MARSH, John (1752-1828) - Symphony in B-flat Major, No.1 (1781)

John Marsh (1752-1828) - Symphony in B-flat Major, No.1 (1781)

Performers: The Chichester Concert; Ian Graham-Jones (conductor)

Drawing: William Marlow (1740-1813) - Rochester (1780)

Further info: John Marsh (1752-1828) - Symphonies

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John Marsh

(Dorking, 31 May 1752 - Chichester, 31 Oct 1828)

English composer and writer. Despite his showing an early interest in music, his father, a Royal Naval captain, denied him a musical education during his school years at Greenwich Academy, intending that he too should follow a naval career. In 1768, however, he persuaded his father to allow him to undertake legal training and he was articled to a solicitor in Romsey. During the two years before leaving home in Gosport, then his father's station, Marsh took up the violin, studying with Wafer, the organist of Gosport Chapel. This was his only formal musical training, but enabled him to become sufficiently proficient to join in the subscription concerts in Portsmouth and Gosport. In Romsey he applied himself as assiduously to music as to law, teaching himself to play the spinet, viola (which became a particular favourite), cello, oboe and organ. These were also the years of his first retained compositions, works written specifically for a series of subscription concerts he founded in the town. Following the completion of his clerkship in 1773, Marsh set up practice in Romsey and the following year married Elizabeth Brown, the daughter of a Salisbury doctor. In 1776 he moved to a partnership in Salisbury, where he took up residence in a house near Close Gate. During the seven years that he lived in Salisbury, Marsh played an active role in the city's thriving musical life: he was a violinist at the subscription concert series, of which he became leader in 1780, a member of the Catch Club and an occasional substitute organist at cathedral services. He had by now become a prolific composer; a number of his symphonies had been introduced both at the subscription concerts and at the annual Salisbury Festival. 

In 1783, having inherited an estate in Kent, Marsh abandoned his career as a practising lawyer and moved with his family to Nethersole House, some ten miles from Canterbury. He was immediately offered the directorship of the ailing Canterbury Concert, which he set about reorganizing with characteristic energy, soon transforming the Concert into a successful organization. Marsh recognised that he could ill-afford the upkeep of a large estate and within two years was again making plans to move. Following a short period at a prebendial house in the precincts of Canterbury Cathedral, the family moved to Chichester in the spring of 1787. The house in North Pallant (no longer standing) that Marsh bought from the poet William Hayley was to remain his home for the remaining 40 years of his life. As at Canterbury, his arrival coincided with a period when local concert life was at a low ebb and Marsh was again given the challenge of reviving the subscription concerts as manager and leader. His success ensured that Chichester enjoyed a thriving concert life until 1813, when he retired from concert leadership. Although he never lost interest in music, the last 15 years of his life were mainly devoted to his family and extensive travels, during which he frequently managed to take in one or more of the provincial music festivals. Active and in good health until the final months of his life, Marsh died at his home after a short illness and was buried a week later at All Saints, West Pallant.

ROSENGART, Aemilian (1757-1810) - Missa B-Dur (1796)

Aemilian Rosengart (1757-1810) - Missa B-Dur (1796)

Performers: Galina Dzeba (soprano); Ruth Sandhoff (alto); Anatolij Lomunov (tenor); Kirill Zukov (bass); Matthias Eisenberg (organ); Martin Hölker (cello); Sigismund Schwieger (double-bass); Rundfunk und Fernsehchor St. Petersburg; Vladimir Stolpovskich (conductor)

Painting: Wilhelm Scheuchzer (1803-1866) - Kloster Windberg bei Boden an der Donau

Further info: Aemilian Rosengart (1757-1810) - Sacred choral music

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Aemilian (Joseph) Rosengart

(Kirchheim, 29 March 1757 - Tannheim, 29 May 1810)

German theologian, philosopher and composer. He was educated at the Benedictine seminary in Ulm where he was ordained a priest in 1781. Shortly afterwards he moved to the Benedictine abbey of Ochsenhausen where he devoted himself to teaching theology and philosophy. In 1795 the abbot Romuald Weltin (1723-1805) promoted him as a musical director in a position he held until 1803, when he moved to Tannheim where he was abbot. As a composer he wrote nearly one hundred works, mainly religious music and most of them for choir with instrumental accompaniment. He died in Tannheim in May 1810.

