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.
Performers: Maria Mrazova (alto); Miroslav Svejda (tenor); Maîtrise
d'enfants de Brno; Chœur féminin du Conservatoire de Prague, Chœur
d'hommes Moravan; Orchestre Radiosymphonique de Bratislava;
Bohemian organist and composer. His musical training began at the Jesuit
Gymnasium Jičín (1711-1717). Though he briefly studied law at Prague
University, he soon abandoned it for music, becoming the organist at the
Týn Church. His major breakthrough came in 1720 with the success of his
works for the annual 'musica navalis', the St. John’s Eve festivities
on the Vltava River. This success secured him a lucrative commission to
compose the music for these festivals every year from 1722 to 1729. He
later served as a music teacher and organist at St. Martin's school,
rising to choirmaster at St. Martin's in 1727. As a composer, his output
include 34 extant works, among them, several masses, settings of the Te
Deum and the Magnificat, litanies, offertories and motets; one school
comedy is known, 'Cancet preambulans'. His compositions are in the
Venetian style represented by Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldara,
with some elements of Czech folk music. His style is marked by full
instrumentation and a preference for brass. He handled contrapuntal
texture skilfully, and in homophonic passages often made use of
concertato interplay between soloists and chorus. His son František
Xaver Brixi (1732-1771) was also organist and composer.
German composer and violinist. Brother of August Friedrich Graun
(c.1698-1765) and Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759), he received his
earliest education at the Kreuzschule in Dresden before enrolling in
music at Leipzig University. In 1723 he studied with violinist Giuseppe
Tartini in Prague before obtaining the post as concertmaster in
Merseburg in 1726. In 1728 he relocated to Arolsen to serve in the court
of Prince von Waldeck, before joining the private orchestra of Crown
Prince Frederick of Prussia in Ruppin and Rheinsburg in 1732. There he
was concertmaster at the opera until his death. Along with his brother
Carl Heinrich Graun, he was one of the principal figures in the musical
circles of the Berlin court, and although he concentrated his own
efforts toward writing instrumental works, he was adept at vocal genres
as well. Among the latter can be counted an oratorio, La Passione di
Gesù Cristo; several sacred works; six Lieder; and seven Italian secular
cantatas. He was a prolific composer of the former, however, in many
cases defining the emerging North German empfindsamer Stil
(Empfindsamkeit). He composed no fewer than 54 symphonies, 13
two-movement overtures, 62 trios (mostly for flutes/violins and basso),
36 sonatas for violin, four sonatas for flute, and 62 concertos (48 for
violin, five for two violins, three for oboe, two for bassoon, two for
violin/viola, and one each for viola da gamba and viola da
gamba/cembalo). The scope of his compositions has yet to be determined,
given that many works, particularly chamber music, are attributed only
to 'Graun'. He was held in high regard by his contemporaries, especially
as an orchestral trainer and instrumental composer.
Austrian violinist and composer. The son of an impoverished painter, he
showed talent as a violinist at an early age. He was a pupil of Joseph
Suche in 1797 and of Anton Wranitzky from 1798. Encouraged by Ignaz
Schuppanzigh, he made his first public appearance with brilliant success
at a morning concert in the Augarten in 1800. In 1802 he began piano
and composition lessons with Emanuel Aloys Förster. In 1810 he was
appointed leader of the Hoftheater orchestra in Vienna, soloist at the
Hofkapelle (1816) and later soloist to the emperor (1835) and musical
director of the Hofkapelle (1836). He never went on tours and rarely
gave concerts, yet he was a finished virtuoso, admired even by Niccolò
Paganini. In Vienna he was very successful as a teacher. He was awarded
the Salvator medal (1811), the freedom of Vienna (1817) and the Order of
Franz Joseph (1862), and was an honorary member of several musical
academies. As a composer, his works include 3 violin concertos, a Mass
(1848), 5 string quintets, 8 string quartets, trios, and solo violin
pieces. Most of these are conservative in style and were intended
primarily for his own performance.
