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.
English composer and teacher. She played the harpischord and piano in
public concerts and taught music to members of the nobility, including
the Duchess of Devonshire and her daughters. In April 1787 she married
the engraver and man of letters Thomas Park (1759-1834). On 22 October
1794 Haydn wrote to thank Park for sending him two charming prints,
enclosing ‘for the Mistris Park a little Sonat’ with the promise of
visiting her within a few days. Although she suffered from ill-health
for many years, her family life was a happy one; her husband wrote
several touching poems to her. Her surviving music, spanning a quarter
of a century, is that of a very competent, professional composer. Her
sonatas are varied and spirited, while the concerto for keyboard and
strings reveals an individual voice, particularly in the final rondo.
Earlier reference works confuse her with the singer and composer Maria
F. Parke, to the extent of calling the singer Maria Hester Parke; the
British Library Catalogue of Printed Music clearly distinguishes the
two. Her keyboard sonatas opp.1 and 2 were published under her maiden
name.
Spanish composer. Probably born as José Riquero Roquer or José Ferriol,
he received music lessons at the Montserrat abbey from José Martí. In
1760 he was ordained a priest at the Real Monasterio de Guadalupe. In
1777 he was appointed 'maestro de capilla' at the same abbey in a post
he held until 1800 and alternating his music duties with the composer
Manuel del Pilar, also active as 'maestro de capilla' there from 1753 to
1794. Despite José de Barcelona was mainly focused on his sacred duties
usually not related to music, he wrote many music being active as a
composer from 1773 to 1794. In 1785 he was elected 'mayordomo mayor' of
the Real Monasterio de Guadalupe. He also wrote the treatise 'De
arithmetica et algebra et musica speculativa'.
Polish violinist and composer. He was born into a musical family with
his father, the tenor Antonio Maria Gaetano, and his mother, the singer
Elisabeth Böhm. From them, he received his early musical training, later
following his mother to Berlin when his parents divorced in 1785. After
several difficult years, he emerged in 1791 as music director and court
composer to Count Oborsky, and in his company he divided his time
between the count’s Polish estates and cities such as Berlin and Vienna.
On a visit to the latter, he studied with Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
and Antonio Salieri, as well as becoming a close friend of Ludwig van
Beethoven. At a concert in 1795, he so impressed Prince Joseph Franz
Maximilian Lobkowitz that he was invited to become a teacher and
violinist in Bohemia, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1800
he married Franziska Kraft, whose father Anton gave Joseph Haydn’s
well-known cello concerto its première. Unlike his parents, Cartellieri
had a happy marriage which produced three sons, including Joseph
Cartellieri (1803-1870) who succeeded to his father’s post with
Lobkowitz. Antonio Casimir Cartellieri died of a heart attack at the age
of 35. As a composer, his works include seven operas, two monodramas or
dialogues, three oratorios, 11 Masses, three symphonies, five
concertos, three wind partitas, and numerous other smaller sacred works.
Cartellieri’s music is characterized by a good sense of orchestral
color, as well as progressive harmony.
English composer and music publisher. Nothing is known about his life
despite almost his entire music output was printed and published in
London and Dublin. We can guess through the frontpiece of his works, he
was also active as harp teacher. As a composer, his extant production
include, among others, several keyboard pieces and chamber music, a set
of 'Twelve favorite canzonets ... set with accompanyments for the piano
forte or pedal harp ... op. IV', 'A favorite collection of progressive
lessons for the harp, selected and composed ... op. 8' and 'Two duets
for two harps, piano-forte & harp, or two piano fortes ... op. 7'.
Italian composer. He was born into a musical family, the eldest of seven
children of Rosario Bellini (1776-1840) and Agata Ferlito (1779-1842),
and niece of the organist and composer Vincenzo Tobia Bellini
(1744-1829). He received his first musical instruction from his father
and grandfather, and soon revealed a fine gift of melody. The Duke and
Duchess of San Martino e Montalbo took interest in him and in 1819
arranged to have him enter the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano
in Naples, where he studied harmony and accompaniment with Giovanni
Furno and counterpoint with Giacomo Tritto. He further studied the vocal
arts with Girolamo Crescentini and composition with Nicola Zingarelli.
