Johann Georg Christoph Schetky
(b Darmstadt, 19 Aug 1737; d Edinburgh, 30 Nov 1824). German composer and cellist, father of J. George Schetky. ... Schetky remained a Darmstadt musician until 1768, though able to travel and give freelance concerts at other courts. He then returned to Hamburg (1768–9) and went to London (early 1772), where he was persuaded by the publisher and agent Robert Bremner to accept the post of principal cellist to the Edinburgh Musical Society.

...

Schetky's compositions from his Edinburgh period are voluminous and, in general, far more polished. The buoyant market for music publishing which Britain enjoyed from 1760 to 1790 had a stimulating effect on his creativity, even though the standard of his output varied enormously. His op.6 quartets (1777; see illustration) are outstanding, a worthy forerunner to the mature quartets of Haydn and Mozart. First rate, too, is the Solo in E op.4 no.4 (1776), a cello sonata which exploits the cello's instincts for bravura, wit and human warmth in a way only surpassed by the sonatas of Beethoven. In a quieter, more domestic way the Duet op.2 no.1 (1775) is also excellent, giving the violin and cello equal roles and dispensing with the need for a continuo instrument. Also notable are his arrangements of Scots tunes for military wind band (c1800), with their sensitive harmonizations and effective transference of ballroom fiddle tunes to the raucous new open-air medium. But his other cello sonatas are mere exercises in technique (though they sold well on the Continent); all his chamber music for and with piano is perfunctory; his songs have only a faded charm. The lost, unpublished pieces which he wrote for the Edinburgh Musical Society (several symphonies, cello concertos and a Pastorale on the Nativity) may well have included some of his finest work.