LOSY, Jan Antonín (c.1650-1721) - Concertus a 3

Jan Antonín Losy (c.1650-1721) - Concertus (A-Dur) a 3

Performers: Jan Cizmar (lute); Martyna Pastuszka (violin); Krzystof Firlus (viola da gamba)

Painting: Follower of Evaristo Baschenis - Still life of musical instruments

Further info: Lute Music In Prague & Vienna Circa 1700

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Jan Antonín (Johann Anton) Losy 'Count of Losinthal' [Logi, Loschi, Graf von Lozimtal et al.]

(Štekeň Castle, near Strakonice, c.1650 - Prague, 22 August 1721)

Bohemian lutenist and composer. His father had settled in Prague in the 1620s and was raised to the Bohemian nobility for his bravery during the defence of the city against the Swedes in 1648. He studied at Prague University from 1661, taking the doctorate in philosophy in 1668. After this he probably undertook the customary European tour; he is known to have visited Italy, and he probably went to France and the Low Countries as well. He had a great enthusiasm for French music, especially that of Lully, and also for the music of Fux. He played the lute and violin in concerts at his palace in Prague. At the height of his fame (1696-97) he travelled in the German lands and engaged in a friendly musical competition in Leipzig with Pantaleon Hebenstreit and the Thomaskantor Johann Kuhnau, who subsequently dedicated to Losy his 'Frische Clavier Früchte' (1696). His son Adam Philipp Losy (1705-1781), who lived in Vienna and became music director to the imperial court, was a competent double bass player in aristocratic orchestras. Jan Antonín Losy was the best-known and most respected lutenist in late 17th-century Prague. The real measure of his popularity is seen in the number and wide distribution of manuscripts containing his compositions, which also exist in arrangements for mandore, angélique and keyboard.

FRIGEL, Pehr (1750-1842) - Ouvertura in c-moll (1777)

Pehr Frigel (1750-1842) - Ouvertura in c-moll (1777)

Performers: Kungliga Operаns Orkester; Philip Brunеllе (conductor)

Drawing: Seger Tielemans (publisher active 1663-1771) - Stockholm

Further info: Royal Swedish Court: Music from the 18th Century

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Pehr (Per, Peter) Frigel [Frigelius]

(Kalmar, 2 September 1750 - Stockholm, 24 November 1842)

Swedish composer. Son of Pehr Frigelius and his wife Ingrid Helena Wahlberg, in 1755 his father was made vicar of Madesjö, where the family settled until Frigel was enrolled at Kalmar grammar school. During his school years he studied violin, organ and music theory for cathedral organist Hans Björkman Hansson; then from 1770 to 1776 he pursued further studies in Uppsala, where he also served as deputy both for the university’s director musices and for the cathedral organist. In Stockholm he became acquainted with Johann Gottlieb Naumann and Joseph Martin Kraus, both of whom gave him further instruction in composition. In 1778 he was elected to the Swedish Royal Academy of Music, and in 1780 two of his symphonies were performed; he became secretary of the academy in 1794, a post he held for 47 years. His most productive period as a composer was between 1795 and 1815, during which time he wrote overtures, symphonies, numerous cantatas for the Jakobskyrka and the academy. He also collaborated with Carl Stenborg on the incidental music to 'Äfventyraren, eller Resan till Månens ö' (‘The Adventurers, or The Journey to the Isle of the Moon’, 1791), and 'Kotzebue’s Eremiten' (1798). The oratorio 'Försonaren på Oljeberget' (‘The Redeemer on the Mount of Olives’) to a text by Samuel Ödmann, performed at the Royal Opera in 1815, is considered his finest work. His only opera, 'Zoroaster', was never performed, but some arias for French operas were produced at the Royal Opera. He taught music theory at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music from 1814 to 1830. He died in 1842 at the age of 92, having just recently been awarded a medal in his image for his long service to the academy. He composed in a classical style, and he expressed a preference for what he termed 'orthodox' music.

DE CASTRO, Francisco José (c.1670-c.1730) - Concerti accademici a quattro

Francisco José de Castro (c.1670-c.1730) - Concerti accademici a quattro, cioe un'oboe, due violini e violone con la parte per il cembalo consecrati all'Illustrissimo Signore Carlo da Persico dall'Accademico Formato, Opera Quarta (1708)

Performers: Collegium Instrumentale

Painting: Carel van Falens (1683-1733) - Noblemen on horseback conversing with peasants

Further info: Conciertos académicos de Francisco José de Castro

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Francisco José (Francesco Giuseppe) de Castro [‘Accademico Formato’]

(Sevilla, c.1670 - c.1730)