Austrian composer and violinist. Born to Paul Ditters, costumier at the
imperial court and theatre in Vienna, and his wife Anna (née Vandelin),
he received his earliest education at the Jesuit school in Vienna, where
he displayed a precocious talent as a violinist, enough so that in 1751
he was performing with local court orchestras. Here he came to the
attention of Giueseppe Bonno and Christoph Willibald von Gluck, the
latter of whom took him with him to Italy in 1763. There Ditters
achieved success as a virtuoso, and by 1765 he had been hired by
Archbishop Adam Patachich as Michael Haydn’s successor at Großwerdein
(now Oradea, Romania). He improved the quality of the ensemble, but in
1769 it was dissolved and Ditters relieved of his duties. He found other
employment with the Archbishop of Breslau, Count Philipp Gotthard von
Schaffgotsch as a state administrative functionary at Schloss
Johannesberg (now Janský vrch, Poland), and in 1773 he was appointed as
chief forester at nearby Javernig (Javornik). This appointment required
aristocratic rank, and Ditters was ennobled as von Dittersdorf at
Freiwaldau (Jeseník). In 1784 he returned to Vienna where he
participated actively in the musical life of the city. His rank allowed
him access to all levels of the court society, and his abilities earned
him the friendship of colleagues such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, with whom he performed in a string quartet (the cellist
was his student Jan Křtitel Vanhal). In 1790, however, he returned to
music as Kapellmeister to Duke Carl Christian Erdmann zu
Württemberg-Oels, a post that also included governmental administrative
duties. He moved to Oels (Olésnice) and then Karlsruhe in Upper Silesia.
A reversal of fortune caused him to retire in 1796, and he moved to the
small town of Neuhof (Červená Lhota), where he died only a couple of
days after completing his autobiography. He was a prolific and
progressive composer, particularly with respect to his use of the
characteristic symphony, sometimes based upon Classical stories. He was
conventional in terms of his harmony, but his skill in contrasting
instruments (as well as writing for unusual timbres and combinations)
demonstrates a good sense of color. His formal structures are often
conventional, and his textures mainly homophonic, but he was considered
one of the foremost composers of Vienna during his day. He can be
considered one of the most popular composers of Singspiels of his day,
with one work, Doktor und Apotheker, achieving international success.
The number of works composed demonstrates an almost inexhaustible
creativity and includes: 127 symphonies (with another 90 likely, making
him the most prolific composer in the genre of all time, if true), 18
violin concertos, five viola concertos, eight oboe concertos, four
keyboard concertos, nine other concertos (for oboe d’amore, harp,
contrabass, cello, flute, and two violins), four sinfonia concertantes
(including two for string quartet and orchestra, one for viola,
contrabass, and orchestra, and another for 11 solo instruments), four
serenades, five cassations, 16 divertimentos, 18 string trios, seven
string quartets, six horn quintets, six string quintets, 35 partitas, 72
preludes, 31 keyboard sonatas, 136 solo keyboard works, 16 violin
sonatas, 32 operas, three concert arias, 16 secular cantatas, 16 Masses,
a Requiem, four oratorios, 11 offertories, eight litanies, and 170
smaller sacred works such as Psalms, motets, and so forth.
Hungarian composer, pianist and teacher. Son of Ádám Liszt (1776-1827)
and Maria Anna Lager (1788-1866), his father was an amateur musician who
devoted his energies to the education of his son. At the age of 9,
young Liszt was able to play a difficult piano concerto by Ferdinand
Ries. A group of Hungarian music-lovers provided sufficient funds to
finance Liszt's musical education. In 1822 the family traveled to
Vienna. Beethoven was still living, and Liszt's father bent every effort
to persuade Beethoven to come to young Liszt's Vienna concert on April
13, 1823. Legend has it that Beethoven did come and was so impressed
that he ascended the podium and kissed the boy on the brow. There is
even in existence a lithograph that portrays the scene, but it was made
many years after the event by an unknown lithographer and its
documentary value is dubious. Liszt himself perpetuated the legend, and
often showed the spot on his forehead where Beethoven was supposed to
have implanted the famous kiss. However that might be, Liszt's
appearance in Vienna created a sensation; he was hailed by the press as
'child Hercules'. He met and studied with Carl Czerny and Antonio
Salieri. Salieri appealed to Prince Esterhazy for financial help so as
to enable Liszt to move to Vienna, where Salieri made his residence.
Apparently Esterhazy was sufficiently impressed with Salieri's plea to
contribute support. Under the guidance of his ambitious father, Liszt
applied for an entrance examination at the Paris Conservatory, but its
director, Luigi Cherubini, declined to accept him, ostensibly because he
was a foreigner. Liszt then settled for private lessons in counterpoint
from Antoine Reicha. Liszt remained in Paris, where he soon joined the
brilliant company of men and women of the arts. Paganini's spectacular
performances of the violin in particular inspired Liszt to emulate him
in creating a piano technique of transcendental difficulty and
brilliance, utilizing all possible sonorities of the instrument.
