GRAF, Christian Ernst (1723-1804) - Sinfonia in C-Dur (1776)

Christian Ernst Graf (1723-1804) - Sinfonia (IV) in C-Dur, œuvre XIV (1776)

Performers: HET Residentie Orkest; Ton Koopman (conductor)

Painting: Musizierende Gesellschaft, Nürnberg, c.1775

Further info: Christian Ernst Graf (1723-1804) - Cello Concertos & Sinfonias

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Christian Ernst Friedrich Graf [Graaf]

(Rudolstadt, 30 June 1723 - The Hague, 17 July 1804)

Dutch-German composer and organist, brother of Friedrich Hartmann Graf (1727-1795). Son of the Kapellmeister to the court of the Count of Schwarzburg- Rudolstadt, Johann Graf (1684-1750), he was trained by his father as a violinist and keyboardist, later joining the court orchestra as the former. In 1748 he left for the Netherlands to seek his fortune, finding employment as the director of the collegium musicum in the city of Middelburg in 1750. He elevated the quality of the performances to such an extent that he came to the attention of the Dutch court. During this period he also published his first work, the Sei Sinfonie Op. 1. In 1754 he moved to The Hague, where he was employed by Princess Anna of Hannover, later becoming Kapellmeister to William V. In 1782 he published his treatise Proeve over de Natuur der Harmonie, and in 1790 he retired. Charles Burney noted that he was an educated man who was cheerful and had a gift for teaching. As a composer, he wrote 62 symphonies, 30 string quartets, 19 trio sonatas, 18 flute quintets, 12 flute quartets, six piano sonatas, six violin sonatas, a host of smaller chamber pieces, two oratorios, and around 35 Lieder. His style incorporates Italianate mannerism common to the Mannheim composers, although his late works, particularly his oratorio from 1802 Der Tod Jesu is more akin to Joseph Haydn’s late oratorios in his large-scale setting and unusually dramatic musical language. His Grande Symphonie Hollandaise is a large-scale work that incorporates a chorus, more an oratorio than a symphony. 

BERNIER, Nicolas (1664-1734) - Laudate Dominum quoniam (c.1728)

Nicolas Bernier (1664-1734) - Laudate Dominum quoniam (c.1728)

Performers: Isabelle Poulеnаrd (soprano); Alain Zаеpffеl (contra-tenor); Jеan-Claude Orliаc (tenor); Michel Vеrschaеvе (bariton); Ensemble Vocal de Bourgogne; Ensemble d'Instruments Anciens; Jacquеs Échivаrd (conductor)

Painting: Simon de Vos (1603-1676) - Heimkehr des verlorenen Sohnes (1641)

Further info: Nicolas Bernier (1664-1734) - Motets

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Nicolas Bernier

(Mantes-la-Jolie, 28 June 1665 - Paris, 6 July 1734)

French organist, teacher, music theorist and composer. He probably learnt music in the maîtrise of the collegiate church of Notre Dame, Mantes, and in that of Evreux Cathedral. According to the Etat actuel de la Musique du Roi (1773) he was a student of Caldara in Rome. From 1694 to 1698 he was maitre at Chartes Cathedral before being called to Paris in 1698 as maitre de musique at St. Germain l'Auxerrois. On 5 April 1704 he succeeded Marc-Antoine Charpentier as maître de musique of the Sainte-Chapelle. He held that position at Sainte-Chapelle from 1704 to 1726, and from 1723 he was one of the 3 sous-maitres at the Chapelle Royale. Bernier was the son-in-law of Marin Marais. He was one of the first French composers to cultivate the secular cantata. He published 8 vols. of Cantates françoises, the most notable being 'Les nuits de Sceaux' (Paris, 1715). Among his sacred vocal output were many motets, some of them were sung several times at the Concert Spirituel from 1725 onwards. He was famous as a teacher, wrote a treatise entitled Principes de composition and numbered Louis-Claude Daquin among his pupils.

KOZELUCH, Leopold (1747-1818) - Sinfonia Concertante Es-Dur (1798)

Leopold Koželuch (1747-1818) - Sinfonia Concertante Es-Dur (1798)

Performers: Siegbert Panzer (piano); Helmut Erb (trumpet); Takashi Ochi (1934-2010, mandolin);

Günter Klaus (double-bass); Radio-Sinfonie-Orchester Frankfurt; Eliahu Inbal (conductor)

Engraving: Abraham Hume (1703-1772) - Print of a musical gathering

Further info: Leopold Kozeluch (1747-1818) - Piano concerto B-Dur (c.1786)

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Leopold (Jan Antonín, Ioannes Antonius) Kozeluch [Kotzeluch, Koželuh]

