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.
Spanish composer and instrumentist. Nothing is known about his year of
birth and youth. By 1725 he was documented as timpanist in the Real
Caballería (Royal Cavalry) located in Madrid. In 1736 he was documented
as trumpetist there. In 1749 he was appointed, by Fernando VI,
trumpetist in the Royal Chapel of Madrid in a post he held at least
until 1762. After that year his trace was lost and some sources
indicated he had moved to New Spain but no evidences extant. This was
due to the fact his 'Sinfonía en Re mayor' was found in the school
archive of the Santa Rosa, Michoacán (México).
German violinist and composer. He received his first lessons as a
choirboy and when he was 12 studied violin in the Baden court. In 1750
he entered the Benedictine monastery in Ettenheimmünster, where he met
and studied with Johann Stamitz. He later joined him in Mannheim and
received further lessons from Leopold Mozart. After completing
theological studies, he was ordained priest in 1759 and later held many
positions in the monastery, including those of choir director (1761-73)
and prior (1781). As a composer, he mainly wrote sacred music, among
them, the collections 'XXXII hymni vespertini' (1764), 'XV offertoria'
(1766), 'Geistliche Arien' (1769) and a Missa de nativitate. In his
later years he was praised as one of the best violinists and church
composers in the Upper Rhine valley.
Bohemian composer and violinist. Born on the Wallenstein estate, he
attended the Patris Piares College in Slaný before moving to Prague to
attend university in law beginning in 1751. When he decided to dedicate
his life to music, he was sent by Count Vincent of Waldstein to Padua to
study with Giuseppe Tartini. By 1765 he had made London his residence,
performing frequently as a musician in the royal chambers with
colleagues Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach. He frequently
toured England as a soloist, and he had a reputation for performing
adagios in a fine, sensitive manner. He composed exclusively
instrumental works, mostly for strings: violin sonatas, duos, string
trios, quartets and violin concertos, as well as sinfonias and
divertimentos, where he also used wind instruments. In his time he was a
very successful composer, as is indicated by the number of works he
published and their numerous re-editions. Most of his works were
published between 1770 and 1777 in London, Paris, Amsterdam, The Hague
and Berlin.
Austrian composer and choirmaster, son of the composer and violinist
Josef Malzat (1723-1760). He attended the grammar school in
Kremsmünster, where he was a chorister and possibly also a cellist. He
was subsequently a teacher in the abbeys of Stams in the Tyrol (1778–80)
and Lambach in Upper Austria (1781), a member of the church choir in
Bozen (now Bolzano) (1780–81), household musician in Schwaz (1784) and
finally choirmaster in the university church in Innsbruck (1786–7). His
instrumental works in particular enjoyed wide distribution and were
advertised by Traeg in Vienna as late as 1799. His music has been little
studied but consists of five Masses, a Requiem, an oratorio, a
Singspiel, a cantata, two smaller sacred works, five symphonies, five
concertos (several lost), a sinfonia concertante, 10 quartets, three
string trios, and five sonatas. His brother Ignaz Malzat (1757-1804) was
an oboist and composer active as principal oboe at the court of the
Prince-Archbishop of Passau.
French violinist, harpsichordist, conductor and composer. Son of Jean
Rebel (c.1636-1692), he showed talent for music and began playing the
violin at an early age, winning the approbation of the King and
Jean-Baptiste Lully when he was only 8. He then became his pupil in
violin and composition. From 18 August 1705 he was one of the 24 Violons
du Roi and then became batteur de mesure in that ensemble and in the
Opéra orchestra. On 30 March 1718 he obtained from Michel-Richard de
Lalande rights of reversion to the post of chamber composer to the king,
and he duly succeeded his brother-in-law in this post on Lalande's
death. He also was active at the Academic Royale de Musique in various
capacities, being made its 'maitre de musique' (1716) and also conducted
at the Concert Spirituel (1734-35). As he grew older he gradually gave
up his various posts in favour of his son, the composer and violinist
François Rebel [le fils] (1701-1775). He was held in high regard by his
contemporaries. His last work, 'Les Elémens, simphonie nouvelle'
(c.1737), preceded by a movement called Cahos (‘Chaos’), served as an
introduction to the suite of dances making up Les elemens. Its harmonic
daring, its orchestral colouring and the originality of its conception
make 'Cahos' a masterpiece of 18th Century French instrumental music.
His sister Anne-Renée Rebel (1663-1722) was a singer and she married
Michel-Richard de Lalande.
