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The history of composition, as in many lines of work, is rich with artists who are variously generalists or specialists. Mozart, for example, wrote for voices and for instruments, operas, and masses etc. Chopin, similarly, wrote exclusively for the piano (alone or with orchestra), and he was a virtuoso performer of his own work. Equally specialized, in the eighteenth century, was the German flautist, composer and genius J. J. Quantz. Almost all his works are for flute, with orchestra or continuo, and he had a successful career as a player, conductor and author. Quantz is nowadays of course most famous as author of the “Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen” (Berlin, 1752), the most thorough treatise on any instrument to date. 00:00 I. Allegro 06:32 II. Adagio 12:36 III. Vivace In 1718 Quantz became oboist in the Polish Chapel at the court of Elector August II in Dresden. He soon realized that with this instrument, he had no chance of advancement. Quantz went on to
