DESAUGIERS, Marc-Antoine (1742-1793) - Messe Des Morts (1786)

Marc-Antoine Désaugiers (1742-1793) - Messe Des Morts ... à la mémoire d'Antonio Sacchini (1786)

Performers: Sabine Revault d'Allonnes (soprano); Jacques Chardon (alto); Patrick Garayt (tenor);

Jean-Louis Serre (bass); Ensemble Vocal du Chesnay; Ensemble Vocal Loré;

Orchestre Français D'Oratorio; Jean-Pierre Loré (conductor)

Painting: Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) - The Death of Seneca (1773)

Further info: Marc-Antoine Désaugiers - Réquiem

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Marc-Antoine Désaugiers

(Fréjus, 16 November 1739 - Paris, 10 September 1793)

French composer. After some musical studies he settled in Paris in 1774 and first attracted attention by his translation of Giovanni Battista Mancini's 'Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato' (1774) under the title 'L'art du chant figuré' de J.B. Mancini (1776) and by his 'Lettres sur la musique des grecs'. The first of his works to be performed in Paris was a motet presented at the Concert Spirituel in 1777. He then wrote several stage works which were performed at the Comédie-Italienne and the Opéra; among these 'Les deux sylphes' (1781) and, above all, 'Les deux jumeaux de Bergame' (1782) became popular. He was a friend of Christoph Willibald Gluck and Antonio Sacchini and in memory of the latter wrote a Requiem (1786) which was well received. He was quick to support the ideas of the Revolution and, at the request of the National Assembly, wrote a cantata for choir and orchestra, 'La prise de la Bastille, hiérodrame tiré des livres saints', in which he arranged fragments of verses from the Scriptures in a sequence depicting the events surrounding the fall of the Bastille. The work was enthusiastically received at Notre Dame on 13 July 1790; it was later performed several times and revised slightly in 1794. As a composer, he left many comic operas, a symphony, airs, romances and the opera 'Bélisaire', with a libretto by his elder son Auguste Félix Désaugiers (1772-1827), who also revised Antonio Salieri's 'Danaïdes' (1817) and 'Tarare' (1819). Marc-Antoine Désaugiers suffered from the inadequacy of his musical technique but his charming style and sense of drama, as well as his generous nature, account for the reputation he enjoyed in his day.

WECBACHER, Lorenzo (18th Century) - Quartetto per il cembalo principale

Lorenzo Weckbacher (18th Century) - Quartetto (F-Dur) per il cembalo principale,

violino primo, violino secondo con violoncello (c.1790)

Performers: Korneel Bernolet (harpsichord); Apotheosis ensemble

Drawing: Auguste Edouart (1789-1861) - The Music Room (1828)

Further info: Quartetti per il Cembalo Principale

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Lorenzo Weckbacher

(fl. second half 18th Century)

German or French composer active during the second half of the eighteenth century whose life and career remain unknown. He is primarily known through a 370-page manuscript collection comprising sixteen compositions - including keyboard concertos, orchestral overtures, harpsichord quartets, and quintets - held at the library of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, alongside incomplete quartet violin parts preserved at the Fürst zu Bentheim-Tecklenburgische Musikbibliothek in Rheda, Germany. Although the Antwerp manuscript designates him in French as 'maître de chapelle de Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse', a title seemingly supported by the title of his orchestral piece 'Ouverture pour le jour de la naissance du Roi de Prusse', no biographical records or documentary evidence exist to confirm his service as Kapellmeister to the Prussian court.

KRESS, Georg Philipp (1719-1779) - Ouverture a 5

Georg Philipp Kress (1719-1779) - Ouverture (D-Dur) | a | 2 Violini | 2 Oboes | 2 Corni | Viola | e | Basso

Performers: Gοttingеr Barockorchester; Antonius Adаmskе (conductor)

Painting: Johann Tobias Sonntag (1716-1774) - Prospect von dem Meliboco und dessen Gegend (1746)

Further info: Gottingen Christmas Cantatas

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Georg Philipp Kress [Kreß]

(Darmstadt, bap. 10 November 1719 - Göttingen, 2 February 1779)

