At the age of twelve Kraus began his education at Mannheim. By the age of twenty four he had already been elected to the Swedish Academy of music where a friend of his urged him to move. Kraus composed in a number of different musical genres including operas, cantatas, symphonies, overtures, and quartets. The most important work was his opera "Aeneas i Carthago (Dido och Aeneas)" which was composed over a libretto (by Kellgren) based upon an outline by the King. Kraus was so favored by the Swedish court that the king paid for Kraus' travels to Germany, Austria, Italy, France and England. He met both Gluck and Haydn while in Vienna both lauding him as having `great style' and `great genius,' respectively. In 1788, at the Swedish court, Kraus became the Hovkapellmastare. His rich harmonies were indicative of the Mannheim influence and his consonances and dissonances were much bolder than those of Gluck though Gluck's influence was nevertheless felt. For the most part, Kraus was a song composer but his symphonies intimate early strains of Romanticism. The most enigmatic and revealing compositions by Kraus, "Symphonie Funebre" and "Begravingskantata," were written on the occasion of the assassination of Gustavus III, King of Sweden. ~ Keith Johnson, Rovi