Count Ferdinand Troyer (February 1, 1780 – July 23, 1851) was an Austrian noble, philanthropist, and amateur

clarinettist This article lists notable musicians who have played the clarinet. Classical clarinetists * Laver Bariu * Ernest Ačkun * Luís Afonso * Cristiano Alves * Michel Arrignon * Dimitri Ashkenazy * Kinan Azmeh * Alexander Bader * Carl Baermann ...

. Born in Brünn (Brno),

Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The m ...

, Troyer became the chief steward to Archduke Rudolf of Austria-Tuscany. It was noted that on 2 March 1817, Troyer played the obbligato to

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

's ''Parto'' for the

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Philharmonic Society at the Large Ridotto Room. His sound was described as being "sensitive," with an "extremely tender handling" of the clarinet. Because of the popularity of

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's E-flat Septet, in early 1824, Troyer commissioned

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

to write a companion piece. Schubert accepted the commission but enriched the seven-part instrumentation of Beethoven's septet with an additional violin to create an

octet Octet may refer to: Music * Octet (music), ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or composition written for such an ensemble ** String octet, a piece of music written for eight string instruments *** Octet (Mendelssohn), 1825 compos ...

. The octet was completed on 1 March 1824 and was first performed at Troyer's townhouse in Vienna, where Troyer himself played the clarinet part. He died in Vienna.

References

* Weston, P, ''More clarinet virtuosi of the past,'' p259 1780 births 1851 deaths Musicians from Brno People from the Margraviate of Moravia Austrian people of Moravian-German descent Counts of Austria Austrian classical clarinetists 19th-century classical musicians {{Austria-musician-stub