Like his father, a tax official in Kassel, David August von Apell also won a significant reputation for himself as a composer, conductor and administrator of the court theatre. He lost all his official positions in 1822, but his most notable achievement is a history of musicians in Kassel from the beginning of the 16th century up to his own time.

Vocal Music

Apell wrote a Missa pontificale in 1800 that earned him a papal award. He was also a composer of works for the theatre, now largely lost, and songs and cantatas. Among these last, his Il trionfo della musica, for four voices and orchestra, was published in about 1787 and dedicated to the Elector Maximilian of Bavaria. In this work he makes use of the fashionable instrument of the time, the glass harmonica.