In 1760 or 1761, Schobert moved to
Paris, France, where he served in the household of
Louis François I de Bourbon, prince de Conti. He composed many books of
sonatas for his instrument, most of them with an accompanying part for one or more other instruments. Schobert also wrote harpsichord
concertos, symphonies and the
opéra comique Le Garde-Chasse et le Braconnier. In Paris, Schobert came into contact with
Leopold Mozart during the
family's grand tour. Reportedly, Schobert was offended by Mozart's comments that his children played Schobert's works with ease. Nevertheless, Schobert was a significant influence on the young
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who arranged a number of movements from Schobert's sonatas for use in his own piano concertos. Mozart biographer
Dyneley Hussey writes that it was Schobert's music that opened up Mozart to the possibility of adopting a poetic stance in his music. Citing
Téodor de Wyzewa and
Georges de Saint-Foix's work on Mozart, Hussey points out that the four piano concertos, "which are deliberate studies from Schobert", have a "typically Mozartian" stylized nature which is actually present in the Schobert works that he was emulating. Hussey concludes, "So we may regard Schobert, to whom Wolfgang owes so much of the 'romantic' element which appears in his work alongside of its 'classic' grace and vigor, as being the first of his real masters." In 1767, Schobert went mushroom picking with his family in
Le Pré-Saint-Gervais near Paris. He tried to have a local chef prepare them, but was told they were poisonous. After unsuccessfully trying again at a restaurant at
Bois de Boulogne, and being incorrectly told by a doctor acquaintance of his that the mushrooms were edible, he decided to use them to make a soup at home. Schobert, his wife, all but one of their children, and his doctor friend died. ==Works==