MOZART, Leopold (1719-1787) - Sinfonia D-Dur (c.1760)

Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) - Sinfonia D-Dur (c.1760)

Performers: Münchener Kammerorchester; Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, leitung)

Painting: Austrian School (18th Century) - Leopold Mozart and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Further info: Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) - Cantata 'Surgite, mortui' (1755)

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Johann Georg Leopold Mozart

(Augsburg, 14 November 1719 - Salzburg, 28 May 1787)

German composer and pedagogue. The son of a bookbinder, Mozart received his earliest education from the Jesuits at the St. Salvator Gymnasium and Lyceum. While at the latter, he distinguished himself as an actor and singer, although he also progressed as a violinist and organist. As a polymath with many varied interests in the sciences and philosophy, he enrolled at Salzburg University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1738. Although he was expelled the following year for lack of attendance in the natural sciences, he attached himself to the court of Count Johann Baptist of Thurn-Valsassina und Taxis as a violinist and valet, publishing his first works, a set of six church trio sonatas, as his Op. 1. In 1743 he was appointed second violinist at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, later serving under his successors, Sigismund von Schrattenbach and Heironymous Colloredo. In 1758 he was appointed as vice Kapellmeister, a position he retained for the remainder of his life. Although the main emphasis in studies of his life have focused on the training of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, during which he was absent from his post for long periods of time as he toured with his two children throughout Europe, his own reputation as a teacher and composer was significant. The most important treatise was his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule of 1756, a work that was translated into many languages during his lifetime and is still in print. Much information on his personality can be gleaned from biographical studies of his son, but it can be said that, although a disciplinarian, he had many interests beyond music; he was well read, and in later life he was a kind, generous individual, even though his relationship with his son can be seen as problematic. As a composer, Mozart was prolific and a worthy model for his son in the variety of works that he wrote. These include six university plays/oratorios; seven Masses; six litanies; numerous Psalms, Sequences, hymns, and such; 21 Lieder; 69 symphonies; four serenades; two divertimentos; six partitas; 12 concertos; much miscellaneous dance music; six trio sonatas; nine trios; three keyboard sonatas; and many smaller works. Mozart’s style is in the vein of Empfindsamkeit, although he has a descriptive flair in his music. For example, he frequently includes local everyday life in his musical portrayals of sleigh rides, hunts, peasant weddings, and so forth. His daughter, Maria Anna (or Nannerl), was the recipient of a pedagogical work, the Notenbuch, which contains practical small pieces (and a number of very early works by her brother). Mozart’s music has been cataloged according to LMV or Eisen numbers.

PAOLUCCI, Giuseppe (1726-1776) - Sinfonia a quattro

Giuseppe Paolucci (1726-1776) - Sinfonia a quattro

Performers: Symphonia Perusina

Painting: Marcellus Laroon II (1679-1772) - Musical Conversation (c.1760)

Further info: Giuseppe Paolucci (1726-1776) - Concerto per flauto traverso e archi

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(Padre) Giuseppe Paolucci

(Siena, 25 May 1726 - Assisi, 24 April 1776)

Italian composer and theorist. He studied in Bologna with Padre Martini during the 1750s and like him was a member of the Franciscan order. Eight sacred works from this period (1752-1756) are in the Bologna Conservatory library. About 150 letters from Paolucci to Martini are evidence of their close friendship. Between 1756 and 1769 he was maestro di cappella at S Maria Gloriosa dei Frari in Venice, and from August 1770 until January 1772 at S Martino in Senigallia. He then worked at S Francesco in Assisi until his death. Paolucci is best known for his treatise Arte pratica di contrappunto (Venice, 1765-1772), which served as a model for Martini’s Esemplare ossia Saggio fondamentale pratico di contrappunto (Bologna, 1774-1775). While Martini concentrated almost exclusively on the 16th century, Paolucci used a number of examples from the 18th, including one by Handel, as well as a passing reference to J.S. Bach. There is no detailed study of Paolucci’s music, which includes more than 200 sacred works (primarily for chorus, soloists and orchestra) and a few instrumental pieces. He published Preces octo vocibus concinendae in oratione quadraginta horarum (Venice, 1767)

UMSTATT, Joseph (1711-1762) - Cembalokonzert C-Dur

Joseph Umstatt (1711-1762) - Cembalokonzert C-Dur, Nr.7

Performers: Gertrud Jemiller (cembalo); Lukas-Consort

Drawing: Attributed to Carle van Loo (1705-1765) - Music, Art and Science

Further info: Bamberger Hofmusik

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Joseph Umstatt

(Vienna, 5 February 1711 - Bamberg, 24 May 1762)

