Biography
Johann Baptist Georg Neruda (Czech: Jan Křtitel Jiří Neruda, c. 1708 – c. 1780) was a classical Czech composer.
Relative to other composers of the Classical music era Neruda is little known, and his dates of birth and death (taken from the Grove Dictionary) are only approximations. He was born in Bohemia, now part of the Czech Republic, to a well-respected musical family. After spending his earlier years gaining a good reputation as a violinist and conductor in Prague and Germany, Neruda became Konzertmeister of the Dresden court orchestra.
His compositional output includes eighteen symphonies, fourteen instrumental concertos (including a trumpet and bassoon concerto), sonatas, sacred works and an opera Les Troqueurs.
According to Nimbus Records Ltd. (1994), one of the composer's more significant works is the Concerto in E-flat for Trumpet and Strings. Originally written for the "corno da caccia" or "natural horn" using only the high register, it is now rarely performed on anything other than an E-flat or B-flat trumpet. Incidentally, the Corno da Caccia for which Neruda wrote is not to be confused with the 4-valved hunting horn which has recently been given the same name. The manuscript for this piece is in the National Library in Prague, along with several other unusual works for brass instruments.
