Ernst Wilhelm Wolf

Ernst Wilhelm's musical talent manifested itself early, and already by age nine he was a skilled harpsichordist, particularly apt at figured bass realization.

Wolf later decided to journey to Italy, but ended up settling in Weimar, where he spent the rest of his life.

He first worked as music teacher to Duchess Anna Amalia and her sons, then became court Konzertmeister (1761), organist (1763) and finally Kapellmeister (1772).

It further increased after his sojourns in Gotha, Jena, and Leipzig, partly through the efforts of Johann Friedrich Doles, an important practitioner of Protestant church music in the orbit of late 18th-century Leipzig, and Johann Adam Hiller, composer and writer on music.

He composed at least thirty-five symphonies, of which twenty-six survive,[2] some twenty-five harpsichord/piano concertos, more than 60 keyboard sonatas, and numerous chamber works, including string quartets, piano quintets, and other music.

Although these works are not as advanced as his instrumental music, some include very progressive passages in the vein of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.