Franz Danzi served as a cellist in the famous Mannheim orchestra, remaining in Mannheim when the Electoral court moved to Munich in 1778. In 1783 he took his father’s place in the Munich orchestra and there continued his career as a composer with his third German opera. Having married a singer, he enjoyed an active career in opera that led to his appointment as deputy Kapellmeister in Munich in 1798. After his wife’s death he returned to Mannheim and in 1807 was appointed Kapellmeister in Stuttgart, where he met Weber. In 1812 he moved to Karlsruhe, where again he was able to stage operas by Weber. He was, at the same time, a prolific composer in many genres.

Wenn man den Namen Franz Danzi erwähnt, erntet man sogar in kulturell informierten Kreisen wahrscheinlich nur ein gleichgültiges Achselzucken oder verständnislose Blicke. Sogar unter Fagottisten, die eigentlich besonders dankbar für seine reichen Beiträge zu unserem Repertoire sein sollten, trifft man öfter auf ein leicht gelangweiltes Gähnen als auf die enthusiastische Schwärmerei, die Mozart oder Weber hervorrufen würden. Dies war mit Sicherheit zu Danzis Lebzeiten nie der Fall; er wurde von seinen Zeitgenossen einstimmig bewundert und als vollendete und einflussreiche Persönlichkeit der Musik hoch geschätzt.

Franz Danzi composed six symphonies in total. These highly original, masterfully instrumented orchestral works open the door to romanticism and show why Weber thought so highly of his friend.

The works of Franz Danzi did not achieve especially widespread appeal during his lifetime, nor have they been particularly popular in modern times despite the trend of resurrecting lost or unknown compositions. In addition to being a prolific composer, Danzi was quite active as an educator, though his pedagogical achievements are equally unrecognized. While not all of his compositions are necessarily worthy of a second look, his chamber works are of interest. In particular, his wind chamber music finds the composer hard at work advancing his ideals of wind performance and the advocacy of the "new," modernized versions of wind instruments. This set of three piano quintets (for fortepiano plus winds) is an ideal setting. The fortepiano, played by Christine Schornsheim, is clearly the dominant force throughout the three quintets, the winds are given several opportunities to stand alone. Danzi sought a more equal treatment of the wind instruments, even bringing the bassoon out of its more traditional role as a mere bass accompaniment instrument.