English composer, organist and singer, second son of William Hayes
(1708-1777) and brother of William Hayes Jr. (1741-1790). He received
his earliest musical education from his father. In 1763 his masque
'Telemachus' earned him a BMus degree, and in 1767 he spent a short
period as a singer at the Royal Chapel in London. In 1776 he was
appointed as organist of the New College in Oxford and a year later
succeeded his father as professor of music, at the same time earning his
doctorate. Over the next decade he added positions as organist at
Magdalen College, the University Church, and St. John’s College, where
he became known for his lectures consisting of his own odes and
oratorios. In 1780 he founded the Festival of the Sons of the Clergy at
St. Paul’s in London, and thereafter he commuted frequently between the
two cities. He hosted Joseph Haydn at Oxford when that composer arrived
to receive an honorary doctorate there. He was a prolific composer of
catches, glees, and such. His works include 48 anthems, over 30 songs,
16 Psalms, 16 odes, two oratorios, the aforementioned masque, two
services, six keyboard concertos (1769), and six violin sonatas. As a
composer, his natural language was a mixture of galant and early
classical idioms allied with a characteristically English preference for
simple, symmetrically phrased melodies and an assured technique founded
upon a thorough acquaintance with the works of Handel. His six keyboard
concertos (1769) were the first published in England to offer the
option of performance on the fortepiano, and beginning with the masque
'Telemachus' (1763) his large-scale works often included parts for
clarinets.
Portuguese composer and violinist. The son of a Genoese-born violinist,
he probably received his earliest musical education from his father and
later probably also studied under Domenico Scarlatti. Much of the
information concerning his education and training is unknown due to the
destruction of documents in the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, but it is known
that he was commissioned by the theatre in Macerata, Italy, to compose
an opera, Berenice, in 1742. By 1764 he was appointed as principal
violinist of the Royal Chamber, a post he held until his death. During
this time, he wrote a substantial number of dances for the court, as
well as a popular opera, 'Il mondo della luna', and a pair of oratorios
in 1770, 'Il voto di Jefte' and 'Adamo ed Eva'. He also composed a large
number of sacred works, including Masses, a Te Deum, Psalms, and other
smaller works, in addition to keyboard sonatas and two symphonies. Other
members of the Avondano family, all active in the Real Câmara, include
his brother António José Avondano (c.1715-1783) and his son Joaquim
Pedro Avondano (c.1760-1804), João Francisco Avondano (1713-1794),
Joaquim António Avondano (?-1828) and João Baptista Andre Avondano (fl.
1769-1801), who published a set of Quattro sonate e due duetti for two
cellos (c.1784) and was a pupil of Jean Pierre Duport.
German composer. He was one of the most significant German contemporaries of Bach, and his orchestral works are characteristic of the transition from the late Baroque style to the Classicism of Haydn and Mozart. Fasch was descended from a line of Lutheran Kantors and theologians. His earliest musical studies were as a boy soprano in Suhl and Weissenfels, and at 13 he was enlisted by J.P. Kuhnau for the Leipzig Thomasschule; his first compositions followed the style of his friend Telemann. While a student at the University of Leipzig he founded a collegium musicum which rivalled the eminence of the Thomasschule in the city's musical life. In this cosmopolitan city he encountered the concertos of Vivaldi, which greatly influenced his whole generation. Although he had no regular instruction in composition, he soon became so well known as a composer that his sovereign Duke Moritz Wilhelm of Saxe-Zeitz commissioned him to write operas for the Naumburg Peter-Paul festivals in 1711 and 1712. For purposes of study Fasch undertook a long journey through several courts and cities, eventually arriving at Darmstadt, where he studied composition with Graupner and Grünewald. He then held several positions, including those of violinist in Bayreuth (1714), court secretary and organist in Greiz (until 1721) and Kapellmeister to the Bohemian Count Wenzel Morzin in Prague, whose accomplished chapel orchestra earned Vivaldi’s praise. In 1722 Fasch reluctantly accepted the position of court Kapellmeister in Zerbst. In the same year he was twice invited to apply for the position of Thomaskantor in Leipzig, but withdrew from the competition shortly after Telemann did so, deciding that it was too soon to leave Zerbst.