Handsome and a brilliant conversationalist, Liszt was sought after in
society. His first lasting attachment was with an aristocratic married
woman, the Comtesse Marie d'Agoult; they had 3 daughters, one of whom,
Cosima Liszt (1837-1930), married Liszt's friend Hans von Bulow before
abandoning him for Richard Wagner. His second and final attachment was
with another married woman, Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who was
separated from her husband. Her devotion to Liszt exceeded all limits,
even in a Romantic age. Liszt fully intended to marry Sayn-Wittgenstein,
but he encountered resistance from the Catholic church, to which they
both belonged and which forbade marriage to a divorced woman. His own
position as a secular cleric further militated against it. Thus, Liszt,
the great lover of women, never married. Liszt's romantic infatuations
did not interfere with his brilliant virtuoso career. One of his
greatest successes was his triumphant tour in Russia in 1842. Russian
musicians and music critics exhausted their flowery vocabulary to praise
him as the miracle of the age. Czar Nicholas I himself attended a
concert in St. Petersburg, and expressed his appreciation by sending him
a pair of trained Russian bears. Liszt acknowledged the imperial honor,
but did not venture to take the animals with him on his European tour.
It is not clear why, after all his triumphs in Russia and elsewhere in
Europe, he decided to abandon his career as a piano virtuoso and devote
his entire efforts to composition. He became associated with Wagner as a
prophet of 'music of the future'. In 1848 he accepted the position of
Court Kapellmeister in Weimar. As a composer, he made every effort to
expand the technical possibilities of piano technique; in his piano
concertos, and particularly in his Etudes d'execution transcendante, he
made use of the grand piano, which expanded the keyboard in both the
bass and the extreme treble. He also extended the field of piano
literature with his brilliant transcriptions of operas. Although Liszt
is universally acknowledged to be a great Hungarian composer, he was
actually brought up in the atmosphere of German culture.
Anton Bernhard Fürstenau (1792-1852)
- Concerto (D-Dur) in modo di Scena cantate | per il Flauto con
accompagnemento | di due Violino, Alto, Basso, Flauto, due Oboi,
Clarinetti, | Fagotti, Corni, Clarini e Timpani (o Pianoforte.) |
composto e dedicato al suo amico | Signor Enrico Dehnel | Capitano
nell'artigliera Reale di Hannover, | Cavaliere dell'Ordine Guefe ...
Op:84 (1831)
German flautist and composer. Son of Caspar Fürstenau (1772-1819), he
received his first flute lessons from his father. He was highly gifted,
performing publicly for the first time at the age of seven. In 1804, he
joined the Oldenburg court orchestra. He later embarked on extensive
concert tours throughout Germany and Europe (including Berlin, Munich,
Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, and Vienna) in the company of his father.
Partly owing to his wish to settle down and partly on account of his
father's poor health, he accepted an appointment to the Frankfurt town
orchestra in 1817; there Johannes Vollweiler gave him further lessons in
composition. The year after his father's death he moved to Dresden,
where he became first flautist under Carl Maria von Weber's direction.
As a composer, he wrote and arranged numerous works, mainly for the
flute. He created new and characteristic literature for his instrument
through his 147 published works, including twelve solo concertos,
variations, and chamber compositions. His influence extended through his
extensive teaching, with his son Moritz Fürstenau (1824-1889) being one
of his numerous students. He was considered the most important Romantic
flautist and the most famous virtuoso on his instrument in Germany
during the first half of the nineteenth century.
German composer and organist. Almost nothing is known about his life.
His primary professional roles included serving as a Council Member
(Ratsherr) and as the Organist at the collegiate church of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (Stiftskirche B.M.V.), which is the current Erfurt
Cathedral. He was active in Erfurt his whole life and his contributions,
along with those of contemporaries like Philipp Jacob Baudrexel, are
cited as having a sustainable and lasting influence on the musical life
of the city and region. The only extant music by him is a manuscript
copy of his 'Sequitur Missa â 6. C. A. T. B. | 2 Violin. Authore Paulo
Meinong | ad B.V. Effurti | Organoedo'.
Italian composer and keyboardist. As a girl she performed in her home
while her elder sister Maria Gaetana (1718-1799) became a distinguished
mathematician lectured and debated in Latin. Little is known about her
early training, although her cantata 'Il restauro d’Arcadia' was
produced at the Teatro Ducale in Milan in 1747, followed in 1751 by her
opera 'Sofonisba'. Further stage works were produced, expanding her
reputation as a composer throughout Lombardy. In June 1752 she married
Pietro Pinottini, and her fortunes declined thereafter. At her death,
she was in pecuniary difficulties. Her instrumental music demonstrates
an affinity with the prevailing early Classical Empfindsamkeit, while
her stage works are all in the manner of opera seria. Her works include
at least six operas or serenatas, four concertos for keyboard, two
fantasias, and several keyboard sonatas, in addition to a few
miscellaneous works.
