Franz Anton Hoffmeister
Concerto E major for 2 Horns
Hoffmeister arrived in Vienna 1768 where he began to study law. After finishing his studies, he lived only for music. He became one of the first well-known music publishers in Vienna and later in Leipzig. He was the main publisher of Mozart. They were close friends in music and private sphere. On January 24th 1784, he founded his music publishers. In 1798, he planned a concert tourneys to London together with the flute player Franz Thurner. However, Hoffmeister stayed in Leipzig and founded together with the organist Ambrosius Kühnel the "Bureau de musique".
Beside his own works Hoffmeister published a large number of compositions from well known contemporaries like Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Pleyel, Dittersdorf, Vanhal, Abrechtsberger, Teyber, Mederitsch and others. The works of Beethoven (op. 19-22, 39-42, 44, 65 and some small pieces) were published mainly in Leipzig by him. In 1807, Hoffmeister finished working in his business and composed only a few times in the last years. His honesty and his true character was praised by his contemporaries. Hoffmeister belongs to the numerous composers who worked beside the Viennese Masters and pleased the audience often much more than those. The appreciation of the contemporaries was out of question.These two concertos belong to the estate of Franz Zwirzina, who was one of the musicians of the famous horn playing family, working at the court Öttingen-Wallerstein. On the occasion of this family composers like Rosetti, Amon and Witt composed concertos for two horns.