Under their guidance, he made a detailed study of the works of
Pergolesi, Jommelli, Paisiello, and Cimarosa, as well as those of the
German classics. While still in school, he wrote several sinfonias, two
masses, and the cantata 'Ismene' (1824). His first opera, 'Adelson e
Salvini', was given at the Collegio in 1825; it was followed by the
premiere at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples of his second opera, 'Bianca e
Gernando' (1826). In 1827 he went to Milan, where he was commissioned
by the impresario Barbaja to write an opera seria for the famous Teatro
alla Scala; it was 'Il Pirata', which obtained fine success at its
premiere on 1827; it was also given in Vienna in 1828. It was followed
by another opera, 'La Straniera' (1829). He was then commissioned to
write a new opera for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, on a Shakespearean
libretto; it was I Capuleti e i Montecchi; first performed on 1830, it
had a decisive success. Even more successful was his next opera, 'La
Sonnambula', which was premiered in Milan on 1831, with the celebrated
prima donna Giuditta Pasta as Amina. Pasta also appeared in the title
role of Bellini's most famous opera, 'Norma', first given at La Scala on
26 December 1831, which at its repeated productions established
Bellini's reputation as a young master of the Italian operatic bel
canto. He then had an opportunity to go to London and Paris, and it was
in Paris that he brought out his last opera, 'I Puritani' (1835), which
fully justified the expectations of his admirers. He was on his way to
fame and universal artistic recognition when he was stricken with a
fatal affliction of amebiasis, and died six weeks before his 34th
birthday. His remains were reverently removed to his native Catania in
1876. Bellini's music represents the Italian operatic school at its most
glorious melodiousness, truly reflected by the term 'bel canto'. In his
writing, the words, the rhythm, the melody, the harmony, and the
instrumental accompaniment unite in mutual perfection. The lyric flow
and dramatic expressiveness of his music provide a natural medium for
singers in the Italian language, with the result that his greatest
masterpieces, 'La Sonnambula' and 'Norma', remain in the active
repertoire of opera houses of the entire world, repeatedly performed by
touring Italian opera companies and by native forces everywhere.
Spanish composer and theorist. He was born into a family of musicians
the first member of them was Petrum Arrabasta (c.1540-1581). Son of Magí
Rabassa, he received early music lessons by his uncle and organist
Ramón Rabassa. He later was a choirboy at the Barcelona Cathedral where
he was taught by Francisco Valls. During this time the young Rabassa
must have been influenced by the Austrian and Italian musicians employed
at the court of Archduke Carlos III, which had temporarily settled in
Barcelona during the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). On 10
March 1713 he was appointed 'maestro de capilla' at the Vich Cathedral,
but on 24 May 1714 he moved to Valencia Cathedral where he assumed the
same post. On 9 June 1724 he finally became 'maestro de capilla' at the
Sevilla Cathedral, where Philip V's court settled from 1729 to 1733 and
in a post he held until his retirement in 1757, although he continued to
compose music for the cathedral until his death. Rabassa belongs to the
first generation of Spanish composers to adopt elements of the Italian
style in their music (e.g. the introduction of recitatives and arias in
vernacular music). His numerous compositions are widely distributed
among many sources. Like his teacher Valls, he made an outstanding
contribution to the history of music theory with his manuscript treatise
'Guía para los principiantes' (c.1720). His nephew Pedro Miguel Rabassa
(c.1700-1775) was an organist and composer mainly active in Sevilla and
Madrid.
Giovanni Antonio Guido (c.1675-1729) - Concerto 'Le Printemps' a 6 des 'Scherzi armonici sopra le quattro
staggioni dell'anno, concerti a 3 violoni, flauti, hautbois, cimbalo,
bassi di viola e violoncello'
Italian violinist and composer mainly active in France. He was probably
born in Genoa and from 1683 he studied violin at the conservatory in
Naples. From 1702 he was in Paris at the service of the Duke of Orleans,
where he remained until at least 1729. There is an account of a concert
performed at Fontainebleau in front of the English Queen Anne in
November 1703, where Guido is referred to as an excellent violinist in
the service of the Duke of Orleans, a supporter of Italian music.
