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Franz Ignaz Beck (1734-1809) was born in Mannheim, and began lessons on violin with his father. Recognizing Beck’s talent, the court decided to support his musical education, and he would become a pupil of Johann Stamitz. Beck briefly studied in Italy with Baldassare Galuppi, but left abruptly after supposedly killing an opponent in a duel. He gained fame when his works were performed in the Concert Spirituel in Paris, which was followed by lucrative publications. By 1760, he was director of a theatre orchestra in Marseilles, and by 1764, he became the director of the orchestra at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux, where he produced operas and published many sets of keyboard pieces. His symphonies have a distinctive Sturm und Drang quality, and are some of the most progressive of the period with their intense drama and advanced orchestration.

Carl Stamitz (1745-1801) was the son of the famous first concertmaster of the Mannheim Court Orchestra, Johann Stamitz (1717-1757) and one of the leading members of the second generation Mannheim School. He toured across Europe and performed on violin, viola, and viola d’amore. His compositions were widely published  and he is renowned for his contribution to the symphony, concerto, and symphonie concertantes. Le chasse (the hunt) was a common subject for musical pieces in the eighteenth-century, and was often inspired by the decadent rituals performed in the French court.

Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782) was the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. Unlike any other member of the Bach family, he would move to Italy, become Catholic, and wrote mainly opera and sacred music. He was hired by Queen Charlotte of Great Britain and subsequently established himself  in London, where he promoted the new-at-the-time pianoforte in public performances, performed in fashionable concerts with his friend Carl Friedrich Abel, and produced a multitude of opera seria for the King’s Theatre at the Hay-Market. His symphonies, chamber works, and keyboard pieces were published and widely disseminated throughout Europe. He was commissioned to write two operas in Mannheim: Temistocle (1772) and Lucio Silla (1776). Amor Vincitore is a serenata written in 1774 for the theatre at Elector Carl Theodor’s summer residence in Schwetzingen.

Niccolò Jommelli (1714-1774) was a Neapolitan composer who was esteemed in his day as the foremost innovator in the Italian opera genre, revolutionizing the genre with declamatory expression and increased complexity. His development of the “orchestral crescendo” captivated Johann Stamitz, who introduced this powerful effect into the Mannheim style, and it would go on to be known as the “Mannheim Crescendo.” His operas were performed frequently in Mannheim during the 1750’s and 60’s, and from 1754, he held a position as Ober-Kapellmeister in Stuttgart, where he continued to write opera and church music. La Didone Abbandonata was first performed in 1747 in Rome. A second version was prepared for Vienna in 1749, and the Stuttgart performance in 1763 is of the third revision. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), who hardly needs any introduction, journeyed to Mannheim in 1777 at the behest of his father, seeking a permanent position. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful in his endeavour, but he became friends with several prominent leaders of the orchestra, including flautist Johann Baptist Wendling. While there, he composed the concert aria “Alcandro lo confesso … Non sò d'onde viene” K. 294 on a text from Metastasio’s L’olimpiade for soprano Aloysia Weber, whom he was smitten with at the time, much to his father’s disapproval.