Zumsteeg, Johann Rudolf

1760-1802

Pupil of the Carl's School, near Stuttgart, where he became a friend of Schiller; he was studying to be a sculptor, but through the influence and guidance of Poli he became a cultivated and skilled musician, first a cello player and later a composer. In 1792 he succeeded Poli as Court chapelmaster, but he is best remembered as a pioneer composer of German ballads, among them Schiller's Maria Stuart; Burger's Lenore and Goethe's Colma and Ritter Toggenburg. He wrote a number of operas which were produced in Stuttgart; cello sonatas; cello concertos, church cantatas and choruses to Schiller's Rauber. He died in Stuttgart.