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Donald Macleod follows the young Joseph Kraus to Stockholm where he hopes to impress the Swedish king with his musical talents.

In a first for Composer of the Week, Donald Macleod surveys the life and music of Joseph Martin Kraus. Kraus has been called the Swedish Mozart; he was born in the same year as Mozart, in 1756, and survived him by just 12 months. Originally from Germany, Kraus found work as a composer based at the Swedish royal court and quickly came to be regarded as one of the leading music directors in all Europe. Haydn said that he knew of only two geniuses, Mozart and Joseph Martin Kraus.

His father was a town official in Buchen im Odenwald and Kraus was expected to follow a similar career path. He specialised in jurisprudence at university however his obvious musical talents were destined to take him in another direction. Although Kraus wasn’t born in one of the main cities of Germany, he soon found himself being tutored by some of the best musicians in the land. By the age of ten he was learning the violin and composition from members of the famous Mannheim Court Orchestra. While still a student, Kraus published a set of six string quartets and, after graduation, he travelled to Sweden where he’d heard King Gustav III was a passionate champion of the arts. Before he left Germany, Kraus wrote to his parents with a list of his compositions to date, including six symphonies and six concertos.

Soliman II Overture
The Royal Opera of Sweden Orchestra
Philip Brunelle, conductor

Miserere in C minor, VB 4 (excerpt)
Annemei Blessing-Leyhausen, soprano
Paul Gerhardt Adam, alto
Deutscher Kammerchor
La Stagione Frankfurt
Michael Schneider, conductor

String Quartet in B flat major, VB 181
Salagon Quartet

Sinfonie in C major, with Violin obligato, VB 138
Concerto Köln
Werner Ehrhardt, conductor

Produced by Luke Whitlock, for ´óÏó´«Ã½ Wales