Austrian composer. According to the parish register in St Stephen’s, Vienna, he was the second of five children of the court painter to the widowed Empress Anna Amalia of Austria. He was probably educated in Vienna. In 1749 he held an appointment in Dresden as musical director at the court of Count Brühl, where he became acquainted with J.A. Hasse and J.C.F. Bach. On 20 October 1752 he was appointed Kapellmeister and court composer to the Prince-Bishop J.P. von Frankenstein and his successor in Bamberg. The following years, up to his death, were his most creative. Umstatt composed in nearly all the forms of his time, both sacred and secular, and his works demonstrate the gradual change from Baroque polyphony to the Classical style. This can be seen in his masses (which include cantata masses in several movements, of both the missa solemnis and missa brevis types) where fugues stand alongside homophonic and cantabile sections. In his Missa pastoritia he made extensive use of folksong melodies and shepherd calls. The ‘stylus mixtus’ of J.J. Fux is Umstatt’s starting-point, but he also attempted to develop an individual style. He composed solo concertos for violin, flute, harpsichord and pantaleon. In his concertos Umstatt modified the Vivaldian concerto form, giving the solo episodes greater weight and prolonging them by comparison with the tuttis; virtuoso passages for the soloist play an important part in the harpsichord concertos. Umstatt’s use of sequence may be seen as conservative, but various flourishes, figurations and rhythmical formulas are a part of galant style. His 11 surviving symphonies are mostly in three movements (two have an additional minuet and trio). Most of his thematic material is of broken-chord, triadic matter; his music sometimes remains on this harmonic plane, whereas in the works of his contemporaries (such as Monn or Wagenseil) melodic lines often follow the opening chordal flourishes. In most of his symphonic movements there is a second theme in the dominant key, which does not return later in the movement. His development sections, in the common manner of the time, consist of modulating sequences with occasional use of motifs from the principal theme; and the reprises are short and incomplete, repeating only the closing section of the exposition. Umstatt’s music is typical of the older generation of the Viennese school; stylistically, his music stands alongside that of Monn and other better-known contemporaries, though Umstatt’s works do not reflect a special personal style.

PEMBAUR, Josef (1848-1923) - Festmesse (1876)

Josef Pembaur (1848-1923) - Festmesse (1876)

Performers: Maria Erlacher (soprano); Monika Duringer (alto); Johannes Puchleitner (tenor); Ralf Ernst (bass); Kirchenchor Fulpmes-Telfes; Kammerchor und Orchester des Ferdinandeums; Josef Wetzinger (leitung)

Painting: Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) - Portrait of Josef Pembaur (1890)

Further info: Josef Pembaur (1848-1923) - Lieder

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Josef (Joseph) Pembaur

(Innsbruck, 23 May 1848 - Innsbruck, 19 February 1923)

Austrian conductor and composer. At the age of 8, he started playing piano and received lessons with Franz Huber in Innsbruck. After completing the first years of academic education, he dropped out of school for devoting himself entirely to music. In Vienna he met Bruckner, from whom he received classes while beginning his career as a conductor and composer. He also studied piano and singing at the Wien Conservatory. For a time he lived in Munich where, in addition to studying with Rheinberger, he married Caroline Kraus. In 1873 he returned to Innsbruck where he was appointed music director and in 1877 choir director of the academic choir. In 1883, the University of Innsbruck appointed him academic director of music. As a composer, his output include numerous compositions for soloists, male choir and orchestra (Gott der Weltenschöpfer, Zapfenstreich, Spätherbst, Die Schalachtam Berg Isel) as well as the opera 'Zigeunerliebe' (1898), the melodrama 'Das Klagende Lied', the symphony In Tirol, 8 Latin Masses, including the Deutsche Festmesse, a Requiem (1916), a Stabat Mater, offerings, hymns and motets as well as several a cappella choirs, a Cello Concerto, a Sonata, an organ improvisation and a large number of piano and voice pieces. He also published a book on harmony and modulation (1901) and 'Über das Dirigieren' (1907).

WITHERSPOON, Jordan C. (b. 1986) - Fortepiano Concertino in C

Jordan C. Witherspoon (b. 1986) - Fortepiano Concertino in C

World Premiere Recording

Performers: Sibelius + Instruments samples (edited by Pau NG)

Drawing: George Cruikshank (1792-1878) - A German mountebank blowing his own trumpet at a dutch concert of 500 piano fortes!! (1818)

Further info: Jordan C. Witherspoon (b. 1986)

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Jordan C. Witherspoon (b. 1986)

American composer. No details available about his life.

PETER, Johann Friedrich (1746-1813) - Symphony (Quintet) in G (c.1789)

Johann Friedrich Peter (1746-1813) - Quintet in G, No.3 (c.1789) arranged for orchestra as a Symphony in G

Performers: Eastman-Rochester Orchestra; Howard Hanson (1896-1981, conductor)

Painting: Rembrandt Peale (1778-1860) - Portrait of Michael Angelo and Emma Clara Peale (c.1826)

Further info: Symphonic Sketches / Suite For Large Orchestra / Sinfonia In G

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Johann Friedrich (John Frederik) Peter

(Heerendijk, 19 May 1746 - Bethlehem, PA, 13 July 1813)

