Jean-Georges Kastner

Jean-Georges Kastner, born 9 March 1810 in Strasbourg, died 19 December 1867 in Paris, was a composer and musicologist.

Despite his interest in music, Kastner studied theology at the University of Strasbourg at the request of his father from 1827 to 1832.

After the premiere of his opera The Queen of the Sarmatian in 1835 in Strasbourg, the city council granted him a scholarship to the Paris Conservatoire where he studied with Anton Reicha and Henri Montan Berton.

His compositions for saxhorn and alto saxophone were among the earliest works written for these instruments.

Included in his Manuel général de musique militaire (1848) are some of the earliest illustrations of Sax's instruments.