about 1735, or about 1740.

In 1760, Schobert moved to Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 where he served in the household of Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti

Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti

Louis François de Bourbon, Prince of Conti was a French nobleman, who was the Prince of Conti from 1727 to his death, following his father Louis Armand II. His mother was Louise Élisabeth de Bourbon, a natural granddaughter of Louis XIV...

. He composed many books of sonatas for his instrument, most of them with an accompanying part for one or more other instruments. Schobert also wrote harpsichord concerto

Concerto

A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...

s, symphonies and the opéra comique

Opéra comique

Opéra comique is a genre of French opera that contains spoken dialogue and arias. It emerged out of the popular opéra comiques en vaudevilles of the Fair Theatres of St Germain and St Laurent , which combined existing popular tunes with spoken sections...

 Le Garde-Chasse et le Braconnier.

In Paris, Schobert came into contact with Leopold Mozart

Leopold Mozart

Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...

. Reportedly, Schobert was offended by Mozart's comments that his children played Schobert's works with ease. Nevertheless, Schobert was a significant influence on the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

, who arranged a number of movements from Schobert's sonatas for use in his own piano concertos.

Schobert died in Paris, along with his wife, one of their children, a maidservant and four acquaintances, after insisting that certain poisonous

Mushroom poisoning

Mushroom poisoning refers to harmful effects from ingestion of toxic substances present in a mushroom. These symptoms can vary from slight gastrointestinal discomfort to death. The toxins present are secondary metabolites produced in specific biochemical pathways in the fungal cells...

 mushroom

Mushroom

A mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...

s were edible.

Works

op. 1 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violine ad libitum

op. 2 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord, with violin obbligato

op. 3 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violin ad libitum

op. 4 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord

op. 5 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violin ad libitum

op. 6 - 3 Triosonatas for Harpsichord, Violin and Violoncello ad libitum

op. 7 - 3 Sonatas en quatuor, Harpsichord, 2 Violins and Violoncello ad libitum

op. 8 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord with Violin obbligato

op. 9 - 3 Sinfonies for Harpsichord, Violine and 2 Horns ad libitum

op. 10 - 3 Sinfonies for Harpsichord, Violin and 2 Horns ad libitum

op. 11 - Concerto I for Harpsichord, 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, 2 Horns ad libitum

op. 12 - Concerto II for Harpsichord, 2 Violins, Viola, Violoncello, 2 Oboes, 2 Horns ad libitum

op. 13 - Concerto III pastorale for Harpsichord, 2 Violins, 2 Horns ad libitum, Viola, Violoncello

op. 14 - 6 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violine ad libitum (Nr. 1 with Violin and Viola ad libitum)

op. 15 - Concerto IV for Harpsichord, Violine and 2 Horns ad libitum

op. 16 - 4 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violin and Violoncello

op. 17 - 4 Sonatas for Harpsichord, Violin

op. 18 - Concerto V for Harpsichord and 2 Violins

op. 19 - 2 Sonatas for Harpsichord or Pianoforte, Violin (posthumous)

op. 20 - 3 Sonatas for Harpsichord and Violin (probably by T. Giordani)

(New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians)

Sources

• Article on Johann Schobert in the German Wikipedia
• Article on Johann Schobert in the French Wikipedia
• The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press 1994.

External links