Franz Xaver Hammer
German gambist, cellist and composer

Franz Xaver Hammer called Marteau (1741 – 11 October 1817) was a German gambist, cellist and composer.
Hammer was born in Oettingen in Bayern. From 1771 to 1778, he worked under Joseph Haydn as cellist of the Esterhazy's court ensemble in Eisenstadt and at the Eszterháza palace. It is thought that Haydn composed three cello concertos for him. His salary rose from already high—100 ducats and 30 kreuzers—a few times suggesting his extraordinary qualities as an instrumentalist. At the premiere of Haydn's oratorio Il Ritorno di Tobia, Hammer played his own cello concerto. During 1776–1813, he was member of the Viennese musicians' society.
From his works have survived sonatas for viola da gamba, viola d'amore and violoncello with basso continuo and also manuscript collections of instructive pieces and solo concertos for violoncello or viola da gamba and orchestra.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 28, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q1449639. VIAF identifies the subject as 72248360. The Library of Congress control number is no99011008. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1741, 1817, 1771 and 1778.
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This entry incorporates text from “Franz Xaver Hammer” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.