Jacques Christian-Michel Widerkehr was born in Strasbourg on 18 April 1759 and died in Paris in April 1823. A pupil of Franz Xaver Richter and Dumonchau (cello), he came to Paris in 1783 as a teacher, composer and freelance musician. Regular publication of his compositions can be documented from 1790 onwards. Widerkehr achieved fame above all as a composer of instrumental music; his symphonies concertantes for wind instruments in particular were highly praised.
The Symphonie concertante presented here was written around 1797. It is dedicated to the citizens (Citoyens) Frédéric Duvernoy (1765–1835) and Heinrich Domnich (1767–1844). Both were horn players at the Paris Opéra and teachers at the Conservatoire. Duvernoy was a highly successful solo horn player; he cultivated the middle register of the horn (cor mixte) and used it to particularly good effect in his own compositions. Domnich was a second horn player and also composed for his instrument. Both published highly successful horn tutors in their day.
