As a composer, but also as a humanist, teacher, conductor and ambassador of the First Viennese School Sigismund von Neukomm contributed significantly and was a welcome guest in the houses of the nobility as well as at court. His extensive general education as well as the time he spent abroad, but especially the fact that he spoke no less than eight languages qualifies him as a pioneer of the pan-European idea. By composing the Deux Esquisses during his second Paris sojourn, he created a monument to virtues that were an intrinsic part of his value system: friendship and love. The high degree of playability qualifies the work as teaching literature just as much as for the concert stage.