Leopold Kozeluch was born on 26 June 1747 in Welwarn, near Prague, the son of the shoemaker and burgher tradesman Antonín Bartholomäus Kozeluch; he was baptized with the given names Ioannes Antonius. The composer Jan Antonín Kozeluch was his cousin, and the pianist Katharina Cibbini (1785–1858) was his daughter. To avoid confusion with his cousin, he probably changed his name as early as before 1774. On the occasion of his marriage on 14 November 1782 to Maria Allmayr von Allstern (a niece of Ignaz von Born), he was recorded in the marriage register as "Johann Leopold Koscheluck".
Kozeluch received his first artistic training in Welwarn from Anton Kubík and later from his cousin as well as from Franz Xaver Dussek. He successfully attended the Gymnasium in Prague and subsequently studied law. After a few semesters he abandoned his studies and devoted himself entirely to music from then on.
In 1771 he made his debut with a ballet at the National Theatre in Prague. Over the following seven years Kozeluch composed around 25 works for the Prague National Theatre. In 1778 he moved to Vienna and was probably, for a brief period, a pupil of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger.
Within a short time Kozeluch rose to become a celebrated pianist. The imperial court entrusted him with succeeding Georg Christoph Wagenseil as music teacher to Archduchess Elisabeth, daughter of Empress Maria Theresa. In 1781 Kozeluch declined the post of court organist in Salzburg as Mozart's successor. Instead, in 1792, following Mozart's death, he was appointed both Kammerkapellmeister and court composer for life. He privately taught several pupils at home, among them the blind pianist Maria Theresia Paradis.
Enthused by Masonic ideas, Kozeluch joined the Vienna lodges "Zum Palmbaum" and "Zu den drei Adlern".
Kozeluch achieved recognition across Europe during his lifetime; in his later years, however, he was frequently criticized as being too prolific. The unfavorable judgments of Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are still remembered today. Nevertheless, his finest works already display traits of the musical language of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Indeed, some of his works were for a long time attributed to Beethoven.
Leopold Kozeluch died in Vienna on 7 May 1818, at the age of 70, of gout.
The present edition is based on a manuscript copy from Engelberg Abbey in Switzerland. The title reads:
Duo / pour / Violon / & / Cors / Del Sigre Kozeluk / Ad Usum R. F. Eugeny a Büren.
This work is hereby published for the first time in print. The horn part has been edited in the original key of D and alternatively in F.
