The German cellist and composer Franz Danzi was born in Schwetzingen in 1763. He was taught by the composer Vogler, who also numbered Weber, Meyerbeer and Crusell amongst his pupils. Danzi was a minor member of the Mannheim school of composers, of whom the most famous are the members of the Stamitz family. Like another of Vogler’s pupils, Crusell, he is mostly remembered today for his elegant and buoyant writing for wind instruments in various combinations. The Wind Quintets are substantial works. Their overall shape is not dissimilar to that of the emerging symphony, with four different movements of contrasting tempi. In addition they are endowed by Danzi with rich melodic writing and humorous interplay between the various instruments.