(Velvary, 26 June 1747 - Vienna, 7 May 1818)

Bohemian composer, pianist, music teacher and publisher. He was baptized Jan Antonín, but began (not later than 1773) to use the name Leopold to differentiate himself from his older cousin of that name. He received his basic music education in Velvary and then studied music in Prague with his cousin, who probably gave him a thorough grounding in counterpoint and vocal writing, and with F.X. Dušek, whose piano and composition school prepared him mainly for writing symphonies and piano sonatas. After the success of his first ballets and pantomimes (performed in Prague, 1771-78), Kozeluch abandoned his law studies for a career as a musician. In 1778 he went to Vienna, where he quickly made a reputation as an excellent pianist, teacher and composer. By 1781 he was so well established there that he could refuse an offer to succeed Mozart as court organist to the Archbishop of Salzburg. By 1784 Kozeluch was publishing his own works; the following year he founded a music publishing house, later managed as the Musikalisches Magazin by his brother Antonín Tomáš Kozeluch (1752-1805). His compositions were also published almost simultaneously by a number of other houses in various countries. Kozeluch's business contacts with English publishers, particularly John Bland, Robert Birchall, and Lewis, Houston & Hyde, are well documented by correspondence. In September 1791 he achieved success in high circles with a cantata commissioned by the Bohemian Estates for the Prague coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia. After the accession of Emperor Franz II he was appointed (12 June 1792) Kammer Kapellmeister and Hofmusik Compositor. From about 1804 Kozeluch's original work as a composer took second place to his arrangements of Scottish, Irish and Welsh folksongs for the Edinburgh publisher George Thomson, to teaching, and to the activities connected with his court appointment, which he held until his death. His daughter Catharina Cibbini (1785-1858) was a well-known pianist and composer of piano music during the early 19th century in Vienna.

DREYER, Johann Melchior (1747-1824) - Missa in Es (1802)

Johann Melchior Dreyer (1747-1824) - Missa in Es (1802)

Performers: Marianne Rüеggе (soprano); Barbara Hеnsingеr (alto); Rеto Hofstеttеr (tenor); Frеdéric Bοlli (bass); Thurgаuеr Kammerchor; Thurgаuеr Bаrockensemble; Rаimund Rüеggе (conductor)

Drawing: Josef Höger (1801-1877) - Wanderer und Golgothakapelle

Further info: Johann Melchior Dreyer (1747-1824) - Sinfonie in F

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Johann Melchior Dreyer

(Röttingen, bap. 24 June 1747 - Ellwangen (Jagst), 22 March 1824)

German organist and composer. The youngest son of a smith, after study at the Jesuit Gymnasium in Ellwangen, he obtained his only position, the organist and schoolmaster (later choirmaster and Kantor) at the parish church of St Maria, which he retained for over 40 years. After the secularization of the foundation in 1802-03, he remained in his post as organist and Kapellmeister. His music, little studied, is characterized by a studied simplicity and nearby to Michael Haydn on style terms. His works include 24 sonatas for organ, six Requiems, 24 vesper Psalms, six Tantum ergos, 26 Masses (six published as “simple country Masses” as his Op. 2), six symphonies, three Marian antiphons, and six Misereres. He was one of the most successful composers of sacred music of his time. His music was distributed throughout Europe, Russia and North America. His sons, Heinrich Dreyer and Johann Baptiste Dreyer, were also musicians. 

MEHUL, Étienne Nicolas (1763-1817) - Simphonie [g] à grand orchestre (1808)

Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817) - Simphonie [g] à grand orchestre (1808)

Performers: Kammerorchester Berlin; Matthieu Lange (1905-1992, conductor)

Painting: Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835) - Étienne-Henri Méhul (1799)

Further info: Étienne Nicolas Méhul (1763-1817) - Symphony No.2 in D

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Etienne-Nicolas Méhul

(Givet, Ardennes, 22 June 1763 - Paris, 18 October 1817)