German composer, organist and minister active in America. He was educated at the Moravian schools in the Netherlands and Germany, finally entering the theological seminary of the church at Barby, Saxony. After his graduation in 1769, he was sent to America in 1770. From 1770 to 1780 he served the northern Moravian communities of Nazareth, Bethlehem and Lititz, Pennsylvania. In 1780 he was transferred to the southern community of Salem, North Carolina, where he spent the next ten years in various church positions, including that of musical director to the Salem congregation. In 1790 he was again transferred to the north, serving successively at Graceham (Maryland), Hope (New Jersey) and Bethlehem again. Although his official position was often that of schoolteacher, clerical assistant or diarist, unofficially he was always concerned with music. While a student at the seminary he copied much of the music that came his way. When he went to America he took with him an extensive library of instrumental works in manuscript, including several works by J.C.F. Bach which survive only in Peter’s copies. Although he must have studied with such Moravian composers as Johann Daniel Grimm (1719-1760) and C.F. Gregor, it is thought that he gained more from his studies of the works he copied than from formal instruction. Peter composed six quintets for two violins, two violas and cello, and about 105 concerted anthems and solo songs. The musical style of the quintets is close to that of the early Classical masters, such as Stamitz, Vanhal and early Haydn. They were completed in Salem in 1789 and are the earliest known chamber music composed in America. Peter’s anthems and solo songs feature graceful vocal writing and a considerable depth of musical expression. The orchestral accompaniment of these works, for strings and organ with occasional woodwind and brass, is always well worked out and often elaborate. His sacred vocal music is the finest body of concerted church music written in America at the time and compares well with that of European Moravian composers of his era. Manuscripts of his music are in US-BETm and WS.

ROSSELLO SINTES, Francesc (1828-1898) - Concert per a Violí i Piano

Francesc Rosselló Sintes (1828-1898) - Concert per a Violí i Piano

Performers: Nicolás Sánchez Gilabert (violí); Déborah Monserrat (piano)

Painting: J. V. Paredes (19th Century) - Concierto

Further info: Francesc Rosselló Sintes (1828-1898) - Misa a Tres Voces

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Francesc d'Assís Rosselló Sintes

(Ciutadella, 20 December 1828 - Ciutadella, 27 August 1898)

Spanish violinist and composer. He received early lessons from Benet Andreu Pons (1803-1881) before founding a choral society and the orchestra of the Círculo Católico de Ciutadella, the first one in Menorca and the most prominent for a long time. From 1881 he worked as chapel master of the Cathedral of Ciutadella, in a post he held until 1889. This period was the most fruitful as a composer writing dozens of religious works, many of them spreaded beyond the Balearic Islands. In this sense, he was known as the master 'Roussó', for his extraordinary musical service in favor of the city. His last years he retired from music and worked in the Pere Cortés i Cia. Shoes Store managing the correspondence and accounting of the factory. As a composer, he was mainly known for his popular three-act "sarsuela" Foc i Fum (1885). It has an old fashioned charm far removed from Madrid's sainetes of the time; though thoroughly Donizettian in mode, it does employ a traditional Menorcan town band and rustic pipe and tabor music.

KOPRIVA, Karel Blažej (1756-1785) - Missa Pastoralis D-Dur

Karel Blažej Kopřiva (1756-1785) - Missa Pastoralis D-Dur

Performers: Sonaglio Praha

Painting: Daniel Gran (1694-1757) - Apollo with the Muses; project for a Plafond

Further info: Karel Blažej Kopriva (1756-1785) - Requiem (1774)

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Karel Blažej Kopřiva

(Cítoliby, 9 February 1756 - Cítoliby, 15 May 1785)

Composer and organist, son of Václav Jan Kopřiva (1708-1789) and brother of Jan Jáchym Kopřiva (1754-1792). After studying the organ and composition (first with his father, later in Prague with J.F.N. Seger). He became organist in the church of St Jacob in Citoliby; his reputation of organ virtuoso soon spread over the coutry. He composed in the style of transition from baroque to classicism, influenced by harpsichord sonatas of J.Ch. Bach (son of J.S.Bach), J.Haydn as well as his czech fellow composers. He also taught keyboard instruments and composition. His first known work, a Requiem in C minor, was performed at Klatovy on 22 May 1774. He suffered from tuberculosis and died at the age of 29. The three Kopřivas were the outstanding members of a ramified Czech musical family. Thanks to their activity, and in accordance with the artistic interests of Count Ernest Karl Pachta (who had an orchestra of his own), the little village of Cítoliby became a unique centre of musical life in northern Bohemia at that period. Whereas Václav Jan and Jan Jáchym adhered to the traditional type of Czech village music of the late Baroque and pre-Classical period, Karel Blažej used an advanced Classical idiom of Mozartian character. His style is markedly individual and very expressive, with abundant chromaticism. He was also well schooled in counterpoint and his fugues are among the most remarkable of their kind in Czech organ music of the second half of the 18th century. A virtuoso organist himself, he usually treated the organ part of his church compositions in concertante manner. The demanding, florid solo parts in his vocal works are evidence of the high quality of provincial performers in Bohemia at the time.

