Johann Anton André

Johann Anton André (6 October 1775 – 6 April 1842) was a German composer and music publisher of the Classical period, best known for his central place in Mozart research. Life Born in Offenbach am Main, André wrote operas, symphonies, masses, and lieder, as well as an unfinished (Textbook of the Art of Composition) 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 (the ) from the composer’s widow Constanze, and brought them to Offenbach. This collection contained over 270 autographs and included the operas The Marriage of Figaro and The Magic Flute, a series of string quartets and string quintets, several piano concertos, and Eine kleine Nachtmusik. Based on these autographs, the André publishing house (founded in 1774 by André’s father Johann 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 title Zaide to Mozart’s hitherto unnamed and incomplete