Parthia in F for 4 horns, oboe, 2 flutes, 2 bassoons, 2 clarinets and violone
Paul Wineberger was one of the musicians who worked around 1780/90 at the Wallerstein court of Prince Kraft Ernst of Oettingen-Wallerstein — alongside better-known names such as Antonio Rosetti and Josef Reicha — but who is largely forgotten today. He was employed there as a cellist.
He was born in Mergentheim on 7 October 1758. In Mannheim he studied music theory and composition with Joseph "Abbé" Vogler and Ignaz Holzbauer. Originally trained on the violin, he later switched to the cello and served in the Mannheim orchestra as a substitute for Franz Danzi.
In 1780 Wineberger moved to Wallerstein. He turned down an offer from Duke Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to join the court at Ludwigslust in 1783 (that post went to Rosetti instead in 1789). In 1785 he was appointed Kapellmeister and "director of the princely hunting and table music". In 1798 he left the Wallerstein court and settled in Hamburg, where he is documented as a cellist at the French Theatre and 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 covered the full range of music required at court: symphonies, sacred works, solo concertos and wind parthias.
His wind parthias, especially those scored for three or four horns, are open-air music in the truest sense. Wineberger draws heavily on hunting motifs, capturing the sound of the court hunt around 1786. With up to four horns, these works are unusually large in scoring even by the standards of their time.
