Corigniani (fl. 1761)
- Concerto à Due Liuti Obligati
Performers: Jürg Mеili (lute); Thamas Schаll (lute)
Further info: Concertos
divendres, 22 d’agost del 2025
dimecres, 20 d’agost del 2025
VAN WASSENAER, Unico Wilhelm (1692-1766) - Concertino a quattro violini obligati (1740)
Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766)
- Concertino (V, f-moll) des 'VI Concerti armonici a quattro violini
obligati, alto viola, violoncello obligato e basso continuo' (1740)
Performers: Barocco Boreale ensemble
---
Dutch composer and statesman. He was born into one of the oldest and
most influential families of the Dutch nobility and spent his childhood
in his parents' house in The Hague and at Twickel Castle in Delden. He
probably studied music with the organist, harpsichordist, composer and
theorist Quirinus van Blankenburg in The Hague. In 1707-09 he stayed
with his father and three sisters in Düsseldorf at the court of Johann
Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. The strong Italian influences at the court
had a major influence on his musical development. On 18 September 1710
Unico Wilhelm was admitted to the University of Leiden to study law. In
December 1711 he interrupted his studies to go to Frankfurt for the
coronation of the Emperor Charles VI. In June 1713, after completing his
studies, he returned to Düsseldorf where his father and sisters had
settled. He may have accompanied Arent van Wassenaer Duyvenvoorde on a
visit to Britain in 1715-16. He made a grand tour of France and Italy in
1717-18. In 1723 Unico Wilhelm married Dodonea Lucia van Goslinga (the
daughter of Sicco van Goslinga), with whom he had three children. While
based at the Hague between 1725 and 1740, Unico Wilhelm wrote the six
Concerti Armonici. The Concerti armonici, published anonymously in 1740,
were printed in London in 1755 as compositions by the violinist and
impresario Carlo Ricciotti (c.1681-1756). It has since been established
that these were the work of Unico Wilhelm. There is no evidence that
Ricciotti wrote any music. The concerti were dedicated to Wilhelm's
friend, Count Willem Bentinck. In 1744 he was sent on a diplomatic
mission to the French court, and in the autumn of 1744 and again in 1745
he was sent to the court of Clemens August, Elector of Cologne. In 1746
he went again to France, and finally in 1746-47 to Breda for further
discussions with the French. Although clearly intelligent, Unico Wilhelm
was not a natural diplomat. Unico Wilhelm was a commander of the
Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order. He was made coadjutor in
1753, and introduced administrative and managerial innovations. In 1761
he was made Commander of the order. He died in The Hague on November 9,
1766.
dilluns, 18 d’agost del 2025
RUGE, Filippo (c.1725-c.1767) - Sonata for flauto traverso
Filippo Ruge (c.1725-c.1767) (attributed)
- Sonata (D Major) for flauto traverso
Performers: Luis Martínez Pueyo (flute); La Guirlande ensemble
Further info: Filippo Ruge (c.1725-c.1767)
---
Italian composer and flautist. Nothing is known about his early life or
training; he first appears around 1751 in London, where he performed at
the public concerts. In 1753 he arrived in Paris, where he made a
successful debut performing his own flute concertos as a soloist at the
Concerts spirituels. At this time he and his wife, a singer, performed
in the famous musical salon of La Pouplinière. After 1755 he organized a
series of concerts at his home in the rue Plâtrière, where he also
taught music. In July 1755 he published 'Au dessert', a set of six vocal
duos, and in August of the same year he took out a 'privilege général'
of ten years for instrumental compositions. It is possible that between
1757 and 1761 he entered the service of the Marquis of Seignelay, but
his trace disappears from records in 1767, presumably the date of his
death. His music, little studied, includes 12 symphonies, six flute
concertos, two vocal duets, six canzonetts, 35 flute sonatas, 18 trio
sonatas, and 12 duo sonatas. He was an important agent in the diffusion
and popularization of Italian music and musical style in 18th-century
France.