Spanish composer. He was a Jesuit novice, educated at the Collegio dei Nobili di San Antonio Viennese in Brescia, where he studied music with the composer and organist Paris Francesco Alghisi. He was sponsored as a member of the Accademia dei Formati by Count Cayetano Giovanelli, to whom he dedicated his first publication, 'Trattenimenti armonici da camera a tre, due violini, violoncello, o cembalo ... opera prima' (Bologna, 1695). Like Castro's other three publications, the Trattenimenti armonici were issued under the pseudonym ‘Accademico Formato’. No exemplars of opp.2 and 3 are known; op.4 is a set of 'Concerti accademici a quattro, cioe un'oboe, due violini e violone con la parte per il cembalo ... Opera Quarta' (Bologna, 1708). He was one of the few Spanish composers of this period who cultivated the non-religious instrumental music genre. He was not related to Spanish playwright Francisco de Castro (1672-1713).

IVANSCHIZ, Amandus (1727-1758) - Missa ex D

Amandus Ivanschiz (1727-1758) - Missa ex D# | a | Canto Alto | Tenore Basso |

Violino primo | Violino Secundo | Alto Viola obligata | Clarinis 2|b|u|s Organo

Performers: Aleksandra Lewandowska (soprano); Katarzyna Hołysz (mezzosoprano); Piotr Szewczyk (tenor);

Maciej Straburzyński (bass); Accademia dell' Arcadia; Bartłomiej Stankowiak (conductor)

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1780) - The Freyung in Vienna

Further info: Jasnogórska Muzyka Dawna vol.26

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Amandus (Matthias Leopold) Ivanschiz [Ivanschitz, Ivanschütz, Ivanscics, Ivančić, Ivančič et al.]

(Wien, bap. 24 December 1727 - Ort?, 1758)

Austrian composer. Only fragmentary information about his life is available. He entered the Pauline order in his hometown and choose the name of Amandus likely by the end of 1742. After his novitiate in the Ranna monastery at the age of 16 (1743) he took his monastic vows. He then studied in Maria Trost and Wiener Neustadt, where he was ordained a priest on November 15, 1750. Between 1751 and 1754 he stayed in Rome as an assistant to the Procurator General of the order, from where he returned to Wiener Neustadt. In 1755 he was sent again to the Maria Trost monastery, where he died in 1758, at the young age of 31. He was a prolific and popular composer: there survive about 100 works by him in manuscripts copies, dating mostly from 1762 to 1772 and scattered throughout the Habsburg Empire and in south Germany. His music is characteristic of the transition from late Baroque to early Classical style, and his best works are his masses and symphonies. The masses are mostly scored for four soloists, four-part choir, two violins and bass and a pair of trumpets; some are of considerable dimensions, and they show distinct Neapolitan traits. The symphonies, many of which have four movements, are scored for strings, sometimes with a pair of trumpets or horns. The trios, entitled variously ‘Divertimento’, ‘Nocturno’, ‘Sinfonia’, ‘Sonata’ and ‘Parthia’, are mostly in three movements in the same key; Ivanschiz’s frequent use of the viola as the second solo instrument is a forward-looking trait.

BYSTROM, Thomas (1772-1839) - Sonate pour le Pianoforte et Violon obligé

Thomas Byström (1772-1839) - Sonate (B-Dur) des 'Trois sonates pour le clavecin ou pianoforte

avec accompagnement d'un violon obligé composées par ... Oeuvre. 1 (1801)

Performers: Izumi Tateno (piano); Yoshiko Arai (violin)

Drawing: James Gillray (1757-1815) - Playing in Parts

Further info: Musica Fennica 1772-1843

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Thomas Byström

(Helsinki, 28 August 1772 - Stockholm, 2 October 1839)

Finnish-Swedish music teacher, composer and military officer. The son of a successful statesman in the province of Finland (then part of Sweden), he was encouraged to study violin and piano at an early age by his father. In 1787 he enrolled at a military academy in St. Petersburg, later joining the Swedish army in 1792 as an adjutant and subsequently aide-de-camp to Gustav IV Adolph. He was mostly stationed in Stockholm beginning with his Swedish army career and was thus able to participate in musical social circles. He was elected in 1794 to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and in 1801 he published a set of violin sonatas, as well as a series of strophic Lieder. As a government military official, however, his compositional career was limited. He taught music for a period (1813-1825) at the Royal Academy. He was elected an honorary member of the Harmoniska Sällskapet in 1832. As a composer, his works, dated from the period 1794 to 1805, include the three violin sonatas, nine songs, and a set of variations on a Russian theme, as well as several smaller keyboard works. His style has been likened to early Ludwig van Beethoven in its use of motives and sequencing, as well as bold harmonic modulations.