German violinist and composer. He was the second son of Johann Jakob Kress (c.1690-1728) and Anna Maria Kress, both of whom died when he was young. Although details regarding his specific musical training remain unknown, he received a thorough musical education that enabled him to become an acclaimed virtuoso violinist. By 1744 he was first violinist in the Mecklenburg court orchestra at Schwerin. In 1748 he obtained leave to visit Plön, where he was Konzertmeister from 21 February 1748 to 1 July 1751. In 1755 he was again in Schwerin, but left his court post in the summer of 1767 to become Konzertmeister at the University of Göttingen; the appointment dated from 23 November 1766 in a post he held the rest of his life. As a composer, he wrote symphonies, two concertos and sonatas. His compositions excited less admiration; one critic described them as 'awkward, wooden and unmelodious'. Stylistically they owe something to the works of his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann.

LEFEVRE, Jean Xavier (1763-1829) - Quatrième concerto pour clarinette

Jean Xavier Lefèvre (1763-1829) - Quatrième concerto pour clarinette

Dedié à Monsieur A. Bronice... Exécuté par l'auteur, au théâtre des arts... [en si b] (1797)

Performers: Eduаrd Brunnеr (1939-2017, clarinet); Munіch Chamber Orchestra; Reinhard Goebel (conductor)

Painting: Johann Heinrich Bleuler Jr. (1787-1857) - Lausanne, Montbenon

Further info: Concertos pour Clarinette

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Jean (Giovanni) Xavier Lefèvre [Lefèbvre, Lefévre, Le Févre, Lefévre]

(Lausanne, 6 March 1763 - Paris, 9 November 1829)

French clarinettist and composer of Swiss birth. He studied the clarinet with Michel Yost in Paris, joined the Gardes Françaises in 1778 and was a member of the Garde National from 1789 to 1795. Between 1783 and 1791 he performed at the Concert Spirituel; he also played in the Opéra orchestra from 1791 to 1817 and was principal clarinettist in the Imperial Chapel (later the Royal Chapel) from 1807 until 1829. In 1814 he was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Lefèvre taught at the Paris Conservatoire from its foundation (1795) until 1824. Many of his pupils became well-known performers and composers including César Jannsen, Claude-Gabriel Péchignier, Claude François Buteux and Bernhard Crusell. His thorough 'Méthode de clarinette' (1802) was used there for many years, and translated into German and Italian. He was the first to use the now standard range from e to c'''' and trill fingerings from e to e''', and played with the reed against the upper lip. His compositions include concertos, symphonies concertantes and chamber music, all of which use the clarinet prominently. Lefèvre noted in his method that he had the Parisian maker Jean-Jacques Baumann add a c '/g '' key to the standard five-keyed clarinet; this happened in about 1790, although the fingering chart in the method was intended for a five-key instrument. It was added to clarinets during the early 19th century by the use of a pillar attached to a metal base by Baumann, Simiot and other French makers. It is not known whether Lefèvre was related to the woodwind maker François Lefèvre (?-1856) or to Lefèvre of Nantes, a manufacturer of clarinet mouthpieces during the first half of the 19th century.

ZOMB, František Xaver (1779-1823) - Vesperae Cassovienses

František Xaver Zomb (1779-1823) - Vesperae Cassovienses

Painting: Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) - The Pool at Bethesda

Performers: Livia Aghοvá (soprano); Marta Bеňačkοvá (alto); Ludovit Ludhа (tenor); Peter Mіkulás (bass);

Spevácky zbor mesta Bratislavy; Statna filharmónia Kosice; Richard Zimmеr (conductor)

Further info: Zomb - Missa Brevis & Vesperae

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František Xaver Zomb

(Košice, 9 November 1779 - Košice, 20 December 1823)

Slovakian composer and teacher. Almost nothing is known about his life. He was mainly active as a regens chori, teacher and composer in his hometown. In 1819 he was appointed choirmaster at the Košice Cathedral in a post he held the rest of his life. He was also documented as music critic to the 'Allgmeine musikalische Zeitung' in Leipzig and Vienna. As a composer, he mainly focused on sacred music, among them, a collection of ten masses from 1812 and a set of Vespers.