In 1727 he spent some time at the Saxon court in Dresden, where his friends Pisendel and Heinichen were in charge of orchestral music and the Catholic chapel respectively. Heinichen's death in 1729 is a 'terminus ante quem' for several of Fasch's surviving liturgical pieces, which were performed by the chapel choir under Heinichen, who noted the duration of pieces on the manuscripts (as well as rewriting sections, which Pfeiffer has taken as an indication that the Dresden experience was another learning venture). Surviving correspondence, particularly with Nikolaus Ludwig, Reichsgraf von Zinzendorf, head of the Pietist Brotherhood in Herrnhut, reveals Fasch's unhappiness in strictly Lutheran Zerbst. Only one further application for a formal position is recorded (Freiberg, 1755), but it was unsuccessful, and Fasch remained at Zerbst for the rest of his life. During his 36 years there Fasch was primarily occupied with the composition of church cantatas and festival music for the count. His fame as a composer spread far beyond Saxony: his works were familiar to numerous courts and city churches, from Hamburg (where in 1733 Telemann performed a cycle of his church cantatas) to as far afield as Prague and Vienna. He enjoyed especially close relations with the famed Hofkapelle in Dresden, at which the Kapellmeister Pisendel performed many of his concertos (to some extent in arrangements), and likewise with the court at Cöthen, which attracted him by its Pietist leanings. Through his son C.F.C. Fasch, harpsichordist at the court of Frederick the Great in Berlin from 1756, he was connected with C.P.E. Bach.
Dutch composer and pianist, brother of Josephus Andreas Fodor
(1751-1828) and Carel Emanuel Fodor (1759-?). Born into a musical
family, he studied in Mannheim and Paris before returning to Amsterdam
in 1795. In 1798 he married Geertruida Tersteeg. At the death of
Bartholomeus Ruloffs in 1801 he was named conductor of the orchestra of
Felix Meritis, which he was to lead for twenty-five years. In the
following year he was nominated to the position of the orchestra
Eruditio Musica. In 1808 Louis Bonaparte appointed him to head the
Instituut voor Wetenschappen, Literatuur en Schone Kunsten, precursor of
the Koninklijke Nederlandse Academie van Wetenschappen, the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1811 he established, with
Johann Wilhelm Wilms and some others the series of Tuesday concerts. He
became one of the leaders of Dutch musical society, writing works that
reflect early 19th century Romantic forms. His music includes several
symphonies, eight concertos for fortepiano, an opera, numerous songs in
Dutch and a large number of chamber works.
Austrian composer and organist. Almost nothing is known about his youth
until he was documented as organist at the Benedictine abbey of Göttweig
in 1736, a post he held until 1746. That year he was appointed choral
director of St Veit, Krems an der Donau (1746-1753) while he was
studying philosophy and theology. In 1752 he was ordained priest and a
year later he was appointed to the charge of the Chapel of All Saints at
Stein an der Donau, in a post he held the rest of his life. As a
composer, he show the influence of his fellows Johann Joseph Fux and
Antonio Caldara, both active in Vienna, but evolving to early Classical
style in his later works. Despite he focused on sacred music, among
them, masses (the foremost was his Große Orgelmesse in C, 1761),
requiems, and many liturgical pieces, he also wrote instrumental music
very close to Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Georg Matthias Monn on style
terms.
Bohemian composer and violinist. He received his earliest musical
instruction from Lukas Lorenz, the Deutschbrod teacher with whom Johann
Stamitz is alleged to have studied. After attending school in Vysoká, he
furthered his musical education in Prague and then, at the age of 17,
in Vienna. There he received violin instruction from the Royal Court
musicians Franz Josef Timmer and Johann Otto Rosetter, and flute lessons
with Johann Franz Piarelli. In 1729 he met the violinist and composer
Franz Benda and as both were equally dissatisfied with their positions
they left Vienna abruptly and fled to Poland. In Warsaw he took up a
concertmaster post of the Jakub Suchorzewski's orchestra. In 1733 he
followed Franz Benda to the Royal Polish Chapel at the Saxon Court in
Warsaw. On the accession of August II in 1733 both musicians transferred
to the Dresden Hofkapelle. Their appointment was, however, of short
duration, for in 1734 he followed Benda in accepting a summons to the
chapel of Crown Prince Frederick at Ruppin. Zarth remained in
Frederick’s service for over 20 years, moving with the rest of the
chapel to Rheinsberg in 1736 and then to Berlin after Frederick’s
accession in 1740. It was not until 1757 or 1758 that the careers of
Benda and Zarth diverged: while Benda remained in Berlin, Zarth took up a
post at Mannheim, the city where he remained the rest of his life.
