Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith

Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith (Prague, 7 July 1746 – Paris, 3 October 1820)[1] was a Bohemian horn player and versatile composer influenced by Joseph Haydn and Ignaz Pleyel.

After early studies with his father Franz, an able church musician in Prague, Lachnith from 1768 onwards became a member of the court orchestra in Zweibrücken.

[2] In 1773 he went to Paris to study French horn with Johann Josef Rudolf (Rodolphe) and later composition with François-André Danican Philidor.

He fled from the terror of the revolution in 1790, came back and henceforth eked out a meagre existence by giving private lessons and arranging operas and even oratorios for Parisian theatres.

[5] Long before the terms Urtext (original text) and Werktreue (work faithfulness) were coined, Berlioz was demanding just that in a series of articles that were later incorporated into his autobiography: For Mozart's biographer Otto Jahn Lachnith's travesty was the "maddest chapter in the history of the Magic Flute": Original compositions by Lachnith include the operas: Written jointly with Louis Adam:

Modern view of St. Nicolas Church in Prague where Lachnith's father was church musician and where Lachnith trained as a boy.
Zweibrücken Castle (modern view)
Eminent French composer and outspoken music critic Hector Berlioz (ca. 1865 [ 4 ] ).
Otto Jahn