Peter von Winter (born Mannheim, August 28, 1754, died Munich, October 17, 1825) was the son of a brigadier at the Electoral Court in Mannheim. At the age of ten he already played in the Mannheim court orchestra as a violinist and contrabassist, and from 1776 he was permanently engaged as a violinist. In addition to the legendary Mannheim style of the time, he was able to study contemporary Italian and French opera there. He received instrumental lessons from several court musicians, and composition lessons late in life from Georg Joseph Vogler, from whom, however, he distanced himself in later years.
At first Winter seems to have composed mainly instrumental works. This changed in 1778, when he moved to Munich with the Electoral Court Music and was promoted to orchestral conductor there. He now devoted himself primarily to the stage and took advantage of a concert tour in 1780/81 to study with Antonio Salieri. He was able to adopt Salieri's Italian bel canto manner to perfection in his compositions. Nevertheless, he did not achieve his breakthrough as a composer until 1796 in Vienna with the "Unterbrochenes Opferfest". From then on he enjoyed great renown, even though his operas for Munich were received with varying degrees of success. Vice-Kapellmeister from 1787 and Hofkapellmeister from 1798 in Munich, Winter was a well-known musician and composer of numerous operas for various musical centers in Europe (including Berlin, London, Paris, Amsterdam, and Moscow).
In his later years, Winter devoted himself mainly to church music and worked as a singing teacher. His textbook ''Vollständige Singschule in vier Abteilungen …'' (Complete Singing School in Four Divisions ...) also dates from this time. In his "Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst" (1806), Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart summarizes how respected and famous the composer was at the time: "Winter, one of the best pupils from Vogler's school. He plays the violin excellently and writes and composes very well. Some of his symphonies are boldly crafted; he especially knows how to treat the minor tones, which so easily put one to sleep, with great art and wisdom." However, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (with whom he met in 1780/81), Carl Maria von Weber, Louis Spohr, and Giacomo Meyerbeer did not always speak favorably of their colleague, probably due to his character, which was described as "difficult."
Winter's works are notable for their blending of Italian, German (Mannheim), and French stylistic devices. The later works are reminiscent of the young Haydn.