Through his connection with the Duchess du Maine Sceaux, a favourite of
Louis XIV, he gained the attention of the King. In 1707 he was granted a
'privilège général' enabling him to publish his works. That year a
collection of six motets was printed in Paris and, a few years later,
two sonatas for two violins and basso continuo were published. From 1714
to 1724 he took part in concerts organized in the home of the financier
P. Crozat. These evenings were attended by writers, artists, musicians,
as well as members of the aristocracy, including the Duke of Orleans.
Among these was Jean-Antoine Watteau who painted some of those present
at the concerts including Guido whose portrait dated 30 September 1720.
There is no known information about Guido after 1729 and the place and
date of his death is unknown. Giovanni Antonio Guido had greater fame as
a violinist than as a composer, but in his compositions he was able to
combine the Italian style with the French. It is not known when he wrote
his famous 'Scherzi armonici sopra le 4 staggioni dell’anno' but they
were certainly very popular in France.
German organist, composer, theorist and lexicographer. Son of Johann
Stephan Walther, an Erfurt fabric maker, and Martha Dorothea Lämmerhirt,
he studied organ in Erfurt with Johann Bernhard Bach and Johann Andreas
Kretschmar. He became organist of the Thomaskirche there in 1702 and
concurrently studied philosophy and law briefly at the University of
Erfurt. He studied composition with Johann Heinrich Buttstett; after
travel in Germany, he continued his studies with Wilhelm Hieronymus
Pachelbel in Nuremberg (1706), then became organist of the church of St.
Peter and St. Paul in Weimar (1707), a post he held for the rest of his
life. He also served as music master at the ducal court and was made
Hofmusicus of the ducal Court in 1721. Walther assembled a valuable
library of music and books on music, which prompted him to pursue
diligent musical research. This culminated in his great 'Musicalisches
Lexicon' (1732), the first music dictionary to encompass biographies of
musicians of the past and present, musical terms, and bibliographies. He
also left the important treatise 'Praecepta der musicalischen
Composition' (1708), which was not published until the 20th century. He
composed much sacred vocal music, but only one work, 'Kyrie, Christe,
Kyrie eleison über Wo Gott zum Haus nicht giebt sein Gunst', has
survived. However, over 100 chorale preludes for organ are extant. These
place him next to J.S. Bach, his distant relation and lifelong friend,
as a master of the genre. He also prepared valuable manuscript copies of
works by other composers, many of which remain the only known sources.
Austrian composer. He was attracted to music at an early age, but this
inclination received no support from his father, a Viennese leather
merchant, who wanted him to study law. His earliest musical education
was under Johann Joseph Fux, following which he served as choirmaster at
the St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, as well as studied theology at the
University of Vienna. In 1730 he was persuaded to pursue further
musical education in Venice by Fux. Positions in Laibach (now Ljubljana)
and Holešov followed, during which he successfully produced in 1737 an
opera, 'Luciano Papiro'. By 1746 he was musical director at the
Burgtheater, and in 1750 he traveled to Stuttgart as hofKapellmeister.
By 1753 he was hired by Elector Carl Theodor as Kapellmeister in
Mannheim, where he composed works such as 'Günther von Schwarzburg' in
1777, one of the first Classical German operas based upon a historical
subject. When the court moved to Munich in 1778, he accepted a post in
Monaco but returned to Mannheim to retire in 1781. As a composer, he was
one of the most prolific composers of the 18th century, particularly in
the realm of the symphony. His music is noted for its powerful dramatic
style, particularly in the use of the orchestra as well as progressive
harmony. He composed around 200 symphonies, 13 concertos (mainly for
strings), 18 string quartets, 24 orchestral minuets, two piano quintets,
around 15 trios, 18 operas, several ballets, four oratorios, 32 Masses,
two Requiems, and 44 other sacred works including cantatas, Te Deums,
hymns, and such. His music had a significant influence on Viennese
composers.
