Anton Fils

Anton Fils (also Antonín Fils, Johann Anton Fils, Johann Anton Filtz), 22 September 1733 (baptized) – 14 March 1760 (buried) was a German classical composer.

Fils was born in Eichstätt, in the Bishopric of Eichstätt. Long thought to have been of Bohemian origin (e.g., Racek 1956), despite having been described as "from Bavaria" by Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg in 1756, his true origins were discovered in the 1960s (Wolf 2001). Fils studied law and theology at the University of Ingolstadt, and in 1754 became part of the "Mannheimer Hofkapelle" as a cellist. The Mannheim orchestra at the time was led by Johann Stamitz (Würtz & Wolf 2001). In 1757 Fils married Elizabeth Range, and in 1759 the couple bought a house.

Even though he died at only age 26, he left an extensive body of work, including at least thirty-four symphonies. Although he composed about thirty concertos, mainly for cello and for flute, only about half have survived (Wolf 2001).

Fils died in Mannheim and was buried on 14 March 1760 (Wolf 2001).

References

• Littger, Klaus Walter (1983). Johann Anton Fils—ein Eichstätter Komponist der Mannheimer Klassik (in German). Tützing: H. Schneider. ISBN 3-7952-0406-2. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Racek, Jan. 1956. "Beitrag zur Frage des 'mozartschen' Stils in der tschechischen vorklassischen Musik". In 'Internationale Konferenz über das Leben und Werk W.A. Mozarts, edited by Václav Dobiáš, Pavel Eckstein, and Antonín Sychra. Prague: Svaz Československých Skladatelů.
• Sondheimer, Robert (1925). Die Theorie der Sinfonie und die Beurteilung einzelner Sinfoniekomponisten bei den Musikschriftstellern des 18. Jahrhunderts. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Townsend, Douglas (1987). Foreword to the score of Filtz's String Symphony No. 2 in C major, Opus 2. New York: Henmar Press.
• Wolf, Eugene K. (2001). "Fils [Filtz, Filz], (Johann) Anton". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
• Würtz, Roland, and Eugene K. Wolf (2001). "Mannheim". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

External links

• Free scores by Anton Fils at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)