Swedish conductor, violinist, viola player and composer. He was born
into a musical family. His father, Johan David Gottfried Zander
(1714-1774), was a musician (bassoonist, oboist, and violinist) who had
emigrated to Sweden and played in the Royal Court Orchestra, the
Hovkapellet. Following his father's footsteps, he joined the Hovkapellet
as a violinist in 1772. His talent quickly earned him recognition, and
he was promoted to assistant concertmaster in 1787, and deputy
Konzertmeister the next year, a post he held until his death. He taught
the violin at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music from 1785 and at the
Opera school from 1786; he became a member of the Academy in 1786. He
gained a considerable reputation as a highly skilled soloist on both the
violin and viola in public concerts throughout the capital. While best
known for his theatrical music, he also composed a significant body of
instrumental work, displaying his awareness of contemporary European
stylistic trends, particularly the influence of the Austrian composers.
His most notable surviving large-scale orchestral work is the Symphony
in B-flat major (1785), one of the few four-movement symphonies written
in Sweden during the 18th Century. He also composed several concertos
(mostly lost), three string quartets and various solo and chamber pieces
published in collections like Musikaliskt Tidsfördrif. His promising
career was tragically cut short when he died prematurely of pneumonia in
1796. He remains as an important figure in the Gustavian era of Swedish
music.
English organist and composer. He studied for seven years with Matthias
Hawdon, organist of St. Nicholas's Church. From 1783 to 1836 he was
organist of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, and was for several
years organist to the Aberdeen musical society. In Aberdeen he was long
the only resident musician of any standing. He died on 28 July 1837 at
Craigie Park, a suburban residence. He was a prolific composer of
pianoforte and vocal music. He contributed several airs to Robert
Archibald Smith's ‘Scottish Minstrel,’ and was complimented by Robert
Tannahill for setting some of his songs to music. He edited ‘Sacred
Music, consisting of Chants, Psalms, and Hymns for three Voices,’
London, 1828, the tunes in which are mostly his own. His anthem, ‘When
sculptured urns,’ was once very popular.
American organist, composer, and teacher. His father was an officer in
the United States Army. Due to his father's career, Gleba's family
traveled extensively during his childhood and adolescence, which
included a prolonged period living in Europe. He began teaching himself
to play the pianoforte at an early age. As a teenager, he studied piano
for one year with the late Leopold Godowsky III, who was a grandson of
the pianist Leopold Godowsky I, and a nephew of George and Ira Gershwin.
Gleba has served as an organist and music director at numerous
churches, which has fostered his particular fondness for sacred choral
music. Through intensive study of classical scores, he taught himself to
compose symphonies, sonatas, concerti, and other classical forms. He
insists on composing in the Viennese classical style of the second half
of the 18th Century. Today, he performs only occasionally. He teaches
harmony, counterpoint, composition, piano, harpsichord, clavichord, and
organ at his home in Branford, Connecticut.
Johann Wilhelm Hertel (1727-1789)
- Concerto per il Organo | accompagnato | da | 2 Corni, 2 Flauti | 2
Violini, Violetta et Basso, | composto et dedicato | all'Altezza
Serenissima | di | FEDERICO |
Duca Regnante di Meclenburgo
Performers: Mеrsеburger Hofmusik; Michael Schönhеit (organ &
conductor)
German violinist, keyboard player and composer. Son of Johann Christian
Hertel (1697-1754), he received his musical training from his father and
members of the Bach family. He also came to the attention of Franz
Benda, who heard him perform in 1742 in Strelitz, where his father had
moved. Upon Benda’s recommendation Hertel was trained in Berlin and at
the court of Zerbst before obtaining a position as Kapellmeister with
Duke Christian Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. From 1770 he was the
privy councillor in the service of Princess Ulrike but continued to
compose, arrange concerts at the court and give music instruction. In
his last years he gave up the violin and devoted himself to keyboard
instruments. As a theorist, Hertel wrote four volumes on musical
compositions, which were published in Leipzig between 1757 and 1758. In
his youth Hertel was considered one of the best violinists of Franz
Benda’s school. As a composer, he is best known for his craftsmanship
that blends a progressive harmonic language with technical display. His
music includes a Mass, five Passions, 12 secular cantatas (and seven
with nontraditional sacred texts), 11 Lutheran cantatas, numerous
chorales, 40 concert arias, 60 Lieder, three motets, three Psalms (in
German), two sets of incidental music for Shakespeare plays, 63
symphonies, 15 keyboard concertos (and 31 other concertos), three
partitas, five trios, 19 violin sonatas, and 30 keyboard sonatas. His
literary works include a treatise on thoroughbass, three autobiographies
and a collection of essays by Voltaire and others.
