{{short description|English violinist and conductor (1746 - 1799)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[Image:Wilhelm Cramer.jpg|thumb|Portrait painting of Wilhelm Cramer by the English painter [[Thomas Hardy (English painter)|Thomas Hardy]] in 1794, painted for the British music publisher and seller John Bland.]]

'''Wilhelm Cramer''' (2 June 1746, [[Mannheim]] &ndash; 5 October 1799, [[London]]) was a [[London]] violinist and musical conductor of [[Germany|German]] origin. He was the son of a [[Mannheim]] violinist, Jakob Cramer (1705–70), and part of a large family who were connected with music during both the 18th and 19th centuries. He is the father of the famous English composer [[Johann Baptist Cramer]] and of the English violinist and conductor [[Franz Cramer]].<ref name=g>Simon McVeigh. [https://doi-org.lonlib.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/omo/9781561592630.013.90000381649 'Cramer, Wilhelm', in ''Grove Music Online'' (2001)]</ref>

Cramer joined the Mannheim Orchestra in 1757. He then moved to [[Stuttgart]] to work for the Duke of Württemberg, from where he obtained permission to travel to Paris and London. With encouragement from [[Johann Christian Bach]] he settled permanently in England from 1772.<ref name=g/> He soon became London’s foremost violinist, leading the Bach–Abel concerts, the Professional Concert series (1785–93) at the [[Hanover Square Rooms]], the Italian Opera (1777–1796), the Concert of Ancient Music, and the [[Handel Commemoration]] in 1784.<ref>Simon McVeigh. ''The Violinist in London’s Concert Life, 1750–1784'' (1989)</ref> He also composed eight violin concertos and some chamber works <ref name=g/>

Cramer Street in London's [[Marylebone]] district is named after him.<ref>Sheila Fairfield. ''The Streets Of London: A Dictionary Of The Names And Their Origins'' (1983)</ref>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * W. B. Squire, rev. David J. Golby. ''[http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/101006593 Cramer, Wilhelm (bap. 1746, d. 1799)],'' [[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]] first published Sept. 2004 * Warwick Lister. ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/3526457 Music & Letters],'' Wilhelm Cramer and the Opera Concert Orchestra: 'Damnatio Memoriae'?, Vol. 82, No. 1 (2001), p.&nbsp;78, [[Oxford University Press]]

==External links== *[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait.php?search=sa&OConly=true&sText=Thomas+Hardy&LinkID=mp08028&page=1&rNo=2&role=art Wilhelm Cramer portrait by the English painter Thomas Hardy (1757-circa 1805).] *{{IMSLP|id=Cramer, Wilhelm}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cramer, Wilhelm}} [[Category:1746 births]] [[Category:1799 deaths]] [[Category:English conductors (music)]] [[Category:English male conductors (music)]] [[Category:Emigrants from the Holy Roman Empire to the Kingdom of Great Britain]] [[Category:English violinists]] [[Category:English male violinists]] [[Category:Pupils of Johann Stamitz]] [[Category:18th-century conductors (music)]]