Austrian composer. Brother of Joseph Haydn (1732-1809), he went to
Vienna at the age of eight and entered the choir school at the
Stephansdom. About 1753 his voice broke and he was dismissed from the
choir school. By 1757 he left Vienna for Grosswardein. His solemn Missa
SS Cyrilli et Methodii (1758) was one his earliest and finest works
composed there. He was apparently back in the vicinity of Vienna in
1762. It was during this time that he came to the attention of Count
Vinzenz Joseph Schrattenbach, the nephew of Sigismund Christoph,
Archbishop of Salzburg, who recommended that Haydn be offered a position
in Salzburg. From the quantity of Haydn's music that was copied for
performances in eastern Austria during the 1750s and 60s, it would seem
that he was quite well known throughout the region. The death of J.E.
Eberlin in 1762 led to a reshuffling of the prominent musicians in
Salzburg and eventually to Haydn's appointment as court Konzertmeister.
Among his colleagues were Leopold Mozart, A.C. Adlgasser, G.F. Lolli and
later W.A. Mozart. On 24 July 1763 some ‘Tafelmusique’ by him was
performed, and on 14 August he officially assumed his new position,
which involved playing the organ as well as the violin. From then until
the death of Archbishop Schrattenbach late in 1771, he mainly wrote
dramatic works for the theatre of the Benedictine University; Die
Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (1767) was the result of a collaboration
between Haydn, Adlgasser and the 11-year-old Mozart. On 17 August 1768
he married Maria Magdalena Lipp (1745-1827), a singer in the Hofkapelle
and daughter of the court organist, Franz Ignaz Lipp. The couple lived
in an apartment owned by the Abbey of St Peter, for which Haydn composed
a number of occasional works. The Haydns’ only child, Aloysia Josepha,
was born in 1770, but died within a year. Hieronymus, Count Colloredo,
was enthroned as Prince-Archbishop in March 1772, and he immediately
instituted tighter fiscal controls which greatly restricted the
activities of the university theatre.
A planned trip to Italy probably never materialized because he was
promptly given the position of organist at the Dreifaltigkeitskirche
when Adlgasser died suddenly on 22 December 1777. Bitter that the
position was not given to his son, Leopold Mozart, who had previously
praised his colleague, described Haydn as prone to heavy drinking and
laziness. Haydn composed his best-known works between 1771 and 1777: the
Requiem (1771) and the Missa S. Hieronymi (1777). In 1782 he assumed
the position of court organist. On the 1200th anniversary of the
archiepiscopate, in the same year, Colloredo published a pastoral
letter, the first of a series of proclamations intended to simplify
church services. In response, Haydn composed about 100 settings of Mass
Propers in a simple homophonic style. During the 1780s, Haydn completed
20 symphonies. Writing from Vienna in 1784, Mozart expressed his
astonishment at how quickly he was able to obtain copies of Michael
Haydn’s most recent symphonies. During the 1790s Haydn enjoyed an
expanding sphere of influence as a teacher of composition; Anton
Diabelli was involved in the publication of many of Haydn's sacred works
by the Viennese publishing firm that later bore his name. Sigismund
Neukomm was a pupil of Haydn in the 1790s. The young C.M. von Weber came
to Haydn in 1797; and Franz Schubert, though never one of his pupils,
visited Haydn's grave in Salzburg and included words of admiration for
him in a letter to his brother Ferdinand. In January 1801 his apartment
was plundered by French soldiers, and this was possibly a catalyst for a
trip to Vienna. By September 1801 he was again in Vienna rehearsing a
mass commissioned by Empress Maria Theresia, who sang a solo part in a
performance. He began work on a Requiem (1806), commissioned by the
empress, but owing to his declining health he never finished it.
Although he expected the coming spring to bring an improvement in his
health, it did not; and he died, with friends and students at his
bedside, on 10 August 1806.