English painter, composer and woodwind player. Son of Robert Woodcock
(1642-1710) and Deborah Littleton, he grew up in Shrewsbury House,
Chelsea, London, where his parents ran a girls school. In 1714, he
married Ayliffe Stoaks, by whom he had several children. According to a
contemporaneous biographical account, he worked as a civil servant,
holding a 'place or clerkship in the Government.' He resigned his
government post around 1723 to devote himself to marine painting, and
that he was ‘very skillful in music, had judgement and performed on the
hautboy in a masterly manner’. John Hawkins called Woodcock ‘a famous
performer on the flute’, but he was more likely an enthusiastic amateur
on the oboe, recorder and flute. As a composer, his only surviving
compositions are a set of XII Concertos in Eight Parts (1727). They are
of historical importance as the first flute concertos ever published and
the first oboe concertos published by an English composer.
Flemish teacher, organist, and composer. While he originated from
Flanders, he spent the first part of his life in England. Much of his
early life remains a mystery, though he was a Jesuit, which
significantly shaped his career. He is believed to have worked as an
organist in Liège between 1651 and 1657. During this time, he likely
composed the majority of his keyboard works. In 1658, he entered the
novitiate of the English Jesuit Province at Watten, near Saint-Omer.
After his novitiate, he became a music professor at the English Jesuit
College in Saint-Omer, a position he held from around 1658 until his
death in 1687. This college was a vital institution for English
Catholics who couldn't study in England. It's believed he died in
Saint-Omer. While not widely known, his work has recently gained
attention due to the discovery of a 17th-century manuscript containing
music attributed to him. This manuscript, found in a London bookshop,
has offered new insights into the keyboard music of the period and his
compositions.
German composer and organist. He received his musical training from
Johann Christoph Schmidt when he was choirboy in the Dresden Hofkapelle.
In 1702, he settled in Leipzig and enrolled at the university to study
law. He also joined the student collegium musicum founded by Georg
Philipp Telemann. When Telemann left Leipzig in June 1705, he succeeded
him as organist and music director of the Neukirche, and took over as
director of Telemann’s collegium musicum. He was also conductor of the
Leipzig civic opera for which he wrote a number of works. In 1709 he met
the violinist and composer Johann Georg Pisendel, who became leader of
the orchestra of Hoffmann’s collegium. At this time the ensemble
consisted of 50 to 60 musicians and had won fame and recognition beyond
the Leipzig area. He seems to have visited England between 1709 and
1710, but no details are known. In 1713 he applied, along with Johann
Sebastian Bach and three other candidates, to succeed Friedrich Wilhelm
Zachow as organist at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. When Bach
eventually declined the appointment on 19 March 1714 the Halle
consistory offered it to Hoffmann, but although he officially accepted
the post he never took up his duties there. On 9 September 1714 he
married Margaretha Elisabeth Philipp and in the same month became one of
the few Leipzig musicians of the time to be granted citizenship. He had
been suffering from a serious illness since 1713 and died on the
evening of 6 October 1715, aged only 36. As a composer, he was highly
regarded during his life and Charles Burney stated as 'one of the finest
composers of the first half of the 18th century'.
He is a contemporary Belgian composer known for
blending modern classical, cinematic, ambient, and post-minimalist
music. His compositions create rich sonic landscapes that evoke both
intellectual and emotional responses. His music features in
documentaries, films, installations, and dance performances, valued for
its cinematic atmosphere and emotional depth. Using delicate harmonies,
polyrhythms, polytonality, and layered soundscapes, he often conveys a
subtle melancholy. As a finalist in international competitions, he also
teaches composition and guitar. Currently, he is Composer-in-Residence
at Brussels Muzieque, curating performances and collaborating with
international artists. His works are published by Groovy Scarab Music
Publishing and ASCAP.
German composer. His early life and musical education remain unknown.
The earliest known record of his career stated on 24 November 1731 he
was appointed 'Director Musices' of the court chapel of
Bentheim-Tecklenburg under Count Moritz Kasimir I in a post he likely
held the rest of his life. Count Moritz Kasimir was a devoted patron of
the arts and a skilled amateur musician, proficient in the violin,
flute, and cello. He amassed a significant music collection that served
as the primary repertoire for the court chapel. Among the works in this
collection, 91 compositions are attributed to Dömming. Of these, only 32
have survived, including concertos, trios, three suites, an overture,
and a single symphony, along with a few vocal works. The cantata 'Die
Jagd' (1755) is his last known composition, as all biographical traces
of Dömming are lost after this date. According to the original music
sources, Dömming's works were composed at the two princely residences:
Hohenlimburg and Rheda.