diumenge, 17 d’agost del 2025
PORPORA, Nicola Antonio (1686-1768) - Letatus a più voci con Istrumenti
Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768)
- Letatus a più voci con Istrumenti (1744)
Performers: Isabelle Poulеnаrd (soprano); Choeur Éclаts; Les Pаssions; Jean-Marc Andriеu (conductor)
Further info: Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768) - Messa à 4 voci
---
Italian teacher and composer. Son of a bookseller, Carlo Porpora, and
his wife Caterina, he attended the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù
Cristo from 29 September 1696. At age 22, he composed his first opera,
'L’Agrippina' (1708), but after that, the presence in Naples of the
great Alessandro Scarlatti prevented advancement in the theater. But in
1711, he was employed as maestro di cappella for Prince Philipp
Hesse-Darmstadt, then residing as military commander in Naples, and then
for the Portuguese ambassador in Rome from June 1713. From 1715 to
1722, he was a teacher at the Conservatorio di San Onofrio. Among his
pupils were the poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio, the composer
Johann Adolph Hasse, and the celebrated castrati Antonio Uberti (known
as “Porporino”), Farinelli, and Caffarelli. His most important teaching
post was in Venice at the Ospedale degli Incurabili, the famous music
school for girls, from 1726 to 1733. In 1733 he went to London as chief
composer to the Opera of the Nobility, a company formed in competition
to Handel’s opera company. In London he wrote five operas, among them
'Polifemo', 'Davide e Betsabea', and 'Ifigenia in Aulide', with parts
for his remarkable pupil Farinelli. When the Opera of the Nobility and
Handel’s company closed, Porpora left England, in 1736. He subsequently
taught in Venice and Naples, where he produced several comic operas. In
1747 he was in Dresden and from 1748 to 1751 was chapelmaster there. He
went to Vienna in 1752, where he gave composition lessons to the young
Haydn, and in 1758 returned to Naples. A revision of his opera 'Il
Trionfo di Camilla' (first produced 1740) was given there in 1760 but
failed, and Porpora’s last years were spent in poverty. In addition to
about 50 operas, he composed a number of oratorios, masses, motets, and
instrumental works.
divendres, 15 d’agost del 2025
DE CROES, Henri-Joseph (1758-1842) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur (1782)
Henri-Joseph de Croes (1758-1842)
- Sinfonia in Es-Dur (1782)
Performers: Terra Nova Ensemble; Vlad Weverbergh (conductor)
---
Flemish composer. Son of Henri-Jacques de Croes (1705-1786),
kapellmeister and director of music at the Royal Court Orchestra in
Brussels, he received music lessons from his father. When he was
eighteen he joined the service of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis in
Regensburg in Bavaria, at first as a violinist (1776-1798) and from 1798
onward, as kapellmeister. Karl Anselm, the fourth prince of Thurn and
Taxis (from 1773 to 1797), encouraged court music in the summer
residence at Trugenhofen and at the main residence in Regensburg. He
continued to develop the ensemble, which had been founded for diplomatic
reasons by his father, Alexander Ferdinand, one of the Emperor’s
leading representatives. He engaged numerous virtuoso musicians,
including the French violinist Joseph Touchemoulin, the Bohemian
composer Franz Xaver Pokorný, the oboe player Giovanni Palestrini and
flautist Fiorante Augustinelli. Together with the famous Mannheim
orchestra and the Esterhazy family’s orchestra in Eisenstadt, the Thurn
and Taxis orchestra at Regensburg was among the best of its era. Henri
Joseph de Croes married the opera singer Maria Augusta Houdière
(?-1806). They had two children, both of whom died in their youth. As a
composer, he wrote an opera, seven partias for clarinets and strings,
several concertos, two symphonies, and chamber music.
dimecres, 13 d’agost del 2025
NICHELMANN, Christoph (1717-1762) - Ouverture a 4 (1737)
Christoph Nichelmann (1717-1762)
- Ouverture B dur | per | due Violini | due Oboi | Viola | Basso continuo (1737)
Performers: Orkiestra Kore
---
German composer. His earliest musical education came when he enrolled in
the Thomasschule in Leipzig in 1730, studying under Johann Sebastian
Bach and Bach’s son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. In 1733 he moved to Hamburg
to seek work as an opera composer, but in 1739 he went to Berlin, where
he became part of the Berlin School, studying under Johann Joachim
Quantz and Carl Heinrich Graun. He obtained the position as
harpsichordist at the Prussian court, and in 1755 he published his
treatise 'Die Melodie, nach ihrem Wesen'. A controversy with this work
and its successor caused him to request release from the court, and he
served the rest of his life as an independent teacher and composer.
Among his works were 3 sinfonias, an Ouverture, a Concerto for Violin
and Strings, 16 concertos for harpsichord and strings (1740-59), various
keyboard pieces, 'Il sogno di Scipione' (serenata, 1745), a Requiem,
and 22 Lieder. Although known for his theoretical treatise, Nichelmann
was an innovative composer of keyboard works whose style is firmly
implanted in 'Empfindsamkeit'.
