Mentioned alongside Mozart and Haydn in his lifetime, Antonio Rosetti was famous primarily for the instrumental works he composed in the service of Prince Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein. Of Bohemian origin, Rosetti became a member of the prince’s court chapel in 1772. His symphonies, the partitas for wind ensemble and the horn concertos (for one or several soloists) soon were noticed beyond his immediate circle and earned him commissions from outside the region. As kapellmeister, Antonio Rosetti turned the prince’s chapel into an orchestra of the first rank, which even Joseph Haydn mentioned admiringly and for which the renowned colleague from Vienna wrote a number of symphonies. Both composers were also noticed by the Paris Concerts spirituels, where apart from symphonies by Haydn and Mozart Antonio Rosetti’s compositions were presented as well. [...] Even though in view of his numerous compositions and his reputation beyond Wallerstein Antonio Rosetti considered himself highly successful, his economic situation remained precarious. This eventually made him decide to move on, and in 1789 he took up the much better-paid position of court kapellmeister at the residency of Duke Friedrich Franz I of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Ludwigslust. In the protestant north of the Holy Roman Empire Rosetti continued to write symphonies but also composed a number of large-scale vocal works, including his second oratorio, “Jesus in Gethsemane”. When Antonio Rosetti died on 30 June 1792, the musical world lost, according to Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, “one of the most highly appreciated composers of the time”. [...]
Roland Biener (preface)