Danish organist and composer. Son of a German immigrant and part of a
family of musicians and artists, he probably received early training
from his father. In 1747, he was appointed adjutant to Peder Sparkiær,
the organist at Trinitatis Church. He succeeded him as the church's
permanent organist in 1750. Foltmar had a close relationship with the
royal family; Queen Juliane Marie sponsored one of his daughters at her
baptism in 1755, and King Frederik V, the Crown Prince, and the Prince
Hereditary were all godparents. Foltmar held a notable position in
Copenhagen's music scene. He was one of four professional musicians,
alongside Johannes Erasmus Iversen, Johann Adolf Scheibe, and A. F.
Ortman, who led the respected music society 'Det musikalske societet'.
In 1768, he became an honorary member of 'Det nye musikalske selskab',
along with Scheibe and playwright Johannes Ewald. As a composer, only
few of his compositions are extant. Some of his secular and sacred songs
survive in handwritten music books. A collection of his dance melodies,
'VI Morquien ganz neu und auserlesen', was published in Nuremberg
around 1750. His brother Herman Friedrich Foltmar (c.1707-1782) was a
court violinist for King Christian VI and is known for his collection of
sacred music 'Geistliches Singspiel, bestehend in 12 Geistlichen
Sing-Arien, 2 Recitativen, und 4 kleine Sinfonien'.
German organist and composer. His parents wished him to become a
lamp-black merchant like his father, but he was determined to study
music. In 1720 he began receiving his initial instruction in music from
the Gräfenroda schoolmaster Johann Heinrich Nagel, a pupil of the Gotha
court organist Christian Friedrich Witt. He continued his studies with
the organist Johann Jacob Schmidt in Zella and received instruction in
composition from Hieronymus Florentinus Quehl, who served as the music
director at St. Mary’s Church in Suhl. From 1725 to 1727 he was a school
caretaker and organist in Frankenhain, and from 1727 until his death in
1772 he was a school caretaker, music director, and organist at St.
Lawrence’s Church in Gräfenroda. The fact that Kellner, despite his
relatively brief training, was able to attain a very considerable level
as a composer is something he owed not least to his contacts with the
circle of Bach’s friends. This circle of friends included, along with
members of the Bach family, pupils of Johann Sebastian Bach and musical
acquaintances such as Jacob Adlung in Erfurt. It is to be assumed that
these contacts were established through Johann Bernhard Bach, the
organist at St. Michael’s Church in Ohrdruf. In 1790 Johann Ludwig
Gerber reported of Kellner: "He was a very accomplished player and a
great fuguist on the organ. […] An anecdote about him is told: that when
he noticed that Bach had entered the church, he intoned on the organ
the subject of a fugue, b.a.c.h., and expounded it after his manner,
i.e., with very fine art" (Johann Ludwig Gerber,
Historisch-Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler, Vol. 1, Leipzig,
1790, cols. 715 f.). Kellner was famous throughout Thuringia as an
organist and teacher. Kellner also played a critical role in the
dissemination of the music of J.S. Bach, evinced by the many manuscript
copies of Bach's compositions, primarily keyboard and organ works, that
stem from his circle. These manuscripts, many of which are in Kellner's
hand, often represent the earliest or only source of a work, and they
shed light on the chronology, compositional history and authenticity of
the music. As a composer, his own compositional efforts largely reflect
those of his idol. However, beginning in the 1740s he began to change
his style to reflect galant practice. Works in this new style include
five keyboard sonatas published in 1752, as well as the compendium
'Manipulus musices' (1752–1759). He also composed a complete cycle of
Lutheran church cantatas in 1753, which have been lost. His surviving 36
cantatas demonstrate a growing use of the new stylistic idiom. His son,
Johann Christoph Kellner (1736-1803), was also organist and composer,
and his brother Johann Andreas Kellner (1724-1785) was organist, horn
player and composer.
Bohemian composer and violinist. His earliest education was at the
Jesuit school in his hometown with the cantor Jan Pokorny, followed
thereafter by study at St. Václav in Prague. In 1762 he was appointed
first violin at the Týn Church, even as he studied law at Prague
University. He was appointed concertmaster at the court of the
Archbishop of Grosswardein (now Oradea, Romania), serving under Michael
Haydn, and when that orchestra dissolved in 1769 he returned to Prague
to serve as music director with Count Ludwig Hartig. At the same time he
began regularly visiting Vienna, where he also performed at the court
theatre there. In 1777 his reputation was such that he was appointed
music director in Milan for Archduke Ferdinand, a position he retained
until the French invasion in 1796. While there he became a member of the
Accademia filarmonica, as well as serving occasionally in cities such
as Monza and Padua. The remainder of his life was spent commuting
between Prague and Vienna. As a composer, Pichl was extremely prolific,
with over 900 compositions. His style was similar to colleagues in
Vienna, such as Michael Haydn, Jan Křtitel Vanhal, and Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart, with clear contrasting themes, interesting harmonies, colorful
orchestration, and solid formal structures. He left over 14 operas or
Singspiels; 30 Masses; 100 sacred works such as Psalms, motets, and
offertories; 90 symphonies; 20 serenades; 30 concertos (for most
instruments, but mainly violin); 18 string quartets; 45 string trios; 12
trios for flute and strings; two trio sonatas; over 200 exercises for
solo violin; 15 duets for two violins; 18 duets for violin and viola;
three flute and three clarinet quartets; and over 180 chamber pieces,
including works for the baryton. He must be regarded as one of the major
composers of the last half of the 18th century.
