Johann Anton André (6 October 1775 – 6 April 1842) was a German composer and music publisher of theClassical period,[1] best known for his central place inMozart research.[2]
Born inOffenbach am Main, André wroteoperas,symphonies,masses, andlieder, as well as an unfinishedLehrbuch der Tonsetzkunst (Textbook of the Art ofComposition) in two volumes. His teachers were Ferdinand Frenzel (violin) and Johann Georg Vollweiler (theory and composition). In 1799, André purchased a large volume of Mozart's musical papers (theMozart-Nachlass)[3] from the composer's widowConstanze, and brought them to Offenbach. This collection contained over 270autographs[4] and included the operasThe Marriage of Figaro andThe Magic Flute, a series ofstring quartets andstring quintets, severalpiano concertos, andEine kleine Nachtmusik. Based on these autographs, the André publishing house (founded in 1774 by André's fatherJohann André (1741–99) and still owned by the family today) prepared and issued some highly respected editions of Mozart's works, bringing many compositions into print for the first time. For this, André earned the title "father of Mozart research". He supplied the titleZaide to Mozart's hitherto unnamed and incomplete singspiel.[5] André's father Johann André had set the same text to music, before Mozart commenced his singspiel.[6]
The success of the firm turned crucially upon a meeting in Munich in 1799 between André andAlois Senefelder, the inventor oflithography. Senefelder agreed to collaborate with André and granted his firm the right of applying the new printing method to the printing of music for the first time. The firstlithographed score was the vocal score of André's own operaDie Weiber von Weinsberg, which came off the press in 1800. In 1839, André handed over the business to his son Johann August André (1817–87).
