Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz

Jean-Baptiste Krumpholz (French pronunciation: ​[ʒɑ̃batist kʁœ̃fɔlz]; Czech: Jan Křtitel Krumpholtz) (8 May 1742 – 19 February 1790) was a Czech composer and harpist.

Krumpholz was born in Budenice, near Zlonice. He was the brother of Wenzel Krumpholz, violinist and mandolin player. He learned music from his father while growing up in Paris; in 1773 he played a successful harp concerto in the Burgtheater in Vienna. After serving three years in Count Esterházy's court orchestra (1773–1776), during which he is said to have taken counterpoint lessons with Joseph Haydn, he embarked on a successful concert tour of Europe. In Paris and Metz, he worked along with manufacturers Jean Henri Naderman, his son François Joseph Naderman, and Sébastien Érard towards improving the construction of the harp. He composed concertos and sonatas for harp and chamber music.

Krumpholz drowned himself in the Seine after his wife, a former pupil, Anne-Marie Krumpholtz (1755–1824), also a virtuoso harpist, eloped to London, although the story that this was with pianist Jan Ladislav Dussek is apocryphal.

Krumpholz composed 52 sonatas, 6 concertos and many preludes and variations for the harp. He wrote also harp duets, quartets and 4 sonatas for harp, 2 violins, 2 French horns and cello.

Selected works