Franz Xaver Hammer called Marteau (1741 – 11 October 1817) was a German

gambist The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

and composer. Hammer was born in

Oettingen in Bayern Oettingen in Bayern (Swabian German, Swabian: ''Eadi'') is a Town#Germany, town in the Donau-Ries district, in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany. It is situated northwest of Donauwörth, and northeast of Nördlingen. Geography The town is located on th ...

. From 1771 to 1778, he worked under

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

as cellist of the Esterhazy's court ensemble in

Eisenstadt Eisenstadt (; hu, Kismarton; hr, Željezni grad; ; sl, Železno, Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian: ''Eisnstod'') is a city in Austria, the state capital of Burgenland. It had a recorded population on 29 April 2021 of 15,074. In the Habsburg ...

and at the

Eszterháza Eszterháza is a palace in Fertőd, Hungary, built by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Sometimes called the "Hungarian Versailles", it is Hungary's grandest Rococo edifice. It served as the home to Joseph Haydn and his orchestra from 1760 to 1790. In ...

palace. It is thought that Haydn composed three cello concertos for him. His salary rose from already high—100

ducat The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...

s and 30

kreuzer The Kreuzer (), in English usually kreutzer ( ), was a coin and unit of currency in the southern German states prior to the introduction of the German gold mark in 1871/73, and in Austria and Switzerland. After 1760 it was made of copper. In s ...

s—a few times suggesting his extraordinary qualities as an instrumentalist. At the premiere of Haydn's oratorio ''

Il Ritorno di Tobia ' (''The Return of Tobias'') is an oratorio in two parts composed in 1775 by Joseph Haydn ( Hob. XXI:1). The work is the first oratorio the composer wrote and, according to Jones, was "his most extended and ambitious composition up to that time". ...

'', Hammer played his own cello concerto. During 1776–1813, he was member of the Viennese musicians' society. From his works have survived sonatas for viola da gamba,

viola d'amore The viola d'amore (; Italian for "viol of love") is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The viol ...

and violoncello with basso continuo and also manuscript collections of instructive pieces and solo concertos for violoncello or viola da gamba and orchestra.

References

German Wikipedia article

External links

* German viol players German classical cellists German Classical-period composers 1741 births 1817 deaths People from Oettingen in Bayern German male classical composers 19th-century German male musicians {{germany-composer-stub