Ignaz Fränzl

Ignaz Fränzl (3 June 1736 – 6 September 1811 (buried))[1] was a German violinist, composer and representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School.

[2] Mozart, who heard him at a concert in November 1777, wrote of him in a letter to his father: He may not be a sorcerer, but he is a very solid violinist indeed.

[3] Fränzl carried the Mannheim violin technique, established by Johann Stamitz, one step further to real virtuosity.

Mozart, quite a good violinist himself and thoroughly acquainted with the instrument, praised Fränzl's double trill and said he had never heard a better one.

As was the case with many of his colleagues of the Mannheim court orchestra, Fränzl also travelled to Paris on a few occasions where he performed at the Concert Spirituel.