Johann Nepomuk Hummel, born on November 14, 1778, in Pressburg (Bratislava), was an Austrian composer and pianist. During his early years, he received piano lessons from his father, Johannes, a violinist. However, the two years he spent studying with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the late 1780s proved more formative. His first public performance as a pianist took place in Dresden in 1787, followed by his first concert tour a year later.
On the recommendation of Haydn, whose organ student he had been in the meantime, Hummel took over the direction of the Esterházy court orchestra in Eisenstadt in 1804. He was dismissed in 1811 for neglecting his duties. After a disappointing stint as court Kapellmeister in Stuttgart, he assumed the position of Grand Ducal Kapellmeister in Weimar in 1819. His annual three-month concert tours made him well-known from Paris to Moscow.
In his later years, from 1832 onward, at the age of 54 and in poor health, Hummel devoted less energy to his duties as music director in Weimar. After Goethe's death in March 1832, he had less contact with local theater circles and remained in partial retirement until his death in 1837.
Although Hummel composed more than 100 works, most have been forgotten. Among his best-known pieces are the Piano Sonata in F-sharp minor, the Piano Concerto in B minor, Op. 89, and the two masses, Op. 77 and Op. 111. His Trumpet Concerto is particularly famous and is part of the standard repertoire for advanced trumpet players. His piano method from 1828 is considered one of the most important piano pedagogy texts of his time. As the last representative of Viennese Classicism, his music reflects the transition from Classicism to Romanticism.