Alongside Antonio Rosetti and Josef Reicha, other gifted musicians, now largely forgotten, worked at the court of Prince Kraft Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein around 1780/90. One of them was Paul Wineberger, who was employed there as a cellist. Born in Mergentheim on 7 October 1758, he studied music theory and composition in Mannheim with Joseph “Abbé” Vogler and Ignaz Holzbauer. He began his musical career as a violinist but later switched to the cello, and he appeared in the Mannheim orchestra as a substitute for Franz Danzi.
In 1780 he moved to Wallerstein. In 1783 he declined an offer from Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to move to Ludwigslust (where Rosetti later went in 1789), and in 1785 he was appointed Kapellmeister and “Director of the Princely Hunting and Table Music”. In 1798 Wineberger left the Wallerstein court and moved to Hamburg, where he is documented as a cellist at the French Theatre and at the Theater am Gänsemarkt. He also worked as a teacher; his pupils included the pianist Johann Heinrich Clasing (1779–1829). Paul Wineberger died in Hamburg on 8 February 1821.
As a composer he produced a wide range of the court music in demand at the time, including symphonies, sacred music, solo concertos and wind partitas.
Concerto in E-flat major for 2 Horns and Orchestra
– First edition –
This concerto for 2 horns was composed in 1782 for the court music at Wallerstein. It was certainly written for the horn players Joseph Nagel and Franz Zwierzina, who had been active at the Wallerstein court since 1780. The work was found among the papers of Franz Zwierzina.