German composer, singer, contrabass player and publisher. Trained at the
Jesuit Gymnasium in Amberg, he composed his first work, a Requiem, in
1778. In 1780 he went for further education in Munich, where he was
attached to a military regiment in 1785. He was able to compose for the
stage during the next several years, and in 1791 he became employed by
the court orchestra as a contrabassist. In 1796 he founded a
lithographic process for notation, which he and publisher Johann André
used under royal privilege in Offenbach. In 1806 he returned to Munich
to become inspector of royal printing. Gleissner worked with André on
the first catalog of the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He himself
was a prolific composer, writing 30 Masses, two Requiems, eight
litanies, three vespers, five offertories, 12 other sacred works, an
oratorio, 12 stage works (ballets and Singspiels), 13 symphonies, four
quartets, 12 Lieder, 12 flute duets, over 60 works for keyboard, and
several other smaller chamber works.
Bohemian composer and keyboardist. Like his brother Lambert Mašek
(1761-1826), he received his first musical education from his father,
Tomás Mašek, a village cantor, before moving to Prague, where his
teachers included Frantisek Xaver Dušek and Josef Seger. He obtained a
position with Count Vtrba, who allowed him to tour central Europe as a
performer. In 1791 he settled in Prague, where he taught privately and
was chorusmaster at the German opera. In 1794 he was appointed as music
director of the St. Mikuláš Church, but in 1802 he decided to devote his
attentions to his music shop, one of the first in the city. His music
reflects not only the predominant Viennese style, it also shows its
Czech origins in the lyrical melodies. His works include two operas,
several ballets, 30 Masses, 40 graduals, 70 offertories, 26 sacred
arias, 16 hymns, 13 motets, five antiphons, 10 symphonies, seven
concertos, 15 quartets (mostly for strings), eight sonatas, seven
serenades, five partitas, four pastorellas, and a large number of
smaller dances and individual works for keyboard.
French composer and singer. He studied violin with Charles Chabran and
piano with Jan Ladislav Dussek in Paris. In 1789, he was appointed
concertmaster at the court of Heinrich of Prussia in Rheinsberg,
replacing Johann Abraham Peter Schulz. He worked in Rheinsberg for four
years while studying harmonies under Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch. In
1792 he was banished from Rheinsberg because he interrupted a Sunday
service by riding into church on horseback. After working as a touring
violinist in Germany and Poland he went to Stockholm in 1793, where he
joined the opera orchestra as a violinist. In 1795 he became a member of
the Swedish Academy of Music. In 1799, he fell out of favor with king
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden by praising Napoleon and he was banished from
Sweden and settled in Copenhagen. There he joined the opera orchestra as
a violinist. A highpoint in his stage career was the première of his
'Ungdom og galskab' (1806), for which he composed the music and sang the
role of Ritmester Rose. In 1809 he sang the first act of this opera
with his pupil Crown Princess Charlotte Frederika at Amalienborg Palace;
but scandal broke out later in the year when he was discovered in bed
with the princess and had to leave Denmark at two hours’ notice. He went
to Paris, but with the election of Napoleon’s commander Jean Baptiste
Bernadotte to the Swedish throne he was able to return to Stockholm. He
became court violinist and singer and from 1812 conductor. In 1814 he
became titular professor of the Swedish Academy of Music. As a composer,
he wrote several stage works, symphonic works, concertos, chamber music
as well as songs, ballets and a Requiem.
French composer, harpsichordist and organist. Nothing is known of his
early musical training or how he came to Paris. He is thought to have
been a pupil of Jacques Champion de Chambonnières. After serving in the
position of first organist to the Duke of Orleans and to the Jacobins in
the rue St. Honore in Paris, he was made 'ordinaire de la chambre du
Roy pour le clavecin' by Louis XIV in 1662, a post he held until at
least 1668. After 1679 D'Anglebert was also in the service of the
Dauphine Marie-Anne de Bavière, Duchess of Burgundy. As a composer, he
was mainly known by his 'Pieces de clavecin avec la maniere de les
jouer' (Paris, 1689), which contains 4 dance suites, 5 organ fugues,
transcriptions of popular tunes, arrangements of works by Lully, a
treatise on keyboard harmony, and a table of ornaments, with many new
signs that were widely accepted. The volum stands as a major source for
the French Baroque style. His son, Jean-Baptiste Henri D'Anglebert
(1661-1735), succeeded him at the French court.
