Johannes Matthias Sperger

Who was Johannes Matthias Sperger?

Johannes Matthias Sperger, also often Johann, was an Austrian contrabassist and composer.

Sperger was born in Feldsberg, and trained from 1767 in Vienna as a contrabassist and composer. He worked from 1777 in the Hofkapelle of the Archbishop of Pressburg. From 1778 he was also a member in the Wiener Tonkünstlersozietät, in whose concerts he appeared several times with his own works and as soloist. From 1783 to 1786, Sperger was a member of the Hofkapelle of count Ludwig von Erdödy in Kohfidisch. From 1789 he was employed as first contrabassist of the Mecklenburg Schwerin Hofkapelle in Ludwigslust. He was an extremely productive composer who wrote more than forty-four symphonies, numerous instrumental concertos, among them eighteen contrabass concertos, sonatas, rondos and dances, cantatas, choral works, and airs. He died in Schwerin, aged 62.