Composer. Once one of Europe's most esteemed classical composers, he is better remembered today for his associations with other, greater musicians. Gyrowetz was born Vojtìch Matyáš Jírovec in Budweis, Bohemia (now Èeské Budìjovice in the Czech Republic), the son of a choirmaster who gave him his first music lessons. In the early 1780s he trained as a lawyer at the University of Prague while also becoming fluent in French, English, Italian and Latin, though music was not neglected. For the next decade or so he travelled widely in the employ of various noblemen, serving as secretary, music master and occasional diplomat. His first set of symphonies (1784) was dedicated to his patron Count Franz von Funfkirchen of Brno. During his first stay in Vienna (1785 to 1786) he developed a warm friendship with Mozart, who conducted one of his symphonies in concert, and over the years he came to know three generations of Viennese masters, from Haydn to Schubert. Haydn exerted a lifelong influence. In Italy he studied composition with Paisiello and would later meet Napoleon; in Paris before the Revolution he was able to prove that quartets published under Haydn's name were in fact his. From 1789 to 1793 he lived in London and was in close contact with Haydn during the latter's visit there (1791 to 1792). Gyrowetz was already internationally famous when he settled in Vienna in the mid-1790s. In 1804 he was appointed imperial composer and Vice Court Kapellmeister, with the task of providing at least one Italian or German opera and one ballet a year (along with incidental scores for plays). His biggest hits were the dramatic opera "Agnes Sorel" (1806) and the singspiele "Der Augenarzt" (1811). Gyrowetz was an early fan of Beethoven. The admiration was not reciprocated, but Beethoven probably also envied Gyrowetz's court position, which gave him priority in important theatre projects. When Napoleon's occupation of Vienna ended in November 1809, the government celebrated the occasion by staging Schiller's play "William Tell" with incidental music by Gyrowetz - a commission Beethoven eagerly wanted. Instead he was assigned Goethe's drama "Egmont", and proceeded to show up his rival by composing one of his most powerful overtures. (Ever the diplomat, Gyrowetz was a torchbearer at Beethoven's funeral in 1827). In 1818, an eight year-old Frederic Chopin made his concert debut in Warsaw, Poland performing Gyrowetz's Piano Concerto No. 1 (1796), which shows how widely disseminated the Bohemian's music was at the time. That same year Gyrowetz wrote a comic opera for La Scala in Milan, "Il finto Stanislao", to a book by the leading Italian librettist, Felice Romani; Giuseppe Verdi reused the text for his ill-fated second opera, "Un giorno di regno" (1840). His other compositions include 30 operas, 28 ballets, over 40 symphonies, 42 string quartets, 46 piano trios, 11 masses, 5 sinfonia concertantes, 2 piano concertos, and some 100 songs. Surviving examples seem to confirm Beethoven's opinion: they are pleasantly well-crafted, but lacking fire and depth. At his retirement in 1831 his classical style was already outdated, and he lived long enough to see himself forgotten. He told a visitor in 1846, "What a peculiar feeling it is to remain alive and yet realize that one is already spiritually dead". A publisher persuaded him to write his autobiography, which appeared in 1848; its chronicle of his encounters with many cultural greats has been mined by historians ever since. He died at 87; burial was at the Währinger Friedhof. When this cemetery was converted into a park in 1923, Gyrowetz was not deemed notable enough for transfer to an honor grave at Vienna's Zentralfriedhof, but at least his tomb was preserved at the site as "historically significant". Since the mid-1990s a small selection of his output (symphonies, quartets, trios, sonatas) has been recorded.