Antonín Kraft [SEP] place of birth
Antonín Kraft
Antonín Kraft (December 30, 1749, Rokycany – 28 August 1820, Vienna) was a Czech cellist and composer. He was a close friend of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven.
Kraft was born in the Bohemian town of Rokycany of a German Bohemian ethnic family which had assimilated into Czech. He received early musical education on the cello from his father before going to university in Vienna to study law. He soon obtained a position in the Imperial Hofkapelle. In 1778 he was appointed cellist in Prince
playing viola and Nikolaus Kraft playing cello. Beethoven's first set of string quartets, Op. 18, which were completed in 1800, were first performed by Schuppanzigh's quartet.
In 1805 Schuppanzigh formed his own quartet; the other players were Joseph Mayseder (second violin), Anton Schreiber (viola) and Antonín Kraft, the father of Nikolaus Kraft (cello). Their first concerts took place in "Heiligenkreutzerhof", a private house; later in the restaurant "Römischer Kaiser".
Count Razumovsky's quartet