French composer. His father apprenticed him to the old blind organist of the Couvent des Recollets in Givet, after which he went to Lavaldieu, where he studied with the German organist Wilhelm Hansen, director of music at the monastery there. In 1778 he went to Paris, where he continued his musical studies with Jean-Frederic Edelmann. His first opera to receive a performance was Euphrosine et Corradin ou le Tyran corrigé (Theatre Favart, Paris, Sept. 4, 1790); another opera, Alonzo et Cora, was staged at the Paris Opera on Feb. 15, 1791. His next opera, Adrien, was in rehearsal by the end of 1791, but the revolutionary turmoil prevented a performance; it finally received its premiere at the Paris Opera on June 4, 1799. His opera Stratonice was given at the Theatre Favart in Paris on May 3, 1792, and was highly successful. Then followed his opera Le Jeune Sage et le vieux fou, which was performed at the same theater on March 28, 1793. In 1793 Mehul became a member of the Institute National de Musique, which had been organized by the National Convention under the revolutionary regime. He composed a number of patriotic works during these turbulent years of French history, including the popular Chant du depart (1st perf. publicly on July 4, 1794). He also continued to compose for the theater, shrewdly selecting subjects for his operas allegoricall suitable to the times. In 1794 he was awarded an annual pension of 1,000 francs by the Comedie-Italienne. In 1795 he became one of the 5 inspectors of the newly established Conservatory. He became a member of the Legion d'honneur in 1804. Between 1795 and 1807 Mehul composed 18 operas, some of which were written in collaboration with other composers. His greatest opera from this period is the biblical Joseph (Opera-Comique, Feb. 17, 1807); its success in Paris led to performances in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Russia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England, Italy, and America. Also noteworthy is his Chant national du 14 juillet 1800, an extensive work calling for 2 choirs with an additional group of high voices and orchestral forces. Apart from operas, he composed several symphonies. In spite of poor health, he continued to teach classes at the Paris Conservatory; among his students was Louis Joseph Ferdinand Hérold. His last opera was La Journee aux aventures, which was given at the Opera-Comique on Nov. 16, 1816. Although Mehul's operas practically disappeared from the active repertoire, his contribution to the operatic art remains of considerable historical importance. Beethoven, Weber, and Mendelssohn were cognizant of some of his symphonic works, which included 4 well-crafted symphonies. 

BURGKSTEINER, Joseph (1730-1797) - Divertimento in A-Dur

Joseph Burgksteiner (1730-1797) - Divertimento in A-Dur

Performers: János Liebener (1923-2015, baryton); Hans Pischner (1914-2016, cembalo)

Painting: Nicolas Tournier (1590-1639) - Le Concert

Further info: Barytonmusik Des 18. Jahrhunderts

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Joseph Burgksteiner

(Austria, 1730 - 1797)

Austrian singer, violist and composer. Almost nothing is known about his early years. In 1766 he assumed a post of bass singer at the Eszterháza castle. The same year he presumably was an all-rounder string player (violin and viola) who worked under the Esterhazy's konzertmeister Tomasini, who was appointed just five years before. The nature of the compositions, simpler than those of Jopseh Haydn and Karl Franz, point to him perhaps being a violinist at heart who wrote trios the top line of which could be played by the Prince Nikolaus I Esterhazy, the only barytonist at the time. One gets the strong impression that a bunch of court instrumentalists, Tomasini on violin, Karl Franz on horn and Burgksteiner on violin/viola, all jumped on the bandwagon of baryton composing (along with Haydn) at the same time, with Karl Franz probably the fastest learner or the most adept.

PLEYEL, Ignaz (1757-1831) - Sinfonie Concertante A Violon et viola (1791)

Ignaz Josef Pleyel (1757-1831) - Sinfonie Concertante A Violon et viola (1791), BenP 112

Performers: Christoph Angerer (viola); Concilium musicum Wien; Paul Angerer (1927-2017, violin & conductor)

Painting: Charles-Louis Clérisseau (1721-1820) - Veduta del Campidoglio

Further info: Ignaz Josef Pleyel (1757-1831) - Missa Solemnis (in D) à 4 voci (c.1790)

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Ignaz Josef (Ignace Joseph) Pleyel

(Ruppersthal, 18 June 1757 - Paris, 14 November 1831)

Austrian composer, music publisher, and music instrument manufacturer. As a child, Pleyel probably had a few lessons with Jan Křtitel Vanhal, but in 1772 he was sent to Eisenstadt to study under Joseph Haydn. He made such progress that in 1776 he not only successfully premiered his own opera Die Fee Urgele at Esterháza, but also composed an overture for Haydn’s Die Feuerbrunst as part of the same program. Around the same time he became Kapellmeister to his patron Count Erdődy in Fidich in Burgenland, but by around 1780 he traveled to Italy where an amateur composer and diplomat, Norbert Hardrava, became his patron in Naples. By 1784 he arrived in Strasbourg, where he was appointed as assistant to Franz Xaver Richter, eventually becoming Richter’s successor in 1789. When the religious centers were abolished during the Revolution, he was able to travel to London to participate in the Professional Concerts in 1791, but he soon returned to France, settling in Paris in 1795. At that time he opened a publishing house, which soon came to dominate music publishing in France. Among the innovations Pleyel introduced were miniature scores (1802). Further travels back to Austria resulted in a pan-European reach, and he expanded his activities to the development and construction of keyboard instruments. He retired in 1820 to a farm outside of Paris. As a composer, Pleyel was conscious of the need to balance pleasing music with progressive development. He had an innate sense of melody, often coupled with progressive harmonies and expanded formal structures. He did not, however, fulfill the oft-quoted reflection of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart that he might become Haydn’s successor in the world of music. His works include two operas, two Masses, a Requiem, four Revolutionary hymns, 32 Scottish songs, 40 symphonies, nine concertos (several with interchangeable alternative solo instruments), six sinfonia concertantes, nine serenades/divertimentos/notturnos, 95 quartets, 17 quintets, 70 trios, 85 duos, and around 65 works for fortepiano, as well as numerous smaller compositions. His music is known by Ben [Benton] numbers.

