Born as Fransek Vincenc Kramar at Kamenice (Kamenitz, Southern Moravia), the son of an innkeeper who later became mayor of Kamenice, he studied organ and violin with his uncle Anton Matthias Kramar near Brno. Kramar then had various appointments with nobility in Simontormnya , Pecs et al., before settling in Vienna in 1795 (some accounts say 1785).

By this time, Kramar had renamed himself Franz Krommer, adapting to life in Vienna and developing a reputation as a violin tutor as well as a useful conductor and composer. However, attempts to gain a position at the royal palace were unsuccessful until 1815, when he was appointed Imperial Court Composer, and in 1818 Krommer succeeded his countryman Leopold Kozeluh as Kammer-Kapellmeister. This role lapsed after his death in 1831.

By the time of his appointment as Kapellmeister, Krommer was widely known and published as a composer, and accompanied Emperor Franz I on his travels through France and Italy – where the musician was himself well received by the local conservatories.

“He was a simple man, friendly, cheerful and very good-hearted – the battle between literature and aesthetics interested him just as little as did the wars of Kings and peoples; he lived in his own private peaceful world – a Hellenistic being, transformed into the figure of a bourgeois musician with a wig and a lace jabot, short trousers and buckled shoes” (von Riehl – “Musikalische Charakterköpfe”, circa 1850).

(Contribution by Adrian House <adrian.house@ntlworld.com>.)