Peter von Winter

1754 - 1825

Peter von Winter was born in Mannheim. A child prodigy as a violinist, he joined the Mannheim court orchestra continuing his musical education under Georg Vogler (whom you can read more about here).

When he moved on to Munich in 1778 it was to take up an appointment as director of the court theatre. By 1798 had been appointed kapellmeister. Von Winter was mostly known for his thirty operas in his lifetime, although they have largely vanished from the repertoire. He travelled to London and Vienna to promote them and some, but by no means all were well received at the time.

However he also composed a number of works for wind instruments that are interesting (although equally ignored today) and over 25 masses. Oddly the one instrument he doesn’t seem to have composed for, is the violin.

The piece below is an unusual combination of bassoon and clarinet. An example of von Winter’s skill at composing for wind instruments, which perhaps deserves better recognition than it has managed to date.

This piece is delicately handled, light and easy to listen to yet giving plenty of opportunity for their soloists to demonstrate their virtuosity.