BONONCINI, Antonio Maria (1677-1726) - Messa à Cinque Concertata

Antonio Maria Bononcini (1677-1726) - Messa à Cinque Concertata

Performers: Silviа Frigаto & Raffаеlla Milаnеsi (sopranos); Andrеа Arrivаbеnе (countertenor);

Elеna Biscuola & Sara Mingаrdo (contraltos); Vаlеrio Contаldo & Raffaеlе Giordаni (tenors);

Sаlvo Vitаlе (bass); Concеrto Itаliаno; Rinаldo Alеssаndrini (conductor)

Painting: Unknown master (18th Century) - Ritratto di Antonio Maria Bononcini

Further info: Bononcini - Messa, Stabat Mater

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Antonio Maria Bononcini

(Modena, 18 June 1677 - Modena, 8 July 1726)

Italian composer, son of Giovanni Maria Bononcini (1642-1678) and brother of Giovanni Bononcini (1670-1747). He studied with his father. His first success came with the production of his opera Il trionfo di Camilla, regina del Volsci (Naples, 1696). This opera was produced in many other theaters in Italy, sometimes under different titles, as Amore per amove, La fede in cimento, etc. It was presented in London (1706) with great acclaim. Around 1700 Antonio joined his brother in Vienna, and Telemann heard them perform at Berlin in summer 1702. Antonio was first commissioned to compose for the Viennese court in 1705, the year in which Joseph I became emperor. During Joseph’s reign Antonio was appointed Kapellmeister to Joseph’s brother, who was living in Spain as Charles III. In Vienna he produced the operas Teraspo (1704), Arminio (1706), La conquista delle Spagne di Scipione Africano (1707), La presa di Tebe (1708), and Tigrane, re d'Armenia (1710). Antonio may have accompanied his brother to Rome when the two returned to Italy in 1713, but he settled in Modena, where his wife, Eleonora Suterin, bore him four sons and a daughter between 1715 and 1722. There he directed his operas L'enigma disciolto (1716) and Lucio Vero (1716). His last opera, Rosiclea in Dania, was staged in Naples (1721). He presumably wrote his extant mass and Stabat mater during his final years, and the contrapuntal complexities in the latter were largely responsible for Padre Martini’s judgment of his style: ‘so elevated, lively, artful and delightful, that he is distinguished above most early 18th-century composers’. His most famous opera, Il trionfo di Camilla, has often been erroneously attributed to his brother; several songs from it were published in London by Walsh.

VOGLER, Georg Joseph (1749-1814) - Concerto per il Clavicembalo

Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) - Concerto (F-Dur) per il Clavicembalo

previously attributed to Joseph Haydn as Hob XVIII: F1

Performers: Robert Veyron-Lacroix (1922-1991, cembalo); Orchestre De La Société Des Concerts Du Conservatoire; Kurt Redel (1918-2013, conductor)

Painting: Carl Fredrik von Breda (1759-1818) - Portrait of Grzegorz Józef Vogler

Further info: Georg Joseph Vogler (1749-1814) - Les rendez-vous de chasse... (1792)

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Georg Joseph [Abbé Vogler] Vogler

(Würzburg, 15 June 1749 - Darmstadt, 6 May 1814)

