Austrian composer who spent most of his life in the service of noble households in Austria and Hungary. There he composed for the use of resident musicians, many of the symphonies that were to spread his fame across Europe and to form the basis of the classical repertory.

Some of his finest symphonies were written for performance in Paris and London, which he visited twice in the 1970s. his oratorios, church music and opera are as genial, resourceful and full of human warmth as the rest of his music, but it is in the instrumental works that his musical character emerges most vividly and dramatically.