German organist and composer. His earliest musical education was
probably received from his father, Johann Elias Römhild, a substitute
minister who moved his family to nearby Steinbach three years after his
son’s birth. According to Ernst Ludwig Gerber, he also studied with
Johann Jacob Bach in the neighbouring town of Ruhla when the latter
arrived there in 1694. In 1697 he became a student at the Leipzig
Thomasschule, where his distinguished teachers were Johann Schelle and
Johann Kuhnau, and his fellow students included Christoph Graupner,
Johann Friedrich Fasch and David Heinichen. He became a university
student in Leipzig in 1705, remaining six terms before accepting in 1708
his first musical position as Kantor of the school in Spremberg. In
1714 he was also named rector and Kapelldirector. In 1715 he went to
Freystadt as music director and Kantor of the newly constructed parish
church, but he returned to Spremberg in 1726 as court Kapellmeister to
Duke Heinrich. When the latter became Duke of Saxe-Merseburg he took
Römhild to Merseburg as his court Kapellmeister. In 1735 he became
organist of Merseburg Cathedral and began a period of great
compositional activity, writing more than 200 sacred cantatas and a St
Matthew Passion. He was a major composer of sacred music in the north
German Baroque, but the survival of many of his manuscripts, found
before World War II in libraries and church archives in north-east
Europe, is uncertain. As Paulke showed in his description of a portion
of Römhild’s manuscripts discovered in the early 20th century, the
church cantatas, numbering over 250 and including some 50 solo cantatas,
were written in a variety of forms and instrumental combinations
characteristic of the late Baroque and illustrating almost every formal
and stylistic type.
German composer and cellist. Son of Johann Georg Fils (?-1749), a court
cellist in the small town of Eichstätt, he attended the local Jesuit
Gymnasium before enrolling in the University of Ingolstadt. In 1754 he
was appointed as a cellist in the famed Mannheim orchestra, for whom he
composed the bulk of his music, much of it published in Paris. His brief
life ended, according to Christian Daniel Friedrich Schubart, from
ingesting poisonous spiders, which Fils allegedly claimed tasted like
strawberries. Although the causes of his demise may seem lurid and in
fact be apocryphal, there is no doubt that Fils was one of the most
prolific composers of the middle of the century. His works include at
least 44 symphonies, 30 concertos (mostly for cello and flute), 28 trio
sonatas, 14 trios (mainly for two violins and cello), three violin
sonatas and one for cello, a flute quartet, seven Masses, two litanies,
two Magnificats, and two vespers. Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart
considered him one of the most eloquent composers of the age, and his
music demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the sonata principle, careful
use of Mannheim effects, and a good sense of lyricism.
Bohemian teacher, organist and composer. Following early musical
education at the Jesuit school in Klatovy, he was sent to complete his
training in Spain and Italy. Following a brief time as organist for
various churches in Prague, in 1731 he entered the service of the Prince
of Condé, whose diplomatic missions took him to Florence. A decade
later he returned to Prague, where he directed choirs in various
monastic churches until 1773, when he accepted the post of cantor at
Eger. A versatile and facile composer, his music displays the flowing
lyrical melodies of Bohemian works. Though it has been little studied,
works consist of five oratorios, two stage works (including a Czech
pastoral), 19 Masses, six litanies, a motet, two concertos, and numerous
symphonies. In Habermann’s later works elements of the pre-Classical
and early Classical style are predominant. He was renowned among his
contemporaries for his contrapuntal writing. The most outstanding of his
pupils were Josef Myslivecek, Joannes Oehlschlägel and František Xaver
Dušek. His brothers, Antonín Habermann (1704-1787) and Karel Habermann
(1712-1766), were also organists and composers, both active in Prague.