Bohemian organist and composer. Nothing is known about his youth and
musical education. He was a member of the Premonstratensian order. His
life was passed in a succession of ecclesiastical musical appointments,
the most notable of which was at St Benedikta, Prague, between 1663 and
1669. There he was organist and choirmaster and was apparently
responsible for modernizing the repertory and building up an archive. In
his last years, he retired to the Strahov monastery in Prague. As a
composer, he mainly wrote sacred music, among them, several masses, a
Requiem, a Te Deum and Vespers. His music style was close to Adam Michna
and Pavel Vejvanovský, the foremost bohemian composers during 17th
Century.
Dutch pianist, organist, teacher and composer of German birth. He
received his early music training from his father and elder brother. In
1791 he settled in Amsterdam as a pianist, flutist and teacher, and
later was organist of the United Baptist Church (1823-46). He fastly
became one the foremost composers active in Amsterdam, being on several
committees, including the music faculty of the Koninklijk Nederlandsch
Instituut voor Wetenschappen, Letteren en Schoone Kunsten (1808-47), and
the Maatschappij tot Bevordering der Toonkunst (1829-41). As a
composer, he was mainly known by his 'Wien Neerlands bloed door d'aderen
vloeit' (1815), the semi-official Dutch hymn of the 19th century. He
also wrote three symphonies, several symphonies concertantes and
concertos, overtures, chamber music, violin and flute sonatas, and
keyboard pieces as well as secular songs and the sacred cantata
'Zahlreiche weitere Gelegenheits' (1814). His style was mostly inherited
by the 18th Century composers with some early Romantic traits.
Bohemian composer. Nothing is known about his youth. The first mention
was in 1721 as a choirmaster at the St. Mary Magdalene church in Prague.
Also there he was documented as musician under the patronage of Count
Wenzel Morzin. According to some sources, he also worked for Count Franz
Joseph of the House of Czernin. In his last years he was appointed
organist at the parish church Jindřichův Hradec, a post he briefly held
before his death in 1730. As a composer, he wrote both concertos and
sacred music following the trends of italian style. His music was highly
praised and can be found in several Bohemian archives.
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, 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.
Spanish composer and organist. He was christened on 24 March 1699 at the
Church of St. James the Great in Sangüesa. He was a choirboy at the
Colegio de Cantorcicos, Madrid, under José de Torres, who in 1717
recommended him for the post of organist at the cathedral of Salamanca,
where he remained for 16 years until 1733. In 1733 he came second in the
competition for maestro de capilla at the cathedral of Málaga, and was
awarded the position when the winner, Manuel Martinez Delgado, died
suddenly. In 1741, Iribarren's salary was raised to prevent him taking
the post of maestro di cappella of the cathedral of Valladolid,
thereafter he remained in Málaga until his retirement, a year before his
death. He was buried in the cathedral. As a composer, he wrote more
than 800 works, mostly sacred and currently preserved in the Málaga
cathedral archive. The style of his music is characterized by an
infrequent use of the polychoral technique. He probably was the most
prolific Spanish villancico composer of the 18th century; since his
entire collection is dated (1722-1766).
German composer and contrabass player. Following studies under Franz
Becker, he became a student of Johann Georg Albrechtsberger in Vienna.
He is said to have made his début as a composer there at the age of 18,
and a symphony and a double bass concerto of his were performed by the
Tonkünstler-Societät in 1778. In 1777 he was employed by Cardinal von
Batthyani in Pozsony (Pressburg, now Bratislava, Slovakia), and in 1783
he became a member of the Kapelle of Count Erdődy in Fidisch. After the
dissolution of the ensemble he made his living as a copyist, as well as
touring both Germany and Italy as a bass soloist. In 1789 he was
appointed to the Kapelle of the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, where he
remained for the rest of his life. A supposed period in the service of
Prince Esterhazy under Haydn is not documented. As a composer, he was
well versed in the styles of music of his time, becoming a significant
composer of symphonies in particular. His music consists of 45
symphonies, 22 concertos (18 for double bass), three sinfonia
concertantes, two nonets, an octet and a septet, two sextets, 12
quartets, two keyboard sonatas, 14 other sonatas (duos), five cantatas,
three sacred songs, three hymns, three antiphons, and two offertories,
as well as 50 partitas and several organ fugues. Sperger's reputation as
a leading double bass player is generously acknowledged by critical
writing of the time; his achievements as an executant were generally
accorded more significance than his prolific output as a composer.
