Lebrun, Ludwig August (EN)

Lebrun Ludwig August, born Ludwig Karl Maria, baptised 2 May 1752 Mannheim, †16 December 1790 Berlin, German oboist and composer. He initially studied under his father, Jacob Alexander (†1771), an oboist in the court orchestra of Elector Charles Theodore in Mannheim. From 1764, Lebrun was a pupil there, and from 1767 until the end of his life he served as a permanent oboist in the same orchestra. In 1778, he married the then-famous singer Franziska Danzi, with whom he undertook numerous concert tours, including to Milan (1778), Paris (Concert spirituel – 1779), London (where they resided from 1779 to 1781), Vienna and Prague (1785), Naples (1786–87) and Berlin (1789–90), earning a reputation as one of the finest oboists of his time. Lebrun belongs to the second generation of composers of the Mannheim school who – as virtuosos and members of the famous Mannheim court orchestra – established the tradition of the early Classical concerto. Lebrun’s compositional legacy, largely published at the time (Mannheim, Augsburg, Offenbach, Paris, London, Amsterdam), comprises around 20 flute and oboe concertos, trios, duets and ballet music, composed for the King’s Theatre in London and the Nationalschaubühne in Munich.