Johann Georg Abeltshauser
Quartet Op. 2 for 2 Flutes and 2 Horns
Works for 2 flutes and 2 horns are an appealing but rare combination in chamber music. Joseph Haydn, for instance, wrote 12 Nocturnes for this scoring. As ROM 067, the Robert Ostermeyer Musikedition has published an edition of Nocturnes by Wilhelm Anton Lütgen (1781–1857), first printed in 1818 by the Schott publishing house in Mainz.
Somewhat earlier, in 1813, the present quartet appeared under the title Quatuor pour deux flûtes & deux cors, Oeuvre 2, by Johann Georg Abeltshauser. The title page notes that at the time he was Premier Cor du Théâtre Français de Strasbourg. Little is known of his biography. His son was Ignatius Georg Abeltshauser, born in 1805 or 1806 in Arenberg, Département de Rhin-et-Moselle, French Empire. After killing his opponent in a duel, he fled to Ireland, where he became a noted linguist and was ordained a priest. He died in Dublin in 1866.
Johann Georg Abeltshauser must therefore have been living in Arenberg in 1805/06, before taking up his position in Strasbourg.
Besides the present Quartet Op. 2, he also published with Schott in 1813 12 quartets for 4 horns, 6 quartets Op. 3 (likewise for 2 flutes and 2 horns), and, as Opus 4, a quartet for flute, clarinet, horn and bassoon (newly edited as ROM 430).
