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Georg Matthias Monn
April 9, 1717 - October 3, 1750
born in Vienna
Biography
The composer who introduced the Mannheim galant style to Vienna, Georg Matthias Monn enjoyed a high reputation in Austria during his lifetime, although his music was not widely circulated beyond German-speaking territories and was generally ignored during the first 250 years following his death.

His baptismal name was actually Johann Georg Mann; he seems to have called himself Georg Matthias to avoid confusion with his younger brother, Johann Christoph, also a composer. "Monn" conforms to the Lower Austrian pronunciation of the family name. J.G. Monn was a child chorister, and in his early twenties he took a job as organist at the new Karlskirche in Vienna. He may also have played the organ at Melk Abbey, although this has been disputed, and it's possible, though not certain, that he was an early teacher of Albrechtsberger.

He did, with Wagenseil, rise to become one of the leading Viennese composers of the mid eighteenth century. His music was performed at the court of Emperor Joseph II, but none of it -- and there seems to be quite a bit of it -- was published during his lifetime. He is noted in the music history books as the first to compose a four-movement symphony with a third-movement minuet, which would become the standard pattern in the works of Haydn and Mozart.
Selected Discography