Spanish composer, organist and theorist. According to a document from
1738 he was baptised in the parish church of San Esteban in Valencia and
it also stated he was a choirboy at the College of Corpus Christi (El
Patriarca) in Valencia. When he was 18 years old he was appointed
assistant of Francisco Vicente, the main organist there. In 1749, and
after the death of Francisco Vicente, he was subsquently promoted as
interim organist there. From 1752 to 1771 he was titular organist at the
Collegiate Church of Játiva where he was ordained a priest. In 1757 he
unsuccessfully applied to the position of chapel master at the Cathedral
of Valencia and in 1761 he was appointed the organist there but he only
remained few months before going back to Játiva. In 1768 he fruitlessly
applied for the vacant position of chapel master at the Cathedral of
Málaga and applied, also unsuccessfully, for a position as organist at
the Royal Chapel of Madrid, which was awarded to José Lidón. In 1771 he
resigned from his position as organist in Játiva, presumably to take
over the organist post at the Descalzas Reales in Madrid. Around 1775 he
returned to Valencia where he died few months later. As a composer, he
mainly wrote sacred music, among them, 7 masses and 26 psalms. He also
left an harpsichord concerto (1767) as well as 7 keyboard sonatas. His
extant output, around 70 works, is only preserved in manuscript.
Italian violinist and composer. From an early age he studied violin,
initially in his native town and later in Modena, under the tuition of
Paolo Guastaroba. In 1768, he moved to Padua, where for some time he
studied at the school of Giuseppe Tartini. In the following years he
appeared as soloist in Rome and Florence; in the latter city he resided
from 1771 to 1775, working in the school of one of Tartini's most famous
pupils, Leghorn-born Pietro Nardini (1722-1793), and employed as a
violinist at Teatro della Pergola. In Florence he also gave successful
concerts, reviewed by Gazzetta Toscana, and became a friend of the young
Luigi Cherubini. Wishing to widen his horizons and to start a soloist
career, in 1776 he left Italy and moved to Freising, Bavaria, where he
entered the service of bishop Ludwig von Welten as Konzertmeister at
court. He remained until 1779, during which time he also gave well
received concerts in Poland, Latvia and Sweden. Later he spent several
years in Dresden, and continued to appear in public in northern Europe,
returning twice to Italy, in 1784 and 1788. In 1797 he became
Konzertmeister of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig. In that city, the
musician published his Violin Method, which soon became extremely
popular in all of Europe. Meanwhile, as the famous orchestra's first
violin, he had the opportunity to become acquainted with and perform the
symphonic and instrumental output of the great Austro-German composers.
On the side he never stopped composing, and towards the end of the 18th
century a few of his works started to appear on the market: his Op.1,
Six Duos pour la Flute et Violon, was published around 1790 in Berlin;
others followed, for a total of 22 opus numbers. He also continued his
activity as itinerant performer. In Paris, in 1801, he met again with
his friend Cherubini, and made the acquaintance of Rodolphe Kreutzer,
whose violin concerto he performed in Leipzig in 1804, earning himself a
cautiously positive pronouncement by Louis Spohr. In 1816 he ended his
nearly twenty-year-long appointment with the Gewandhaus, and returned
for some time to Italy with his two daughters, Albertina Campagnoli
(1795-1848) and Giannina Campagnoli (1797-1848), both of whom were
singers. But in 1821 the violinist was already back in Germany, to take
up the position of Konzertmeister in Neustrelitz, probably to be close
to his daughters who, from 1819, had been enrolled at the Hannover
Theatre. After a last visit to Italy in 1826, he died in Neustrelitz.
German composer. He came from a family of craftsmen and attended the
grammar school run by Piarist friars (the order was founded in Rome in
1617 to promote the education of the poor). It was presumably here that
he received his first lessons in composition, the monastery archive
contains an early work by him, and learnt to play the keyboard and the
violin. He may have been first taught composition by the Kapellmeisters
and court musicians Johann Hönel and Augustin Pfleger, and by Georg
Bleyer. Since Duke Julius Franz sent gifted musicians to receive further
training elsewhere, and had connections with the Dresden court, he may
have acquired his high degree of contrapuntal skill from Christoph
Bernhard in Dresden. There is no evidence that he ever studied with
Lully in Paris. Lully's works were known and performed in Bohemia
through printed scores and from Georg Muffat's visit to Prague in 1677.
