Generally known as Abt or Abbé Vogler, the subject of a poem by Robert Browning, Georg Joseph Vogler travelled widely. He settled for a time in Mannheim but resumed his journeys, giving concerts, particularly as an organ virtuoso, and teaching. In 1786 he was appointed director of music by Gustav III in Stockholm, although the subsequent years brought travel in Russia and the Baltic countries, Poland, Germany and England. The 1790s took him to Spain and North Africa before he returned to Sweden, where he remained from 1793 until 1799. His wide interests matched the extent of his travels and included activity as an instrument-maker and organ-builder. He enjoyed considerable international distinction.

Vocal and Instrumental Music

Vogler was a prolific composer in many genres, producing a quantity of vocal music(sacred and secular), operas and incidental music, melodramas, ballets, symphonies, concertos, chamber music and compositions for keyboard instruments. Perhaps unfairly, posterity has accepted Mozart’s view of Vogler as conceited and incompetent, a judgement formed when he saw Vogler in Mannheim in 1777.