German composer, keyboardist, and pedagogue. He received his earliest training from his father, a maker of musical instruments, later transferring to the Jesuit Gymnasium in Würzburg, where he matriculated at the university in law in 1763. In 1766 he moved to Bamberg to study theology, and in 1771 he was offered the position of almoner at the Electoral court of Mannheim. Two years later he was sent on a grand tour of Italy to study with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini and Padre Francesco Vallotti, eventually finding his way to Rome where he built a reputation as a keyboard player and was named a papal legate with the title of Abbé. In 1775 he returned to Mannheim, where he opened a school of music and published two treatises on music theory, Tonwissenschaft und Tonsetzkunst and Stimmbildungskunst. A monthly journal outlining his theoretical concepts, the Betrachtungen einer Mannheimer Tonschule, followed 1778-81. By 1780 he had appeared in Paris and later London, from which he was recruited to Stockholm as director musices. Following the successful performance of his opera Gustaf Adolph och Ebba Brahe, he often went abroad on concert tours, traveling as far afield as Gibraltar, Greece, and North Africa. In 1793, following the death of his rival Joseph Martin Kraus, he returned to Stockholm where he founded another school of composition, eventually being pensioned off in 1799. Over the next several years he traveled extensively, making his home in Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Munich. In 1807, he was offered a permanent position as ecclesiastical counselor and Kapellmeister in the city of Darmstadt, where his pupils included Giacomo Meyerbeer and Carl Maria von Weber. A colorful figure who excelled at intrigue, he was often accused of being a charlatan, particularly when publishing music reputed to have come from exotic locations (such as the “Greenlandic” song “Døle vise” or the Chinese rondo Cheu-teu) or performing upon instruments of his own invention that included pyrotechnics. His mannerisms did not gainsay this reputation, but his contributions, particularly toward the field of music theory and orchestration, were seminal in music history. As a composer, his more than 600 works include 14 operas, four ballets, incidental music for a variety of plays (including Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Skjöldebrand’s Herman von Unna), 14 Masses, 60 Mass movements, a large amount of sacred music, a massive Requiem, 30 songs and small cantatas, four symphonies (one, in C major subtitled “Scalan” that was revised to include a chorus as the “Bavarian National Symphony”), 11 piano concertos, a horn concerto, 30 piano trios, 10 string quartets, 112 preludes for organ, and a plethora of smaller sonatas and miscellaneous pieces. His works often foreshadow the following century in their sense of orchestral color. The music was cataloged by his biographer Emil von Schafhäutl in 1888.

DANZI, Franz Ignaz (1763-1826) - Sinfonia Concertante (c.1785)

Franz Ignaz Danzi (1763-1826) - Sinfonia Concertante (Flute, Oboe, Horn, Bassoon) in Es-Dur (c.1785)

Performers: Peter Arnold (horn); Eberhard Buschmann (bassoon); unknown (flute & oboe);

SWR Rundfunkorchester Kaiserslautern

Painting: Karl Kuntz (1770-1830) - Blick auf Karlsruhe von Süden (1804)

Further info: Franz Danzi (1763-1826) - Vesperpsalmen

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Franz (Ignaz) Danzi

(Schwetzingen, bap. 15 June 1763 - Karlsruhe, 13 April 1826)

German composer and cellist. Son of Mannheim orchestra cellist Innocenz Danzi (c.1730-1798), he received his earliest musical education in Mannheim from members of the Kapelle, as well as Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler. At the age of 15 he was appointed to the orchestra, but a few years later he remained behind in Mannheim when the majority moved to Munich. His earliest successes as a composer of works for the stage occurred there, but in 1784 he was named his father’s successor as principal cellist in Munich. In 1791 he undertook tours throughout Germany as a conductor, including with the Guardasoni troupe. The death of Carl Theodor in 1799 had a greater impact on Danzi’s career: the new elector, Maximilian IV Joseph, was less sympathetic to German opera and imposed financial restrictions on the theatres. Further, Danzi faced opposition from rivals, including the new intendant Joseph Marius Babo and the Kapellmeister Peter Winter. When his serious German opera Iphigenie in Aulis was finally given in 1807, it was poorly prepared and had only two performances; bitter and disappointed, Danzi left Munich for Stuttgart. In October 1807, the King of Württemberg offered Danzi the position of Kapellmeister at Stuttgart, where Zumsteeg had been active. There Danzi met Carl Maria von Weber and encouraged the younger composer as he completed his Singspiel Silvana. Here he formed a fast friendship with Carl Maria von Weber. In 1812 he moved to Karlsruhe, where he spent the remainder of his life. An active composer, he wrote 16 operas; incidental music to 25 plays; eight Masses; 87 chamber works, among which several dozen woodwind quintets were popular throughout Europe; five symphonies; six sinfonia concertantes; concertos for the bassoon, horn, flute, and violoncello; as well as a large number of other sacred works, songs, and smaller instrumental pieces. He was also active as a librettist. His style, though conservative, is characterized by inventive use of orchestral color, particularly with respect to the wind and brass instruments. 

