Johann Andreas Amon was a German

Germans

The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

 virtuoso

Virtuoso

A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...

 horn player

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

, violist

Viola

The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...

, conductor

Conducting

Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...

 and 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...

. Amon composed around fifty works, including symphonies, concerti, sonatas, and songs. He also wrote two masses, various liturgical works, and two operettas.

Amon was born at Bamberg

Bamberg

Bamberg is a city in Bavaria, Germany. It is located in Upper Franconia on the river Regnitz, close to its confluence with the river Main. Bamberg is one of the few cities in Germany that was not destroyed by World War II bombings because of a nearby Artillery Factory that prevented planes from...

, Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 in 1763, being first instructed in singing by the court singer Madame Fracassini, then later in instrumental work by Giovanni Punto

Giovanni Punto

Giovanni Punto was a Czech horn player and a pioneer of the hand-stopping technique which allows natural horns to play a greater number of notes.He was an international celebrity in the 18th and early 19th centuries, known in London,...

, who took Amon to Paris to study composition with Antonio Sacchini

Antonio Sacchini

Antonio Maria Gasparo Sacchini was an Italian opera composer.Sacchini was born in Florence, but was raised in Naples, where he received his musical education at the San Onofrio conservatory. He wrote his first operas in Naples, thereafter moving to Venice, then London and eventually Paris, where...

 in 1781. Amon then traveled with Punto, often leading his orchestra, until 1789, when he became the musical director at Heilbronn

Heilbronn

Heilbronn is a city in northern Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is completely surrounded by Heilbronn County and with approximately 123.000 residents, it is the sixth-largest city in the state....

. In 1817, he became kapellmeister

Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...

to the Prince of Oettingen-Wallerstein, continuing in this position until his death at Wallerstein, Bavaria

Wallerstein, Bavaria

Wallerstein is a municipality in the district of Donau-Ries in Bavaria in Germany. It was first mentioned 1238 as Steinheim. In 1806 Wallerstein became a part of Bavaria.- Culture and Sights:* castle Wallerstein* castle rock* old Jewish burial ground...

 in 1825.

Selected works

Concertante

• Concerto No.1 in A major for viola and orchestra, Op. 10 (1799); The solo viola part is written in the key of G major requiring a scordatura
  Scordatura
  A scordatura , also called cross-tuning, is an alternative tuning used for the open strings of a string instrument, in which the notes indicated in the score would represent the finger position as if played in regular tuning, while the actual pitch is altered...
  
   tuning a whole step higher.
• Concerto No.2 in E major for viola and orchestra; The solo viola part is written in the key of E major requiring a scordatura tuning a half step higher.
• Concerto for piano and orchestra, Op. 34 (1805)
• Concerto for flute and orchestra, Op. 44 (1807)

Chamber music

• 6 Duos for violin and viola, Op. 2 (1791)
• 3 String Trios, Op. 8 (c.1800)
• 3 Sonatas for piano and violin, Op. 11
• 3 Concertante Quartets for solo viola and string trio, Op. 15
• Quartet for solo viola and string trio, Op. 18 No. 3 (1803)
• Quintet for flute, viola and string trio, Op. 19 No. 3
• 3 Quartets for horn, violin, viola and cello, Op. 20
• 3 Sonatas for piano and violin (1805); arranged from 3 Quartets, Op. 9 by Ferdinand Fränzl
  Ferdinand Fränzl
  Ferdinand Fränzl, , was a German violinist, composer, conductor, opera director, and a representative of the third generation of the so-called Mannheim school....
  
  
• 3 Quartets for flute, violin, viola and cello, Op. 42 (1806)
• 2 Sonatas for flute, cello and piano Op. 48 (1820)
• 3 Quartets for oboe, violin, viola and cello, Op. 92 (1828?)
• 3 Quartets for horn, violin, viola and cello, Op. 109

External links