Un portal on escoltar i gaudir de l'art musical dels segles XVI, XVII, XVIII i XIX. Compartir la bellesa de la música és l'objectiu d'aquest espai i fer-ho donant a conèixer obres de compositors molt o poc coneguts és el mètode.
German composer. The eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII
(1697-1745) and his wife, Maria Amalia of Austria (1701-1756), he was a
pupil of Francesco Peli. He played many instruments, and was a
composition pupil of Andrea Bernasconi from 1753. He was a patron of
chamber music and opera at the Munich court, and during his reign (begun
in 1747) Mozart's 'La finta giardiniera' received its première on 13
January 1775. Besides Andrea Bernasconi, Joseph Willibald Michl, Antonio
Sacchini, Pietro Pompeo Sales and Tommaso Traetta wrote carnival operas
for his court. His 'Concerti a più istromenti', performed at the
Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, and his finest composition, a Stabat
mater, were published at Verona at the instigation of
Joseph-Marie-Clément dall'Abaco in 1765-66. His works, mostly in
manuscript, include several symphonies and 12 trios for two violins and
bass. A Litany and three 'Sonate per il gallichona' were destroyed in
World War II; single parts only exist of a second Litany. A Missa
pastoralis and a Regina coeli are lost. His sister, the Princess Maria
Antonia Walpurgis (1724-1780), was also a composer.
German composer. He was the second of five children of the organist
Peter Hasse (c.1668-1737) and Christina Klessing, daughter of a mayor of
Bergedorf. He studied in Hamburg before joining the opera company
there. He quickly established himself as a tenor of reputation, but his
career changed when his opera 'Antioco' opened at Brunswick on 1 August
1721. Soon, he left Germany for a long tour of Venice, Bologna,
Florence, and Rome, finally settling in the major opera center of Naples
for six years, until 1730. There he studied with Alessandro Scarlatti
and possibly Nicolo Porpora, worked with the superstar castrato Carlo
Broschi (Farinelli), and his rise in Neapolitan opera was spectacular.
Hasse appeared in Venice for the 1730 Carnival season, a milestone of
his career. In his opera 'Artaserse', he set a libretto of Metastasio,
later to become his most important collaborator, for the first time. He
also met in Venice another famous singer, the mezzo-soprano Faustina
Bordoni (1697-1781), whom he married in June 1730 and who created many
of the female protagonists in his later operas. Sometime after Carnival
but before Ascension in 1730, he was granted the title of Kapellmeister
to the court of the Elector August I of Saxony at Dresden, but he and
Faustina Bordoni did not arrive there until 6 or 7 July 1731. Although
this appointment lasted until 1763, the couple took frequent and
substantial leaves of absence to various cities of Italy and Vienna to
produce operas that had been commissioned by the nobility of Europe. In
1745, King Frederick the Great of Prussia visited and heard Hasse’s Te
Deum and opera seria 'Arminio'.
The king, a fine musician, thereafter often invited the composer and his
wife to Potsdam. The Prussian bombardment of Hasse’s Dresden house in
1760, causing the loss of many manuscripts, may have soured this
relationship. Porpora, possibly Hasse’s teacher in Naples, was brought
to Dresden in 1748 to teach the Princess Maria Antonia of Saxony and was
given the title Kapellmeister, but Hasse was promoted to
Oberkapellmeister in 1750. In 1763, Hasse joined the imperial court in
Vienna where he worked closely with Metastasio. In 1775, he and Faustina
Bordoni retired to Venice. Although most of his work was quickly
forgotten after he died, while active, he was the most renowned composer
of Italian opera seria in Italy and German-speaking lands. He composed
at least 58 operas, mostly seria, but also a few comedies, which were
produced in many European opera centers. He was the favorite composer of
the age’s most eminent opera librettist, Metastasio. Hasse composed
fluently, with a particular gift for vocal melody, which he generally
displayed to full advantage without distraction from contrapuntal
textures. Besides the operas, he composed about 11 intermezzi, 11
Italian oratorios, 60 Italian chamber cantatas, and 33 more cantatas for
voice and orchestra. His instrumental music includes 54 concertos,
mostly for transverse flute and strings, and 24 trio sonatas. He also
composed sacred music, most of it for four-voiced choir and orchestra:
15 masses, 2 requiems, 36 single mass ordinary settings, 10 mass
offertories, 21 psalms, 18 antiphons, six hymns, and 38 motets for solo
voice and orchestra.
Jean-Baptiste Quentin (c.1700-c.1750)
- Sonata à quatre parties des 'Sonates en trio et à quatre parties
pour violons, flûtes traversières, viol et basse continue ... œuvre
VIII' (c.1737)
French violinist and composer. Almosth nothing is known about him. He
pursued his career in Paris, where he was a violinist at the Paris Opéra
in 1718, and in 1738 he played the viola in the ‘grand choeur’.
