Ferdinand David (born January 20, 1810 in Hamburg; died July 19, 1873 in Klosters) was a German virtuoso violinist and composer. David was a pupil of Louis Spohr and Moritz Hauptmann from 1823 to 1824 and in 1826 became a violinist at Königstädtischen Theater in Berlin. In 1829 he was the first violinist of a string quartet in Dorpat and undertook concert tours in Riga, Saint Petersburg and Moscow. In 1835 he became concert master (Konzertmeister)