BAGUER, Carles (1768-1808) - Simfonia en Do menor, No.2 (1790)

Carles Baguer (1768-1808) - Simfonia en Do menor, No.2 (1790)

Performers: Acadèmia 1750

Drawing: Adolphe Hedwige Alphonse Delamare (1793-1861) - Muralla del Seminari a Barcelona

Further info: Carles Baguer (1768-1808) - Concert en Fa per a dos fagots i orquestra

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Carles (Carlos) Baguer

(Barcelona, 13 March 1768 - Barcelona, 29 February 1808)

Spanish composer and organist. Known affectionately as ‘Carlets’ to his Catalan contemporaries, he studied under his uncle Francesc Mariner (1720-1789) and in 1786 succeeded him as organist of Barcelona Cathedral, where he remained until his death. He played an active part in the city's musical life, was much admired for his organ improvisations and attracted many pupils, such as Francisco Andreví y Castellar, Ramón Carnicer and Mateo Ferrer. He was a prolific composer and his work was unusually widely disseminated for a Catalan composer of the day. Baguer's sacred works testify to a clear Italian influence and he only occasionally used the learned style. His oratorios consist chiefly of four-part homophonic choruses alternating with arias (often with coloratura) and recitative interspersed with arioso passages. His sinfonías fall into two patterns: a single sonata-form movement with a slow introduction, or four movements. In the latter case the second movements take the form of theme and variations and the third are minuets. His style shows a desire to emulate that of Haydn, especially in his use of musical form and his melodic patterns. But in tonal range, thematic treatment, textures and harmonic progressions Baguer's style is simpler and more restrained. His keyboard works, for organ or piano and probably written for his own and his pupils' use, span a broad variety of styles and forms. Some pieces recall the Spanish polyphonic organ tradition. Others in the modern pianistic style combine Italian and Austrian influences with a traditional local style. On the whole, his output bears witness to this singular mixture of influences that affected Catalan music at the time. Baguer's works, however, remain the only surviving examples of a movement of unprecedented diffusion within this geographical area.

HOFFMEISTER, Franz Anton (1754-1812) - Klarinettenkonzert B-Dur (c.1780)

Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) - Klarinettenkonzert B-Dur, Nr.2 (c.1780)

Performers: Eduard Brunner (1939-2017, clarinet); Münchener Kammerorchester;

Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, conductor)

Drawing: Louis Charles Ruotte (1754-1806) - Bal de Societe, from Cinq Costumes Parisiens (1804)

Further info: Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754-1812) - Piano Concerto (1787)

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Franz Anton Hoffmeister

(Rothenburg am Neckar, 12 May 1754 - Vienna, 9 February 1812)

Austro-German composer and music publisher. He attended the University of Vienna in law beginning in 1768, but shortly thereafter he decided to pursue a career in music. In 1783 he began to publish his own music, and by 1785 he had established a firm in Vienna to compete with Artaria. Well educated, erudite, and congenial, he was a welcomed guest in intellectual circles in the Austrian capital for the next several decades, while his publishing business thrived with a branch in Linz and collaborations with others such as Bösseler in Speyer. After 1790 he began to devote himself more to his music, and in 1799 he undertook a concert tour as a keyboardist to Germany and France. In Leipzig he formed a partnership with Ambrosius Kühnel, which became one of the early progenitors of the firm of C. F. Peters. The international success of particularly his Singspiel Der Königssohn aus Ithaka made it possible for him to divest himself from his businesses by 1805. As a composer, he concentrated mostly upon instrumental works, since these were the most publishable and salable music. Hoffmeister was extraordinarily prolific and many of his Viennese works were also popular in foreign cities: by 1803 his most successful opera, 'Der Königssohn aus Ithaka' (Vienna, 1795), had been performed in Budapest, Hamburg, Prague, Temesvár (now Timişoara), Warsaw and Weimar; his numerous chamber works were published in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Venice, as well as throughout German-speaking regions. Although his symphonies were admired for their flowing melodies (Schubart) and his pedagogical works for being both pleasant and instructive (Gerber), his style is generally lacking in originality and depth. His works include nine Singspiels, two cantatas/oratorios, an offertory, 66 symphonies, 11 serenades, 54 sets of dances, 59 concertos (25 for fortepiano, 14 for flute, and 20 for other instruments, including five sinfonia concertantes), 30 quintets (string, flute, and other), 57 string quartets, 46 flute quartets, nine piano quartets, 18 string trios, 12 flute trios, 76 string duets, 130 flute duets, 50 violin sonatas, five flute and viola sonatas, 26 piano sonatas, and numerous other pieces for winds and keyboard. His music is in need of further exploration.

