Anton Stadler
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Anton Stadler (1753 - 1812) was a clarinet and basset horn player for whom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote both his Quintet_for_Clarinet_and_Strings and Clarinet Concerto. He was reputed to have a beautiful tone, with exceptional mastery of the low register of the clarinet and basset horn playing. A noted virtuoso, he played second to his brother Johann in the Vienna Court Orchestra. It was possibly this specialism in second clarinet along with the basset horn that led to his collaboration with Theodore Lotz, a clarinet maker. His idea was to add an extension to his Bb and A clarinets in the same vein as the basset horn- an extra major third to a low c. It was for this extended clarinet (now known as the basset clarinet but initially called a bass-clarinet in the days before the modern bass had been invented) that the Clarinet Concerto and possibly the Quintet_for_Clarinet_and_Strings were written.
There has always been a rumour that Stadler's friendship with fellow Mason Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was inspired by greed; pawning works written for him, borrowing sums of money that he never repaid and constantly eating and drinking at Mozart's expense. However these are still rumours, and have never been conclusively substantiated.