JEAN-BAPTISTE KRUMPHOLTZ (1747 - 1790)
The son of a bandmaster in the service of a Bohemian nobleman, Krumpholtz was trained as a horn player but turned instead to the harp, establishing himself, with the encouragement of Haydn, as one of the leading performers of his time. He was responsible for various technical developments in the harp and innovations in keyboard instruments. His pupil and later wife, Anne Marie, eloped to London with her lover, the pianist Dussek, and Krumpholtz soon afterwards committed suicide.
Krumpholtz wrote a quantity of music for the harp: concertos, sonatas and unaccompanied recital pieces. These form a continuing element in present harp repertoire.