DURANT, Paul Charles (1712-1769) - Douetto à Liuto Obligato

Paul Charles Durant (1712-1769) - Douetto à Liuto Obligato

Performers: Duo Mignarda

Painting: Bartolomeo Bettera (1639-c.1688) - Still-life with musical instruments, books and playing cards

Further info: Principe und Principessa

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Paul (Paulo) Charles (Carlo) Durant

(Pressburg [now Bratislava], 1712 - Ansbach?, after 1769)

German composer. Son of Aloys Anton Durant (1677-1733), he received early lessons as a boy choir of the cathedral of Pressburg. About 1739 he was active as a "musicien de la cour princière, "Paul Durang" in Mannheim, a post he held until 1747. Then he moved to Frankfurt and from there to Bayreuth where he worked as a 'Kammerlautenist' of Margrave Frederick III of Brandenburg-Bayreuth until the court dissolution in 1769. As a composer, he wrote several collections of sonatas, duettos, trios and concertos for the lute and various instruments. A manuscript entitled: 'Collection of Trios and Concertos for the Lute, by Charles Kohaut and Paul Charles Durant' is preserved in Brussels. Paul Charles Durant's compositions are demanding both technically and musically. Like Bernhard Joachim Hagen (1720-1787), he mixes elements of the Galant style and Empfindsamkeit.

PAISIELLO, Giovanni (1740-1816) - Te Deum (1804)

Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) - Te Deum pour le couronnement de l'Empereur Napoléon (1804)

Performers: Solistes, choeur et Orchestre de la Capella de Saint-Petersbourg; Vladislav Tchernouchenko (direction)

Drawing: Charles Percier (1764-1838) - A Napoleonic Féte

Further info: Giovanni Paisiello (1740-1816) - Messe en pastorale (1802)

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Giovanni Paisiello

(Roccaforzata, 9 May 1740 - Naples, 5 June 1816)

Italian composer. He was one of the most successful and influential opera composers of the late 18th century. Paisiello received his education first at the Jesuit school in Taranto and then, between 1754 and 1763, at the Conservatorio di S Onofrio, Naples. At about the time he left the S Onofrio he attracted the attention of a young nobleman, Giuseppe Carafa, who appointed him musical director of the small opera company he was then forming. It was due to Carafa that Paisiello acquired his first commissions to write works for the Teatro Marsigli-Rosi, Bologna, in 1764. The second of these, 'I francesi brillanti', failed at its first performance but was more successful when it was transferred to Modena two weeks later. This led to a commission from Modena for some new music for an opera originally by Guglielmi, 'La donna di tutti i caratteri'. Paisiello’s revision, 'Madama l’umorista', contained much new music; its success led in turn to requests for new operas for other north Italian theatres. Paisiello regarded himself as Neapolitan, and preferred living and working in Naples to anywhere else. In 1766 he returned to Naples; as a freelance composer his chief activity was setting comic operas for the Nuovo and Fiorentini theatres, where his chief rival was Piccinni. But he was also happy to accept commissions for heroic operas for the S Carlo. The three operas staged at the S Carlo between June 1767 and May 1768 appear to indicate that the court, and in particular the King of Naples, Ferdinando IV, approved of his music. However, the royal approval seems to have been withdrawn, possibly because of Paisiello’s unusual behaviour over his marriage to a widow, Cecilia Pallini. In the summer of 1768 he signed a contract to marry her but then tried to withdraw from it, using various excuses. Pallini successfully appealed, and Paisiello was confined in prison until the marriage was solemnized on 15 September. He received no further recognition from the court until 1774, when his short 'Il divertimento de’ numi' was performed at the royal palace, and no further commission came from the S Carlo until mid-1776. 

In 1776 his international reputation led Catherine II of Russia to offer him a contract to come to St. Petersburg, where he remained until 1784. Here he wrote his most famous work, 'Il barbiere di Siviglia'. His constant jealousy of colleagues and his feeling of being restricted in his own work led him to return to Naples to accept a position at the court of Ferdinand IV; on his way he had another success in Vienna with 'Il re Teodoro'. After 1787 he also began receiving numerous commissions for sacred music. In 1797 he was asked by Napoleon to come to Paris as maître de chapelle, but despite the emperor’s patronage he had little success apart from some reorganization of the court musical establishment. His 1803 opera 'Proserpine' -the only one in French and written according to the reforms of Christoph Willibald von Gluck- was a failure, and he returned to Naples. With the Bourbon restoration in 1815 his own position was compromised, and the death of his wife undermined his health. Paisiello’s career was long and illustrious, for he was one of the most important composers along with Giuseppe Sarti and Domenico Cimarosa of opera buffa during the last half of the 18th century. His work was known for its pithy tunes and colorful orchestration, attributes that also spill over into his sacred music. He had a knack for creating popular pieces that flowed well dramatically and were imitated by numerous other composers of the period. His works include 94 operas; 20 secular cantatas or notturnos; 28 Masses; 68 other hymns, canticles, Psalms, and such; five motets; three oratorios; five Passions; three sacred cantatas; 16 wind divertimentos; 12 piano quartets; 13 symphonies; eight keyboard concertos; a violin sonata; and numerous miscellaneous keyboard and small ensemble works.