Flemish composer and organist. He studied as a choirboy under Petrus
Hercules Brehy at the collegiate church of St Michel et Ste Gudule in
Brussels where, at the age of 18, he succeeded Josse Boutmy as titular
organist. In 1737 he was appointed choirmaster at the Kapellekerk of
Brussels. The premature death of Joseph-Hector Fiocco in 1741 enabled
him to return to Ste Gudule, this time as music director, a position he
had aspired to since the onset of Brehy's terminal illness in October
1736, but which had gone to Fiocco. For the next 36 years, Van Helmont
lived with his growing family in the choraelhuys (maîtise) where he
supervised the musical and general education of the choristers, composed
frequently for the service, and undertook the task of conserving Ste
Gudule's extensive music collection. In 1768 he founded a musical
association which gave weekly public concerts; this was one of the first
societies of its kind in Brussels. In 1777 he resigned from Ste Gudule
passing his duties to his son, the composer and teacher Adriaan Joseph
van Helmont (1747-1830). As a composer, he wrote much sacred music,
including masses, motets, Magnificats, and litanies. Among his secular
works were an opera, 2 symphonies, an overtura, a divertissement, Pieces
de clavecin (Brussels, 1737), and 6 organ fugues.
German composer active in Sweden. He was born in Dresden and it's
uncertain if he was related with the Gresner family of wind instrument
makers and musicians established there. Almost nothing is known about
his youth until he was appointed as a member (first oboist and later
flautist) of the Royal Court Orchestra in Stockholm, a post he held the
rest of his short life. As a composer, his output came to light in the
1780’s and 1790’s and were intended for various performers, among those
his colleagues in the court orchestra. He was very appreciated and some
of his works were published by Hummel printers in Amsterdam. Among his
compositions, most of them lost, he wrote 4 ballets (Mölnarebalett,
Pantomime för herr Marcadet, Slädpartiet, incidental ballet music in
Vogler’s Gustaf Adolf och Ebba Brahe), orchestral works (4 sinfonias, 1
overture, 2 solo concertos, 2 arias with orchestra (Ah se t’adoro, Med
din sång du redan funnit seger i min ömma själ), chamber music (trios,
duets), works for wind ensemble (14 partitas, 2 arrangements) and piano
pieces.
Bohemian composer, teacher, bandmaster and Regenschori. He was born into
a family of musicians who moved from Bohemia to Banat. The foremost of
them were Vinzenz Maschek (1755-1831) and Pavel Maschek (1761-1826) who
achieved great success in Vienna with ballets and Singspiele. Vinzenz
Maschek was active in Bela Crkva (Romania) but almost nothing is known
about his career. Only a post is documented as singing teacher and
organist at the Israelite synagogue in Temesvàr. As a composer, he
mainly wrote sacred music which includes masses, offertories, graduals,
hymns and the waltz "Carnevall's Memories" composed for "entire
orchestra" and "dedicated to Kapellmeister Johann Strauss with respect".
German pianist, teacher and composer. Son of a clergyman, he initially
studied theology at Leipzig. Then his trace was lost until 1800, when he
was appointed music teacher in Reval (now Tallin). Also there he was
active as a pianist receiving notable fame as instrumentist. He remained
there until 1836, a year he settled in Saint Petersburg for the rest of
his life. As a composer, he wrote, among others, keyboard sonatas
(Opp.19, 22, 26, 46), dozens of waltzes, variations and polonaises as
well as several Lieds, partsongs and masonic music.
French flautist, teacher and composer. The son of Jean-Baptiste Blavet, a
turner, and Oudette Lyard, he was self-taught as a musician, mastering
both bassoon and flute. In 1718, he married Anne-Marguerite Ligier with
whom he had two daughters and two sons, both of whom became priests and
one of whom, Jean-Louis Blavet, was the author of five books and a
number of translations. In 1723, he settled in Paris under the
protection of Duke Charles-Eugene Levis. In 1726 he made his debut at
the Concert Spirituel, remaining as its most celebrated artist for some
25 years. On 1 October 1728 Louis XV granted to Blavet, ‘musicien
ordinaire de notre très cher cousin le prince de Carignan’, a privilège
général for six years to publish ‘plusieurs sonates pour la flûte
traversière’, and op.1 was issued immediately, dedicated to Carignan. By
1731 Blavet had transferred his allegiance to the Count of Clermont,
with whom he maintained ties for the rest of his life. He was
acknowledged throughout Europe as the foremost flute virtuoso of his
time and he was praised by composers such as Telemann, Marpurg or
Quantz. It is likely that many of Leclair’s nine flute sonatas and his
flute concerto were written for Blavet, for the two often performed
together. As a teacher, his most brilliant flute pupils were the
composer and publisher Pierre-Evard Taillart and the teacher and
composer Félix Rault, who succeeded Blavet at court, the Opéra and the
Concert Spirituel.