Austrian composer and court official. Nothing is extant about his early
life. He is mentioned on 31 July 1709, when his drama 'Martis exilium, e
pacis reditus' was performed in Vienna. In 1710, he was appointed high
steward for the imperial court in Vienna. Also in the same year he also
became secretary to Prince Maximilian Wilhelm of Brunswick-Lüneburg. His
final appointment was as councillor to the Dowager Empress Amalie. As a
composer, his known music dates from 1702 to 1711. He wrote the music
for three Jesuit dramas, the mentioned 'Martis exilium' (1709), and
'Radimirus ex reo rex' (1710), both lost, and 'Nundinae deorum' (1711),
which according some sources played an important role in the development
of Jesuit drama and suggests that he was a gifted composer. With its
‘bravura arias firmly in the Neapolitan style and accompanied by various
instrumental combinations … brief, unassuming secco recitatives [and]
extended, well-wrought arias’, it shows that the genre had shed the
features that characterized it up to about 1700. He also left two
collections of three-part music; 'Rosetum musicum in 6 divisum arcolas,
vulgo partittas' (Ulm, 1702) and 'Armonica compendiosa' (Ulm, 1703).
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) - Concerto Grosso (d minor) from 'CONCERTI GROSSI | Con due Violini,
Viola e Violoncello | di Concertino Obligati, e due altri Violini | e
Basso di Concerto Grosso
Italian composer, violinist and theorist. His father was a violinist at
the Cappella Palatina in Lucca and probably taught his son. Francesco
Geminiani played professional violin in Naples by December 1706 and
then, on 27 August 1707, returned to Lucca to take his father’s
position. During this period, he may have studied with Arcangelo Corelli
and Alessandro Scarlatti. He left Lucca in September 1709. He appears
in London in 1714, where he began a career for himself as a violin
teacher and, with occasional public performances, won considerable
notice. Geminiani left London for Paris in 1732 and then, on 6 December
1733, arrived in Dublin to enter the service of Charles Moore, Baron of
Tullamore. Apart from occasional trips to Paris to publish his works,
and to London, he remained in this service until his death. His last
public performance took place on 3 March 1760. In 1761, on one of his
sojourns in Dublin, a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on
which he had bestowed much time and labour. His vexation at this loss is
said to have hastened his death. As a composer, he published 48 violin
sonatas, and of 47 published concerti grossi, 23 are original, and 24
are arrangements of Corelli trio and violin sonatas. As a theorist, his
'Art of Playing the Violin' (1751) as well as the 'Guida Harmonia'
(1752) are seminal works demonstrating performance practice of this
period. His contemporaries in England considered him the equal of Georg
Friedrich Handel and Corelli. He was one of the greatest violinists of
his time, an original if not a prolific composer and an important
theorist.
Austrian monastic composer and teacher. In 1760 he was sent to Innsbruck
for his education, studying at the St. Nikolaus school and functioning
as a chorister at the university church. By 1768 he was a student at the
University of Innsbruck in philosophy, and in 1770 his Singspiel Das
alte deutsche Wörtlein tut was premiered. He entered the Cistercian
abbey at Stams the same year, becoming ordained as a priest in 1774. He
functioned as a teacher of violin at the abbey school, later being
appointed as regens chori in 1791. Although his music adheres to the
older stile antico, his instrumental works show awareness of the forms
and structures found in the mainstream cities of Austria. His
Singspiels, most in dialect, were particularly popular in the Tyrol; he
composed 11 of these. He also composed several small occasional
cantatas; six Masses; over 100 sacred works such as hymns, Psalms,
motets, sacred Lieder, and antiphons; an oratorio; 10 divertimentos
(partitas, cassations); a large serenade; a string quartet; a symphony;
and a series of sogetti in 1790 as exercises for the voice. He was,
undoubtedly, one of the most notable musical personalities of
18th-Century Tyrol.
English composer, publisher, and performer. Son of Joseph Carr
(1739-1819), he studied the organ with Charles Wesley and composition
with Samuel Arnold, and probably learnt engraving at his father's shop
in London. After 1789 he assisted Arnold as harpsichordist and principal
tenor for the Academy of Ancient Music, and his earliest known opera,
Philander and Silvia, was performed at Sadler's Wells Theatre in October
1792. In 1793 he immigrated to the United States where he worked as a
singer and musician at the Chestnut Street Theatre, making his debut the
following year. He also established a business selling musical
instruments and, eventually, as a publisher. He was choir director at
the St. Augustine Episcopal Church in Philadelphia, as well as a
founding member of the Musical Fund Society. As a composer, his works
include six stage pieces (operas, ballets), around 50 songs (his setting
of Scott's Hymn to the Virgin [1810] is generally considered the finest
early American song), a Federal Overture (his most famous orchestral
work), 12 keyboard sonatas (as well as other keyboard works). He also
regularly published music in journals and magazines for the public,
including Carr’s Musical Miscellany. His brother Thomas Carr (1780-1849)
was also a composer and organist, mainly active in Philadelphia.
