His opera Das Labyrinth, a sequel to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, was premiered in Vienna in 1798, and his Maometto at La Scala in Milan in 1817.

[3] He studied violin in Mannheim with Wilhelm Cramer and Thaddäus Hampel, and later composition with Georg Joseph Vogler.

[4] He became director of the court theatre in Munich at which point he started to write stage works, at first ballets and melodramas.

His most popular work, Das unterbrochene Opferfest (The interrupted sacrificial feast), was produced in 1796 in Vienna leading to his recognition as an opera composer.

[4] He composed two operas to librettos by Emanuel Schikaneder, Die Pyramiden von Babylon and Das Labyrinth, oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen, a sequel to Mozart's Die Zauberflöte which was premiered at the Theater auf der Wieden on 12 June 1798.