Friedrich Witt

Friedrich Jeremias Witt (1770–1836) was a German composer and cellist. Born on the 8th November 1770 in the Württemberg village of Niederstetten, Witt became a cellist (some accounts say a violinist) in the court orchestra of Oettingen-Wallerstein when he was nineteen. Witt was most famous in his lifetime for his oratorio Der leidende Heiland, securing an appointment as Kapellmeister for the Prince of Würzburg, and later for the theater, where he stayed until his death on the 3rd January 1836. He also wrote two operas: Palma (1804) and Das Fischerweib (1806). His other compositions include concertos, church music, chamber music, and symphonies. In 1909, Fritz Stein discovered a Symphony in C major, now known as the Jena Symphony, which he believed to have been composed by Beethoven. He published it ,saying that it was probably an early work by Beethoven, and pointed out some stylistic similarities in the preface to the score. When H. C. Robbins Landon found another copy of the work at the Göttweig Abbey archives with Witt's name on it, he convinced most other scholars that the work was in fact by Witt. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.