FELICI, Alessandro (1742-1772) - Sonata III degli 'Sei Sonate da Cimbalo'

Alessandro Felici (1742-1772) - Sonata III degli 'Sei Sonate da Cimbalo' IAF 4

World Premiere Recording

Performers: Sibelius + Instruments samples (edited by Pau NG)

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1721-1780) - L’Arno verso il ponte alla Carraia, Firenze (1743-1744)

Further info: Alessandro Felici (1742-1772) - Sonata I degli 'Sei Sonate da Cimbalo'

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Alessandro Felici

(Florence, 21 November 1742 - Florence, 21 August 1772)

Italian composer. He studied first with his father, Bartolomeo, then proceeded to advanced studies with Giuseppe Castrucci in Florence (1756-64) and with Gennaro Manna in Naples (1764-65). He became a teacher at his father’s school in 1767 where his pupils included the singer Francesco Porri and Luigi Cherubini. He has been confused with the composer Felice Alessandri. His first work, the dramma giocoso La serva astuta, was performed at the Teatro del Cocomero by Giovanni Roffi’s Compagnia Toscana. According to the Gazzetta toscana, the success of his Antigono the following year could not have been greater nor the house fuller. He was chosen to compose a dramatic cantata, Apollo in Tessaglia, to inaugurate concerts presented by the Accademia degl’Ingegnosi in 1769. His most successful (and only surviving) opera was 'L’amore soldato', a dramma giocoso, given in Venice in 1769 and subsequently in Turin, Parma, Florence, Sassuolo and Leipzig. His dramatic music, by comparison with that of his contemporaries Giovanni Marco and Ferdinando Rutini, Moneta and Neri Bondi, is highly expressive, offering presentiments of more Romantic styles, especially when portraying melancholy moods. His instrumental music was probably written for use in the concerts of the Accademia degl’Ingegnosi or for private concerts such as the one he directed in the Casa Zanobi Leoni in Florence (30 June 1771). His four keyboard concertos show a remarkable maturation, which suggests that had he lived longer Felici would have won a secure place among the leading composers of the genre. The A major concerto displays great elegance, expressiveness of style and a thorough comprehension of the concept of the keyboard concerto that was evolving at the time in London and Vienna.

SCHNITZER, Franz Xaver (1740-1785) - Domine, Dixit, Magnificat à 4 (1764)

Franz Xaver Schnitzer (1740-1785) - Domine, Dixit, Magnificat à 4 Vocibus (1764)

Performers: Annette Ruoff (soprano); Birgit Huber (contralto); Hans-Jürgen Schöpflin (tenor); Daniel Kaleta (bass);

Camerata vocalis der Universität Tübingen; SWF-Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden; Alexander Sumski (conductor)

Painting: Johann Baptist Zimmermann (1680-1758) - Kuppelfresken 'Wallfahrtskirche'

Further info: Franz Xaver Schnitzer (1740-1785) - Semiramis, Assyrions herrschsuechtige Koenigin (1776)

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Franz (Xaver) Schnitzer [Schnizer]

(Wurzach, 13 Decembrer 1740 - Ottobeuren, 5 May 1785)

German composer. He entered the monastery of Ottobeuren in 1760 and studied music under Placidus Christadler and Benedikt Kraus. He played K.J. Riepp's new organ at the consecration of the monastery's Dreifaltigkeitskirche (1766), and from 1769 served the abbey as regens chori, organist and music teacher. Regarded by Lipowsky as a first-rate composer, he wrote much sacred music in the Italian style of his time (in A-Wn, D-FS, Mbs, OB) and at least 17 school dramas, now lost, for Ottobeuren (one was also performed in Freising in 1776). Among others, he published a set of six keyboard sonatas op.1 (1773) and Cantus ottoburani monasterii (1784).

MAHAUT, Antoine (1719-c.1785) - Concerto à cinque en Re mineur

Antoine Mahaut (1719-c.1785) - Concerto à cinque en Re mineur

Performers: Baudoin Giaux (flute); Camerata Leodiensis; Hubert Schoonbroodt (1941-1992, conductor) Painting: George Barret (c.1730-1784) - View in a Park

Further info: Antoine Mahaut (1719-c.1785) - Sinfonia en La majeur No.6, Op.2 (1754)

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Antoine [Anton, Antonio] Mahaut [Mahault, Mahoti, Mahout]

(Namur, bap. 4 May 1719 - Namur?, c.1785)