BONPORTI, Francesco Antonio (1672-1749) - Concerto a quattro (c.1715)

Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672-1749) - Concerto a quattro, Op.11 No.4 (c.1715)

Performers: I Musici

Painting: Anthonie Palamedesz (1601-1673) - Umkreis des - Musizierende Gesellschaft

Further info: Francesco Antonio Bonporti (1672-1749) - Motetten & Triosonaten

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Francesco Antonio Bonporti

(Trento, bap. 11 June 1672 - Padua, 19 December 1749)

Italian priest and composer. He was initially educated in Trento and Innsbruck in philosophical and humanistic subjects appropriate to the clerical vocation he was to follow. In 1691 he was admitted to the Collegium Germanicum in Rome, where he studied theology. While in Rome, he also studied composition under the guidance of Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni and possibly violin (not documented) with Arcangelo Corelli. Bonporti returned to Trent ordained as a priest and obtained a minor office in the cathedral in 1697. There he published his first opus, a set of ten trio sonatas and where on the title-page he called himself ‘gentiluomo di Trento’. Bonporti moved to Padua in 1740, lodging in the house of a fellow priest. A final appeal to Empress Maria Theresa in 1746, in which op.12 was enlisted, proved fruitless. He died three years later and was buried in Padua. Bonporti regarded himself as primarily a priest rather than a composer. His output consists in twelve opus, and the foremost of them is his Concerti a quattro, Op.11 (Trent, c.1715). Such as many italian composers of his time, he based his musical language on Corelli.

VON CAMERLOHER, Placidus (1718-1782) - Missa Solemnis ex C

Placidus von Camerloher (1718-1782) - Missa Solemnis ex C

Performers: Bеatе Hаriadеs (soprano); Nicholаs Hаriadеs (alto); Sebаstian Schäfеr (tenor); Johаnnеs Bаyеr (bass); Frеisingеr Domchor; Dombеrg-Kammerorchester; Wolfgаng Kiеchlе (conductor)

Painting: Paul Troger (1698-1762) - Allegorie auf die Unbefleckte Empfängnis Mariae (c.1733)

Further info: Placidus von Camerloher (1718-1782) - Trio ex C

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Placidus (Cajetanus Laurentius) von Camerloher [Camerlochner, Cammerlocher]

(Murnau, 9 August 1718 - Freising, 21 July 1782)

German composer. The fourth of eight children of Joannis and Maria Anna Camerloher, he was the younger brother of the Munich court composer Joseph Anton Camerloher and the elder brother of Johann Gregor Virgilius Camerloher (1720-1785), a cellist at the Munich court from 1747. After schooling in Murnau, he attended the Ritterakademie in Ettal (1730-39). He studied theology at the Wilhelmsgymnasium in Munich from 1739 to 1741 while also participating as a singer in Fastenmeditation performances for the Congregatio Latina BV Mariae; he later composed 17 Fastenmeditationen for the congregation (1748-73). In 1745 Johann Theodor, electoral bishop (later cardinal) of Freising, Regensburg and Liège, appointed Camerloher Kapellmeister to the Freising court; Camerloher was also his director of chamber music in Liège (1753-59). Through his patron’s influence, Camerloher received the necessary diploma of nobility to serve as prebendery and canon at the monasteries of St Veit (1748-53) and St Andreas (1753-82) in Freising, and he dedicated his symphonies op.1 to him. Johann Theodor’s death in 1763 brought an end not only to Camerloher’s travels (to Liège, Paris etc.) but also apparently to his symphonic output: as Kapellmeister under the next two bishops of Freising, he composed chiefly sacred works and school dramas. Symphonies and sacred works comprise the majority of Camerloher’s surviving music. 29 symphonies survive bearing his full name: three printed sets of six (opp.1, 2 and 4) and 11 manuscript symphonies (ten in D-Mbs, one in CH-E). Eight further symphonies can be assigned to him with some confidence (others formerly attributed to him are now believed to be by Joseph Anton Camerloher). The symphonies are mostly scored for strings alone, and all but one are in three movements. The earlier symphonies are short, but both the movements and the phrases of the later ones show a progressive increase in length. The thematic areas are quite clearly articulated, and those in later symphonies display characteristic features; the many antecedent–consequent sentences look forward to a later Classical style. Camerloher’s unquestionably authentic sacred works include nine masses, which are large-scale works employing strings, clarino trumpets, timpani, chorus and soloists. The orchestral writing is primarily homophonic in texture, as in Camerloher’s later symphonies, while more traditional elements, such as counterpoint and an occasional fugue, are reserved for the chorus.