Fischer could have made an intensive study of them during his journeys
to Prague and Schloss Raudnitz on the Elbe in the course of his
professional duties. In 1689 or earlier Duke Julius Franz appointed
Fischer to succeed Pfleger as Kapellmeister in Schlackenwerth; his name
appears with that title in financial statements relating to the weddings
of the two princesses in 1690. After the partition of the state at the
end of 1690 Fischer may have been appointed Hofkapellmeister to Margrave
Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden. The margrave had married the heiress of
Schlackenwerth, Princess Sibylla Augusta, and made his residence there
at the time of the war with France. There is clear evidence of Fischer's
position in the titles of his printed works from 1695 onwards. The
court moved to Rastatt in 1705, but because of reductions in the
personnel during the war years Fischer did not accompany it. It was not
until October 1715, after a Piarist foundation had been set up in the
city, that he was finally given a post there, which he held until his
death. After his first wife's early death in 1698 he re-married,
probably at the beginning of 1700, and this marriage lasted until 1732.
Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer served the Baden court for almost 60
years, albeit with the assistance of the man who was to succeed him,
Franz Ignaz Zwifelhofer, towards the end of his career. Sadly
underrepresented in today's concert repertoire, his music reveals itself
on closer study to possess a marked individuality, stylistic diversity
and elaborate harmonies.
Spanish composer. He joined the school choir at the Montserrat
monastery, conducted at that time by Maestro Joan March (also known as
Marquès or Márquez), with whom he received his first musical education.
In 1636, he acquired the status of novice and in 1648, when the upheaval
of the Catalonian War of Secession had already subsided, he was in the
convent of Montserrat founded in Madrid by the monks that had left the
Catalan monastery when the war broke out. The temporary stay of chapel
musicians from the monastery at the “Monserratico” in Madrid was a
frequent case in later periods, a practice that certainly followed the
purpose of broadening the training of future masters, making them become
acquainted with the practice and styles of the Crown’s royal chapel
choir. In Cererols’ case, more specifically in Madrid, he was able to
keep in touch with the most advanced music of the chapel of the Spanish
Habsburg kings conducted by Mateo Romero, known as the “maestro
capitán”, and Carlos Patiño. After the death of Joan March in 1658, he
was appointed choirmaster in his home monastery at Montserrat, a
position he held until his death.
Austrian publisher and composer. He was a choirboy in the monastery at
Michaelbeurn, and at Salzburg Cathedral. He studied for the priesthood
at the Munich Latin School, but continued his musical work, submitting
his compositions to Michael Haydn, who encouraged him. On the
secularization of the Bavarian monasteries, Diabelli, who had already
entered that at Raichenhaslach, embraced the career of a musician, went
to Vienna (where Joseph Haydn received him kindly), taught piano and
guitar for a living, and in 1818 became a partner of Cappi, the music
publisher, assuming control of the firm (Diabelli & Co.) in 1824. He
published much of Schubert's music, but underpaid the composer, and
complained that he wrote too much. In 1852 he sold his firm to CiA.
Spina. A facile composer, he produced an opera, 'Adam in der Klemme'
(Vienna, 1809), masses, cantatas, chamber music, etc., which were
consigned to oblivion; however, his sonatinas are still used for
beginners and guitar players, and his pastoralmesse (1830) is regularly
performed in Austria. His name was immortalized through Beethoven's set
of 33 variations (op.120) on a waltz theme by Diabelli.
German composer. The youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750),
he received his earliest musical training from his father and a cousin,
Johann Elias Bach. After serving as a secretary to his father the final
year of his father’s life, he moved to Berlin in 1750, receiving further
instruction from his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. In 1755 he left
for Milan, where he eventually obtained the patronage of Count Agostino
Litta. Following study with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini and
conversion to Roman Catholicism, he was appointed second organist at the
Milan cathedral in 1760. A commission for an opera from the Teatro
Regio in Turin the same year, however, altered his fortunes; the work,
Cantone in Utica, was a success that led both to commissions throughout
Italy and an international reputation as a composer of Italian opera. In
1762 he was invited to London, where he set the opera Orione. Its
success and the appointment as Music Master to the Queen allowed him to
reside permanently there. A further trip to Paris solidified his ability
to publish his music, and, finally, his lodging with compatriot Carl
Friedrich Abel resulted in a collaborative concert series beginning in
1764. For the next decade he traveled regularly to Paris where his works
were highly esteemed, and in 1772 he was invited to Mannheim to set the
opera Temistocle. In 1779 he wrote his first tragédie lyrique for
Paris, Amadis de Gaule. Despite the successes, competition with rival
concert a difficult economic situation, and ill health led to his early
death. Bach can be considered one of the pivotal composers of the age.
