Flutist and composer. He was apprenticed to his uncle Justus
Quantz and served J. A. Fleischhack as a journeyman until 1716, studying many
string and wind instruments and taking harpsichord lessons from Kiesewetter. He
joined the Dresden town band in 1716, studied counterpoint in Vienna under
Jan Dismas Zelenka the following year, and in 1718 was appointed oboist in
the Polish chapel of Augustus II; he also continued to play in Dresden.
Finding
little opportunity for advancement as an oboist, he took up the flute, studying
for four months with P. G. Buffardin. Quantz traveled to Italy in 1724 and
studied counterpoint with
Gasparini ; he also journeyed to Paris (1726-27), where he added a second
key to his flutes, and to England in 1727, where he met Handel. Upon his return
to Dresden he was made a member of the court Kapelle. From 1728 he instructed
Prince Frederick on the flute, and moved to Berlin in 1741 after Frederick
became King of Prussia.In Berlin, Quantz was exempt from playing in the opera
orchestra; instead, his duties revolved around the king's private evening
concerts, where the repertoire (at least in later years) consisted primarily of
works by Quantz and Frederick himself His compositions include over 200 flute
sonatas and 300 flute concertos, in addition to trio sonatas and some vocal
music; few of his works were published after he moved to Berlin. Quantz is best
known for his treatise Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu
spielen (Berlin, 1752), an exhaustive work that discusses nearly all aspects
of performance, from ornamentation and accompaniment to criteria for evaluating
compositions and musicians; despite its title less than a third of the book is
intended specifically for flutists. Quantz also was a flute maker; examples of
his instruments can be found in Berlin and Washington, D.C.