Leopold I (1640-1705) - Balletto à 6

Leopold I (1640-1705) - Balletto à 6

Performers: The Biedermeier Chamber Ensemble

Painting: Gerard Hoet (1648-1733) - Allegorie auf Kaiser Leopold I. (1640-1705)

Further info: Leopold I (1640-1705) - Missa pro defunctis (1673)

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(Leopold Ignaz Joseph Balthasar Franz Felician) Leopold I

(Vienna, 9 June 1640 - Vienna, 5 May 1705)

Austrian composer and patron of music. He was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III. A member of the house of Habsburg, he received a broad humanistic education under the tutelage of the Jesuit Neidhard. His training included extensive instruction in playing various instruments (harpsichord, violin and recorder) and in composition. Like his father, Leopold was a patron of music and a composer. He continued to enrich the court's musical life by employing and providing support for distinguished composers such as Antonio Bertali, Giovanni Bononcini, Johann Kaspar Kerll, Ferdinand Tobias Richter, Alessandro Poglietti, and Johann Fux. Much of Leopold's music was published with works by his father, and described as "works of exceeding high merit". As a composer, Leopold I contributed a large number of works to the repertory performed at court. In style they follow the Venetian tradition as seen especially in composers active in Vienna, such as Bertali and Draghi. His sacred and secular Italian dramatic compositions evince a careful attention to the text, skilful manipulation of recitative and arioso sections, and a preference for a simple and deeply felt melodic style. By contrast his ballet music and his contributions to the developing German-language comedy are light and extremely simple and use folk music idioms; they are clearly influenced by Schmelzer. Leopold’s most successful compositions are without question his liturgical works. In them he combined polychoral techniques, the concertato style, and effective melodic writing influenced by characteristics of monody to produce substantial works that proclaim him as no mere aristocratic dilettante, but as a talented and successful composer.

DEMACHI, Giuseppe (1732-c.1791) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur

Giuseppe Demachi (1732-c.1791) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur (à piu strumenti)

Performers: Capella Wеilburgеnsis; Dοris Hagеl (conductor)

Drawing: Jean Aimé Roux (fl. 1782-1814) - Vue de Genève prise au Bois de la Batie

Further info: Giuseppe Demachi (1732-c.1791) - Musica da Camera

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Giuseppe Demachi

(Alessandria, 7 June 1732 - London, c.1792)

Italian composer and violinist. In 1763 he was first violinist in the town orchestra of Alessandria, and not a member of the Turin court orchestra, as many dictionaries state. He was in the service of Count Sannazzaro of Casale Monferrato from 1765 to 1769 (though in 1768 he is known to have been active in Saluzzo) and again from 1773 to 1776. By 1771 he had settled in Geneva, where in 1774 he was first violinist of the Concerto di Ginevra at the newly founded Société de Musique. In Geneva on 15 February 1775 he performed with the Czech clarinettist Joseph Beer. There too, he had his first works published by the editor Suzanna-Pernette Scherrer and worked with the violinists Gaspard Fritz and Friedrich Schwindl. He is listed in Casale until 1777. In 1791 he gave concerts in London, using the title maître de concert of the Princess Nassau-Weilburg. His works follow the galant style of Boccherini, but also employ a dramatic colouring in the manner of Tartini; his symphonies reflect the growing taste for programme music. His compositions include four sinfonia concertantes, several symphonies (of which one is titled Le campane di Roma), 56 trio sonatas, 18 duos, 10 violin concertos and six orchestra quartets. 

CHALON, Jan (1738-1795) - Sonata (II) pour le Clavessin (1759)

Jan Chalon (1738-1795) - Sonata (II) pour le Clavessin (1759)

Performers: Tilmаn Skοwrοnеck (clavecin)

Painting: Hendrik Keun (1738-1787) - De tuin en het koetshuis van Keizersgracht 524 in Amsterdam (1772)

Further info: Songs Of The Freemason

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Jan (Jean, John) Chalon

(Amsterdam, 4 June 1735 - London, 1795)

Dutch musician, printmaker and collector. Son and grandson of professional musicians (his father Hendrik Chalon was also a collector), he was also intimately bound into a network of artists, dealers and connoisseurs. Despite nothing is known about his formation, he probably received early lessons from his father. One sister, Christina Chalon, was an artist, and another married the collector Jan Lucas van der Dussen. The painter Cornelis Troost was a cousin. He spent many years, and died, in London. However, a rather astonishing fact is that Chalon, according to Joseph Farington, married the daughter of the collector John Barnard, who disowned her as a result. She died in Paris of a broken heart in 1775, aged 24, leaving two children: Henry Barnard Chalon and a daughter, Carolina Susanna, who married in 1795 the dealer Christian Josi. Chalon’s marriage to Miss Barnard and H. B. Chalon's date of birth suggest that the Dutchman was in London before Lugt surmises (which was after a stint in Paris in 1773). For Jan Chalon, Lugt mentions a sale in Amsterdam, 1797, and there was sale in London, which comprised part of Robert Grave's massive collections but which also contained a large collection of Rembrandts 'of the first and choicest Impressions, and were principally collected by the late Mr. Chalon, well known for his refined Taste and Judgement in the works of this celebrated Artist.' From 1788 to 1793 he made etchings in the manner of Rembrandt; he later destroyed many, but a hundred published posthumously (1802) in London by his son-in-law Christian Josi. As a composer, he published a collection of 'VI Sonates pour le Clavessin', Op.1 (1759), a set of 'Six Sonatines for the Harpsichord', Op.3 and a 'Simfonie périodique à 8 instruments'.