References to him indicate that he was a violinist of high reputation.
As a composer, he was prolific with numerous collections of solo and
trio sonatas, and few concertos (1724-1740). His brother, Bertin Quentin
(?-1767), was a violinist, cellist and composer.
Benedek Istvánffy (1733-1778)
- Messa (C-Dur) dedicata al patriarcha Santo Benedetto a 4tro vocal
2 vl., 2 ob., trombe, tympani, vlne. con organo conc[er]to.
Performers: Szilvia Hamvasi & Noémi Kiss (sopranos); Judit Németh
(mezzo-soprano); Péter Drucker (tenor); István Kovács & Pál Benkõ
(basses); Purcell Choir; Orfeo Orchestra; György Vashegyi (conductor)
Hungarian composer. Son of József Istvánffy (1703-1771), organist and
teacher of figural music at the Benedictine monastery of Szentmárton, he
received the first instruction in music from his father. He soon
obtaining the post of organist in the castle of Count Antal Széchényi,
in a post he held at least until 1761. It was during that period when he
got married to Katalin Kőmíves and later born his only daugther
Franziska Istvánffy (1756-1816). In 1766 he became succentor at the
cathedral in Győr and from 1773 to 1775 he was also responsible for
leading the choir of the Jesuit church there, in a posts he held until
his death. As a composer, he mainly wrote sacred works, among them, the
'Missa sanctificabis annum quinquagesimum vel Sanctae Dorotheae' (1774)
and the 'Messa dedicata al patriarcha Santo Benedetto'. His music style
was close to the composers which he was in touch during his lifespan,
among them, Gregor Joseph Werner, Franz Josef Aumann, Joseph
Krottendorfer and Christoph Sonnleithner.
Bohemian keyboardist and composer. He studied piano at age five and
organ at age nine, and then became a chorister at the Iglau Minorite
church and a pupil at the Jesuit Gymnasium. After further studies at the
Kuttenberg Jesuit Gymnasium, he continued his studies at Prague's New
City Gymnasium (1776-77) and at the University of Prague (1778). He
found a patron in Count Manner, with whose assistance he was able to go
to Malines in 1779, where he became active as a piano teacher. He made
his public debut there as a pianist on 16 December 1779, and then set
out on a highly successful tour, visiting Bergen op Zoom, Amsterdam, and
The Hague. He then went to Hamburg, where he gave a concert on 12 July
1782, and also met C.P.E. Bach, with whom he may have studied. In 1783
he played at the St. Petersburg court. After spending about a year in
the service of Prince Karl Radziwill as Kapellmeister in Lithuania, he
made a major tour of Germany in 1784, winning notable acclaim in Berlin,
Mainz, Kassel, and Frankfurt am Main as a piano and glass harmonica
virtuoso. In 1786 he went to Paris, where he performed at the court for
Marie Antoinette; except for a brief trip to Milan and Bohemia, he
remained in Paris until the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789
compelled him to flee to London. On 1 June 1789, he made his London
debut at the Hanover Square Rooms. He soon became successful as a
pianist and teacher in the British capital, appearing regularly at
Salomon's concerts and being an active participant in these concerts
during Joseph Haydn's two visits. In 1792 he married the singer,
pianist, and harpist Sophia Corri (1775-1847).
With his father-in-law, Domenico Corri, he became active as a music
publisher. Both men were ill suited for such a venture, however, and
Dussek's love for the good life further contributed to the failure of
the business. Dussek fled to Hamburg in 1799, leaving his father-in-law
to serve a jail sentence for debt. He apparently never saw his wife or
daughter again. He seems to have spent about two years in Hamburg, where
he was active as a performer and teacher. In 1802 he played in his
birthplace, and then in Prague. From 1804 to 1806 he served as
Kapellmeister to Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. After the latter's
death at the battle of Saalfeld (10 October 1806), he composed a piano
sonata in his memory, the 'Elegie harmonique sur la mort du Prince Louis
Ferdinand de Prusse', Op.61. He then was briefly in the service of
Prince Isenburg. In 1807 he settled in Paris, where he served Prince
Talleyrand, gave concerts, and taught. His health began to fail due to
excessive drinking, and he was compelled to abandon his career. Jan
Ladislav Dussek was a remarkable composer for the piano, proving himself
a master craftsman capable of producing the most brilliant works for
the instrument. In his later works he presaged the development of the
Romantic school, anticipating such composers as Chopin, Mendelssohn,
Schumann, and even Brahms. As a celebrated virtuoso of the keyboard, he
shares with Muzio Clementi the honor of having introduced the 'singing
touch'. As a composer, his works include, among others, 15 concertos, 34
sonatas for the fortepiano, 68 violin sonatas, six harp sonatas
(possibly a legacy of an alleged affair with Anne-Marie Krumpholtz), six
canzonetts, three string quartets, a Mass (1807), and three harp
concertos.
