Franz Danzi

German composer Franz Danzi (1763-1826). Although not himself a composer of the first rank, Danzi was a highly competent musician. At best, his music is charming, tuneful, and well crafted. He is known today chiefly for his woodwind quintets, in which he took justifiable pride for the idiomatic treatment of the individual instruments. He composed in most major genres of the time, including opera, church music, orchestral works, and many varieties of chamber music. He was a first-rate cellist as well as a conscientious and - by all reports - effective orchestra leader and conductor.