DE TORRES, Joseph (c.1670-1738) - Quien podrà tus disfrazes amore

Joseph de Torres (c.1670-1738) - Quien podrà tus disfrazes amore

Performers: Mаría Luz Álvаrez (soprano); Gаbinеtе Armónico

Painting: Manuel de la Cruz Vázquez (1750-1792) - La Feria de Madrid en la plaza de la Cebada (c.1775)

Further info: Joseph de Torres (1670-1738) - Cantatas profanas

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Joseph (José) de Torres y Martínez Bravo

(Madrid, c.1670 - Madrid, 3 June 1738)

Spanish composer, organist, theorist and publisher. He entered the royal chapel boys’ school in 1680, when he must have been between seven and ten years old. His training as an organist was almost certainly undertaken at the Daroca school by Pablo Bruna, and he was probably tutored in composition by the then master of the royal chapel, Cristóbal Galán. Torres was appointed organist of the royal chapel on 14 December 1686, and taught at the school there from 1689 to 1691. The forced exile of the maestro de capilla Sebastián Durón, because of his support for the Archduke of Austria in the War of the Spanish Succession, gave rise to a vacancy in the royal chapel which was filled temporarily by Torres from 1708 until his definitive appointment on 3 December 1718. A second chapel functioned from 1721 at La Granja, where the court had moved as a result of the king’s melancholy state of mind. It was dissolved in 1724, at the start of Felipe V’s second mandate, after the untimely death of his son Luis I, in whose favour he had abdicated. This resulted in the incorporation of the musicians of this chapel, and of their Italian director Felipe Falconi, into the royal chapel in Madrid, which was thereafter headed by two masters, Torres and Falconi, symbols of the musical aesthetics of the day which oscillated between the national style and the new italianizing tendencies. The fire of 1734 in the old Alcázar of Madrid forced Torres to become more active; along with Antonio Literes he was obliged to compose intensively in an effort to recover and replace the music archive, which had been destroyed. Falconi was not called upon to cooperate in this task. Torres’s first marriage was to Teresa de Eguiluz, with whom he had two sons, José and Manuel. He married his second wife, Agustina Enciso y Aguado, just four months before his own death. He was secretly buried in the convent of Carmen Calzado. Falconi had died the previous month. 

RATHGEBER, Johann Valentin (1682-1750) - Orgelkonzert F-Dur

Johann Valentin Rathgeber (1682-1750) - Orgelkonzert F-Dur

Performers: Bаvаriаn Brаss

Painting: Giacomo Francesco Cipper (1664-1736) - Die Mausefalle

Further info: Johann Valentin Rathgeber (1682-1750) - Missa VIII. S. Rosarii B.V. Mariæ. (1730)

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Johann Valentin Rathgeber

(Oberelsbach, 3 April 1682 - Banz, 2 June 1750)

German composer. He studied with his father, the village organist and schoolmaster and then pursued theological training. In 1701 he entered the University of Würzburg to study theology, and in 1704 became a schoolmaster and organist at the Juliusspital in Würzburg. He went to the Benedictine abbey of Banz early in 1707 as chamber musician and servant to the abbot, and by the end of the year had become a novice. Following his ordination in 1711, he served as choirmaster in Banz for the rest of his life. In 1721 the Augsburg firm of Lotter issued the first of his many publications, a volume of masses. Eight years later, when he had established a considerable reputation as a composer of church music, he sought permission to leave Banz for a European tour; he was refused and left without it. He visited Würzburg, Augsburg, Bonn, Cologne, Trier and Benedictine houses in Swabia and around Lake Constance. One of his reasons for making this tour seems to have been to gather information about performance conditions and liturgical customs in the Catholic areas of Germany. As a musician, he was particularly known as a composer of sacred music, which included many Latin mass settings, Vesper psalms, offertories, and other works (20 vols., Augsburg, 1721-39). Among his other works were 24 concerti grossi (1728) and various keyboard pieces (1743). He also edited and arranged the well-known collection of popular song settings 'Ohrenvergnugendes und Gemüth-ergötzendes Tafel-Confect' (3 vols., 1733, 1737, 1746).