František Xaver Pokorný (20 December 1729,

Městec Králové Městec Králové (; german: Königstädtel meaning “King’s town”) is a town in Nymburk District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. Administrative parts Villages of Nový and Vinice are admi ...

– 2 July 1794,

Regensburg Regensburg or is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the Danube, Naab and Regen rivers. It is capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the state in the south of Germany. With more than 150,000 inhabitants, Regensburg is the f ...

) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

composer and violinist of the classical period. While young, he left his hometown for

where he studied violin playing with Joseph Riepel. In 1750 he went to Wallerstein, where he played violin in the

Oettingen-Wallerstein The House of Oettingen was a high-rank noble Franconian and Swabian family. It ruled various estates that composed the County of Oettingen between the 12th century and the beginning of the 19th century. In 1674 the house was raised to the rank of p ...

court orchestra. In 1753 he went to

Mannheim Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's 2 ...

where he further studied with

Johann Stamitz Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz (Czech: Jan Václav Antonín Stamic; 18 June 1717 – 27 March 1757) was a Bohemian composer and violinist. His two surviving sons, Carl and Anton Stamitz, were composers of the Mannheim school, of which Johann is ...

and

Ignaz Holzbauer Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer (18 September 1711 – 7 April 1783) was an Austrian composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the ''Sturm und Drang'' "m ...

among others. After the death of Philip Charles Domenic Oettingen-Wallerstein in 1766 he asked for permission to leave the court for three to four years. He spent the last part of his life in the orchestra of

Karl Anselm, 4th Prince of Thurn and Taxis , image = Fürst Carl Anselm.jpg , caption = , reign = 17 March 1773 – 13 November 1805 , reign-type = Period , coronation = , predecessor = Alexander Ferdinand , successor = Karl Alexander , su ...

, again in Regensburg. Nearly 150 symphonies are attributed to him, but his authorship is disputed for more than fifty of these, as after his death his surname was erased from his works and replaced by names of other authors by Theodor von Schacht, intendant of the Regensburg orchestra. Furthermore, many works for wind instruments, tens of solo concertos including 45 for harpsichord and 3 for two horns are attributed to him.

External links

* 1729 births 1794 deaths 18th-century classical composers 18th-century male musicians 18th-century musicians from Bohemia Czech Classical-period composers Czech male classical composers People from Městec Králové Pupils of Johann Stamitz {{CzechRepublic-composer-stub