Italian singer and composer. Son of Carl Antonio Schiassi and Catterina
Minghetti, he was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica as a suonatore,
and a violinist among the virtuosos at the ducal court of Alderano Cybo
Malaspina, to whom he dedicated his Trattenimenti per camera in 1724.
About three years later he was employed by the Landgrave of Darmstadt.
From at least the end of 1734 he lived in Lisbon, where he served in the
royal chapel and founded the Academia da Trindade. His letters from
Lisbon to Padre Martini from 1735 to 1753 reveal his activities there as
composer, teacher and singer. He was asked to compose oratorios based
on texts by Metastasio, for which he enlisted Martini’s help in
supplying fugues for the choruses. The letters also reveal several
insights into performing practice and taste in 18th-century Lisbon,
where the king refused to allow women to take roles in operas and
prohibited all kinds of entertainment during his illness except for
oratorios and church festivals. Schiassi's works include sonatas,
concertos, sinfonias and dances. His vocal music, other than the operas
and oratorios, were most often set as pastorales.
Italian composer. In his youth he entered the Franciscan order of minor
observers in Venice and in 1724 became a secular priest. In 1735 he was
appointed chapel master of the Cattedrale di Santa Maria Annunziata in
Udine, a post he held the rest of his life. Between the years 1728 and
1731 he premiered some operas in Venice and for a time he was musical
master of the Ospedale dei Derelitti, where he replaced Giovanni Antonio
Pollarolo. As a composer, he composed a large amount of religious music
in the Baroque style, half a dozen operas and a few instrumental works.
He became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna, for which
he wrote some concertante works on a grand scale. He died in Udine in
May 1757.
Bohemian singer and composer, daughter of Jan Dussek (1738-1818) and
brother of Franz Benedikt Dussek (1766-c.1816) and Jan Ladislav Dussek
(1760-1812). A pupil of her father, organist and composer, she went to
London about 1795 to perform at the invitation of her brother Jan
Ladislav Dussek. There, she married Francesco Cianchettini, a music
dealer and publisher who in association with Sperati had the English
rights for J.L. Dussek’s works from 1807 to 1811. As a composer, she
wrote two concertos and published some solo piano works, including three
sonatas using ‘favorite airs as adagios and rondos’ (Op.2, Op.6, Op.8),
sets of variations and short pieces based on well-known tunes. Her son
Pio Cianchettini (1799-1851) was a pianist and composer.
Spanish composer. Son of Marc Antoni Milans i Macià (1625-1708) and
Maria Anna Godayol, he was sent, together with his brother Carles Milans
Godayol (1669-1724), to Barcelona, where he studied at the Santa Maria
del Pi with the organist Jeroni Oller. The brothers sang as choirboys in
the chapel of the Palau Reial Menor where Oller was organist. In 1701
he was appointed as the substitute of Felip Olivelles, the chapel master
there. A considerable part of Milans' career was influenced by the War
of the Spanish Succession (1702-1714) which ended with the Peace of
Utrecht. The resident of the Palau, the marquis of Los Vélez, was a
supporter of the Bourbons and because of that the family's possessions
were confiscated by the royal authorities. The chapel was transferred to
a royal committee and after the war reprisals were taken against many
of the musicians. Whether Milans was one of the victims is apparently
not known, but in 1714 he worked as mestro de capella of Girona
cathedral, a post he held the rest of his life. He was a prolific
composer of church music, being a link between the musicians of the
Spanish and Austrian courts, such as Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio
Caldara. That is not to say that Milans was a mere imitator, but rather
that he was aware of, and incorporated into his own music, the various
emerging stylistic trends of that age of transition.
![Austrian School (18th Century) - Portrait of a singer with her accompanist [probably Faustina Bordoni (1693-1783) and Johann Adolf Hasse (1699-1783)]](https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/53607455758_ec21d68b51_c.jpg)
