Friedrich Hartmann Graf

Who was Friedrich Hartmann Graf?

Friedrich Hartmann Graf was a German flautist and composer.

Graf was born 23 August 1727 in Rudolstadt. He was trained by his father Johann Graf and then served as a drummer in a Dutch army regiment where he was taken as a prisoner of war by the English. After he returned in 1759 he became a flutist and conductor in Hamburg for five years. During that time he toured England, Holland, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. He then became first flutist by his brother Christian Ernst Graf who led the royal chapel in the Hague. Later he became the music director and cantor of all Protestant churches, the school of St. Anna in Augsburg where he founded a civil society concert in 1779. Here he also met Mozart.

Graf died 19 August 1795 in Augsburg.