Franz Xaver KLEINHEINZ

Born in Mindelheim on 26 June 1765, Franz Xaver Kleinheinz received music lessons as part of his higher studies in Memmingen and Neuburg-an-der-Danau, then moved to Munich, where he held a post at the court of Charles Theodore of Bavaria. When the prince died in 1799, he headed to Vienna. There he studied composition with Albrechtsberger and became a popular teacher in aristocratic circles – Giulietta Guicciardi was one of his pupils. Through Josephine Brunsvik, Kleinheinz met Beethoven, who valued his musical skills so highly that he entrusted the arrangement of various works to him, including the Serenade for string trio, op. 8 arranged for viola and piano (Notturno, op. 42) or the Serenade, op. 25 arranged for piano and flute (op. 41). When Karl Kaspar van Beethoven (the composer’s brother) offered these arrangements to the publishers, he informed them that they had been carried out by “a highly competent composer” working “under the direction” of his brother. In 1804, Kleinheinz set off on a tour that took him as far as St Petersburg and, later, was employed as Kapellmeister in Brno, then Pest, where he was director of the German Theatre in 1814-1815 and 1817-1824. His varied musical output includes works for piano, chamber music, concertos and operas, some of which helped to pave the way for the creation of the Hungarian singspiel. He also composed oratorios and masses, including the so-called “Mass for Napoleon’s coronation”, traditionally attributed to Méhul.