Anton Fils

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Anton Fils (also Antonín Fils, Johann Anton Fils, Johann Anton Filtz) was a German classical composer who lived from 1733 to 1760. He was born in Eichstätt, Bavaria. For a long time people thought he came from Bohemia, but later research showed he was Bavarian.

Fils studied law and theology at the University of Ingolstadt. In 1754 he joined the Mannheim court orchestra as a cellist, under the leadership of Johann Stamitz. He married Elizabeth Range in 1757, and in 1759 the couple bought a house in Mannheim. He died there on 14 March 1760 at the age of 26.

During his short life he wrote a lot of music, including at least 34 symphonies. He also composed about 30 concertos, mainly for cello and flute, but only about half of these survive today.

The Mannheim orchestra was a leading musical group of its time. In 1806, Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart called Fils “the greatest composer of symphonies who ever lived.” There is also a late legend that he died after eating spiders, but that is just a story.