During this time he devoted himself chiefly to the practice of the cello, at which, under the influence of a most exacting master, he worked with such diligence as, it is said, permanently to injure his health.
[1] In 1789, his term of apprenticeship came to an end, and the following year he took his first regular engagement at Wertheim, where his uncle, Friedrich Adam Arnold, was established as musical director.
After making concert tours in Switzerland and Germany, he spent some time at Regensburg in order to take advantage of the instruction of the able cellist Maximilian Willmann.
The career however of this young and talented artist was speedily cut short, for he died of an affection of the lungs in 1806 at the early age of thirty-four.
Fétis ('Biographie') gives a list of his compositions, including five concertos for the violoncello; a symphonic concertante for two flutes and orchestra; airs with variations, op.