Flemish flautist and composer. Born into a family of musicians, he probably studied with his father (a flautist) before entering the service of the Bishop of Strickland at the age of 15. In 1735, according to Moret, Mahaut travelled with the bishop's entourage to London where he met John Walsh, who subsequently published his Six Sonatas or Duets. On his return to Namur in 1737 he served the wife of Walter de Colijaer, then moved to Amsterdam (in 1739, according to Gerber), where he worked as a performer and teacher. On 20 July 1751 Mahaut obtained a privilege permitting him to publish his own works. He visited Dresden, Augsburg and Paris as well as returning regularly to Namur. His acquaintance with the flautist P.-G. Buffardin in Dresden resulted in the dedication of six trio sonatas and possibly two concertos. About 1760 Mahaut settled in Paris. Although Gerber suggests that Mahaut later fled his creditors by retiring to a French monastery, he probably returned to teach in Namur. Mahaut's compositions were published extensively during his lifetime, and his flute method was published simultaneously in French and Dutch (it was announced in the Mercure de France in January 1759) and twice reprinted (1762, 1814). It marked a considerable advance on the methods of Jacques Hotteterre, Michel Corrette and Quantz, particularly with regard to technique; it was the only work of its time to distinguish between the French and Italian ways of executing the trill and appoggiatura. Mahaut's sonatas combine Italian sonata structure and instrumental figuration with French dance rhythms and ornamentation. His flute concertos demand a first-rate technique and show the influence of P.A. Locatelli (who was also living in Amsterdam) in their use of violinistic phrasing such as slurred staccato; they also display galant and early classical traits. According to Moret, Mahaut was the composer of the two ‘beautiful instrumental symphonies’ which he, his brother and his friend Bailleux performed for the Prince of Gavre in Namur in 1744. Between 1751 and 1752 Mahaut was also the editor of, and principal contributor to, Maendelyks musikaels tydverdryf, a series of italianate songs in Dutch.

BIBER, Heinrich Ignaz Franz (1644-1704) - Litaniae Lauretanae (1693)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704) - Litaniae Lauretanae (1693)

Performers: Colegium Vocale Salzburg; Albert Hartinger (1946-2020, leitung)

Engraving: Paul Seel (fl. 1642-1695) - Portrait of Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1681)

Further info: Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber (1644-1704) - Missa "Salisburgensis"

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Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber

(Wartenberg [now Stráž pod Ralskem], bap. 12 August 1644 - Salzburg, 3 May 1704)

Austrian violinist and composer of Bohemian birth. He was the outstanding violin virtuoso of the 17th century and a first-rate composer; he wrote instrumental or vocal, sacred or secular music with equal ease. His fame rests mainly upon his violin sonatas, especially those which require scordatura, but his polychoral church music has also attracted interest and admiration. Biber may have had some music lessons, perhaps by the organist Wiegand Knöffee, in his birthplace, which was the property of Count Maximilian Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, brother of the Bishop of Olmütz. He may have studied at a Jesuit Gymnasium in Bohemia, and in the early 1660s he was already on friendly terms with Pavel Vejvanovský, who was then studying with the Jesuits in Troppau. Before 1668 Biber was a musician in the service of Prince Johann Seyfried Eggenberg in Graz, where Philipp Jakob Rittler and Jakob Prinner were also employed. In 1668 he became a valet de chambre and musician to the Bishop of Olmütz, Karl Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, in Kroměříž, where Pavel Vejvanovský was director of the Kapelle. Biber was popular among the courtiers at Kroměříž, and was highly valued as a violin virtuoso. In late summer 1670 the bishop sent Biber to the violin maker Jacob Stainer in Absam to negotiate the purchase of new instruments for his ensemble. Instead of visiting the violin maker, however, Biber entered the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Maximilian Gandolph von Khuenburg. Liechtenstein felt greatly injured by this action but refrained from reprisals against his former employee out of friendship for Archbishop Khuenburg. He contented himself with waiting until 1676 to make out the document officially releasing Biber from his service. Biber regularly sent works to Kroměříž in order to win the bishop’s goodwill. 

Biber’s career flourished in Salzburg. At the end of 1670 he had been classed among the valets de chambre, porters and stokers of fires at court, with a relatively small monthly salary of about ten florins, but the archbishop appreciated music for string instruments and Biber rose rapidly in the social scale. In the years 1676–84 he dedicated four printed collections of instrumental music to the archbishop. On 30 May 1672, in Hellbrunn, he married Maria Weiss, daughter of a merchant and citizen of Salzburg. In 1677 Biber performed several of his sonatas in Laxenburg before Emperor Leopold I, who gave him a gold chain, and early in 1679 he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister. When he performed before the emperor for the second time, in 1681, he petitioned him for promotion to the ranks of the nobility. Biber distinguished himself as a composer on the occasion of the jubilee celebrations of 1682, and in 1684, after the death of Andreas Hofer, was appointed Kapellmeister and dean of the choir school. After a second application to Emperor Leopold in 1690, he was raised to the noble rank of knight, with the title of Biber von Bibern. Subsequently the new archbishop, Johann Ernst, Count Thun, appointed him lord high steward, a title that marked the culmination of the composer’s social career. In his later years Biber seems to have devoted himself to the composition of sacred music, operas and school dramas. Of the dramatic works only one opera is extant; only the librettos of the others remain. He wrote his last school drama in 1698, his last opera in 1699. Biber had 11 children, only four of whom survived childhood: his sons Anton Heinrich (1679-1742) and Karl Heinrich (1681-1749) and his daughters Maria Cäcilia (b.1674) and Anna Magdalena (1677-1742). They were all musically gifted and received a good musical education from their father.