Unlike his brothers Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach, he fully immersed himself in the Italian style, creating works
that feature clear period lyrical themes, solid harmonic foundations,
and distinct formal structures. His orchestration, often using obbligato
instruments, is colorful, and Bach used various Mannheim orchestral
devices to great effect. He was one of the most popular composers of the
period, whose music had circulation throughout Europe, influencing a
later generation of composers, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was a
prolific composer in virtually all genres. His works include 39 operas,
three serenatas, an oratorio, seven Mass/Requiem movements, 28 other
sacred works, 15 concert arias and cantatas, 45 songs/canzonetts, 34
symphonies, 19 sinfonia concertantes, 28 keyboard concertos, 11 other
concertos (violin, flute, oboe, and bassoon), six wind symphonies, 11
marches, a sextet, 13 quintets (string and piano), 20 quartets (string,
flute, and piano), 14 trio sonatas, 12 trios (almost all piano trios),
26 violin sonatas, two viola da gamba sonatas, 23 keyboard sonatas (four
for keyboard four hands), and numerous miscellaneous pieces for the
keyboard and harp. His music has been cataloged according to Terry (T)
or Warburton (W or CW) numbers.
Italian guitarist and composer. Son of the violin maker Antonio Gragnani
(fl. c.1765-1795), he came from a family of notable luthiers and
musicians. He received music lessons, mainly focused on sacred music,
from the violinist and composer Giulio Maria Lucchesi, but he later
devoted enterely to the guitar as a virtuoso. By 1810 he settled in
Paris where he befriended and became a pupil of the famous guitarist
Ferdinando Carulli. From 1807 he published his own works in Paris, city
where guitarists were among the most beloved musicians during the first
half of the 19th Century. After 1812 his trace was lost but he probably
was active in Paris before moving back to Livorno, where he spent his
last years.
German organist and composer. He received his early education at the St.
Lorenz school in Nuremberg and then entered the university at Altdorf
in June 1669 but because of finances had to transfer to the Gymnasium
Poeticum at Regensburg, where he qualified for a scholarship and was
allowed to study music under Kaspar Prentz outside the normal
curriculum. In 1673, he became deputy organist at Stefansdom in Vienna,
where he possibly studied with Johann Caspar Kerll and doubtless learned
much about Catholic liturgical music. He then moved to Eisenach in
Thuringia, becoming organist on 4 May 1677. The next year, he left for
Erfurt, possibly because the mourning for his patron’s brother, Prince
Bernhard of Saxe-Jena, reduced musical activities. He began a 12-year
residence at the Predigerkirche at Erfurt on 19 June 1678. On 25 October
1681 he married Barbara Gabler, but she and their son were carried off
in a plague of September 1683. He then married Judith Trommert on 24
August 1684, and together they had five sons and two daughters. Wilhelm
Hieronymus Pachelbel (1686-1764) became a well-known musician in
Germany, and another son, Carl Theodorus Pachelbel (1690-1750), brought
his father’s music to the American colonies. During this period, in
Thuringia, he taught music to Johann Christoph Bach, who would later
teach Johann Sebastian Bach. He took up a new post as organist at the
Württemberg court in Stuttgart on 1 September 1690, but a French
invasion forced him back to Thuringia, and he became the town organist
for Gotha. He remained there, refusing one invitation to return to
Stuttgart and another to move to Oxford, until the invitation from his
home city of Nuremberg came shortly after the death of Sebalduskirche
organist Georg Kaspar Wecker on 20 April 1695. Johann Pachelbel was a
prolific composer of such renown in the late 17th-century musical life
of central Germany that his home city, Nuremberg, waived the normal
practice of inviting prominent candidates to be examined for its most
important musical position organist of Sebalduskirche, and simply asked
Pachelbel, then town organist at Gotha, to take the job.
