Leopold Koželuch

Bohemian composer (1747–1818)

Leopold Koželuch (, born Jan Antonín Koželuh, alternatively also Leopold Koželuh, Leopold Kotzeluch; 26 June 1747 – 7 May 1818) was a Czech composer and music teacher. He was born in Velvary and moved to Prague to further his musical education, before moving again to Vienna in 1778, where he was based for the remainder of his career. In Vienna he achieved renown as a composer, pianist and teacher, and from 1792 until his death in 1818 he held royal appointments as Kammer Kapellmeister (music director) and Hofmusik Compositor (composer), as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's successor. Koželuch's compositional output included sonatas and concertos for keyboard, the instrument in which he specialised, as well as chamber music, choral music and opera.

Koželuch was born on 26 June 1747 in Velvary, in present day Czech Republic. His father was Antonín Bartholomäus Koželuh, a shoemaker. He was baptised Jan Antonín, but by 1773 he had adopted the name Leopold to avoid confusion with his elder cousin, the composer Jan Antonín Koželuh. After starting his musical education in Velvary, Koželuch moved to Prague where he studied with his cousin and František Xaver Dušek, the latter teaching him in the keyboard and composition. His pupils would include Maria Theresia Paradis, Archduchess Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess Marie Louise and Maria Leopoldine von Österreich, Empress of Brazil. His appointment to teach Archduchess Elizabeth was an official court position, succeeding Georg Christoph Wagenseil. In 1781, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart resigned his appointment as court organist in Salzburg following a quarrel with his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Archbishop offered the position to Koželuch, but Koželuch refused, later expressing concerns to a friend that he might too have fallen victim to what he saw as Mozart's ill treatment. In 1784, Koželuch expanded into publishing, and soon formed his own firm, Musikalisches Magazin, which would later come under the management of his brother Antonín Tomáš. Koželuch would use the firm, in combination with overseas partners, to publish many of his compositions. Koželuch's esteem in royal circles grew again in 1791, when he composed a well received cantata commissioned for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II in Prague. Mozart composed La clemenza di Tito for the same occasion. Mozart's death later in the year afforded Koželuch another opportunity: Emperor Franz II offered him Mozart's positions in his court, Kammer Kapellmeister (music director) and Hofmusik Compositor (composer), and at double Mozart's salary. Koželuch would remain in the positions until his death. In 1809, Ludwig van Beethoven, a frequent disparager of rival composers, would write to Thomson referring to Koželuch as "Miserabilis". Koželuch died on 7 May 1818. His daughter, Catherina Cibbini Kozeluch, became a prominent pianist and composer based in Vienna. Koželuch's composed his sonatas to be played on the newly emerging fortepiano rather than the harpsichord. The popularity of the sonatas in turn helped to make the fortepiano fashionable.

Koželuch's chamber music, especially his output from the 1790s, is among the more advanced of his works, often foreshadowing the expressionism of Beethoven. Koželuch's only string quartets date from this period. A set of six published as Opus 32 and Opus 33, they became known throughout Europe. Almost all of Koželuch's choral works, including cantatas and five of his six operas, have been lost. His opera Gustav Wasa (presumably from 1792) was performed in Finland in 2018, for the first time since the death of the composer.