Leopold I (1640-1705)
- Balletto à 6
Performers: The Biedermeier Chamber Ensemble
Further info: Leopold I (1640-1705) - Missa pro defunctis (1673)
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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.
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