dilluns, 11 d’agost del 2025
BON DI VENEZIA, Anna (1738-c.1767) - Sonata per il Cembalo (1757)
Anna Bon di Venezia (1738-c.1767)
- Sonata (V, si minore) 'Sei Sonate | Per il Cembalo | […] Ernestina
Augusta Sophie | Principessa | Di Sachsen Weimar etc:etc: | [...] in
età d'anni | dieci sette | Opera secunda' (1757)
Performers: Irene Hegen (cembalo)
---
Italian composer and singer. Born as 'Anna Ioanna Lucia, filia
Hieronymus Boni et Rosa Ruinetti', she was the daughter of the
(Venetian?) scenographer and librettist Girolamo Bon and the Bolognese
singer Rosa Ruvinetti Bon. On March 8, 1743, at the age of four, she was
admitted to the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice as a student; that she
had a surname indicates that she was not a foundling as were most of the
Pietà wards, but a tuition-paying pupil (figlia de spesi). She studied
with the maestra di viola, Candida della Pietà (who herself had been
admitted into the coro in 1707). By 1756, Anna had rejoined her parents
in Bayreuth where they were in the service of Margrave Friedrich of
Brandenburg Kulmbach; she held the new post of 'chamber music virtuosa'
at the court, and dedicated her six op. 1 flute sonatas, published in
Nürnberg in 1756, to Friedrich. From the frontispiece we learn that she
composed them at the age of sixteen. In 1762, the family moved to the
Esterházy court at Eisenstadt, where Anna remained until at least 1765.
She dedicated the published set of six harpsichord sonatas, op. 2
(1757), to Ernestina Augusta Sophia, Princess of Saxe-Weimar, and the
set of six divertimenti (trio sonatas), op. 3 (1759), to Charles
Theodore, Elector of Bavaria. By 1767, Anna was living in
Hildburghausen, Thuringia, with her husband, a singer named Mongeri.
diumenge, 10 d’agost del 2025
BELICZAY, Gyula (1835-1893) - Messe in F-Dur (1867)
Gyula Beliczay (1835-1893)
- Messe in F-Dur, Op.50 (1867) (live recording)
Performers: STELLA kamarakórus; Caritas Collectio Kamarazenekar; Juhász Irén (conductor)
Further info: Masses–F major
---
Hungarian composer, pianist, and music writer. His grandfather was a
Lutheran pastor, and his father was a wealthy timber merchant. Beliczay
began his studies in Komárom, where his musical talent was recognized by
church choirmaster Gyula Csáder. From the age of 12, he attended the
Lutheran lyceum in Pozsony. Excelling in mathematics, his father
initially intended him for an engineering career. While in Pozsony, he
also studied piano with Josef Kumlik. Fulfilling his father's wishes, he
earned an engineering degree from the Vienna Polytechnic between 1851
and 1857. In 1856, he also obtained a choirmaster's diploma in Vienna.
From 1858, he worked as an engineer for the Tiszavidéki Vaspályatársaság
(Tisza Railway Company), then based in Vienna. He simultaneously taught
at one of the city's conservatories. During his time in Vienna, his
composition teachers included Jozef Hofmann, Franz Krenn, and Gustav
Nottebohm, and he furthered his piano studies with Carl Czerny and Anton
Halm. In the spring of 1871, when the railway company relocated its
headquarters to Pest, he moved with it. From 1872, he served as the
chief architectural engineer for the Hungarian Royal State Railways. In
1879, he married Anna Tarczalovits (1853–1933), one of his students. In
1888, invited by Ödön Mihalovich, he became a music theory professor at
the National Academy of Music in a post he held the rest of his life.
Beliczay's musical output included orchestral works, chamber music,
piano pieces, sacred music, choral compositions, and songs. Among his
writings is 'A zene elemei' (Budapest, 1891). He embraced the Romantic
style of Robert Schumann and Felix Mendelssohn, though his uniquely
Hungarian compositions were primarily his variations, four-hand piano
pieces, and songs. He was recognized as the most renowned Hungarian
composer abroad during the last third of the 19th century.
divendres, 8 d’agost del 2025
BRUNETTI, Gaetano (1744-1798) - Sinfonía en Re Mayor
Gaetano Brunetti (1744-1798)
- Sinfonía (9) en Re Mayor, LabB 298
Performers: Camerata Antonio Soler; Gustavo Sánchez (conductor)
Further info: Gaetano Brunetti - Sinfonías
---
Italian composer and violinist. Born on the Adriatic coast, he received
his first instruction in violin from Carlo Tessarini in Urbino before
becoming a disciple of Pietro Nardini in Livorno. At the age of 16 or 17
he immigrated to Madrid as a violinist in the Real Capilla and was
later appointed in 1767 as instructor of the Prince of Asturia by Carlos
III. By 1779 he had become musical director in Aranjuez, but he was
recalled to Madrid in 1788 by Carlos IV to lead a family ensemble, the
musicos de la real camera, that played exclusively for the court. His
music includes incidental music to the comedy Garcia del Castañal, two
zarzuelas, an Italian opera buffa, two Masses, a Miserere, three
Lamentations, nine concert arias, 32 songs (canciones), 37 symphonies,
four concertos, five sinfonia concertantes, 109 pieces of dance music,
18 sextets, 68 string quintets, 62 string quartets, 59 string trios, 23
divertimentos, 78 violin sonatas (and one for viola), and 328 duos.
During his lifetime, Brunetti had a reputation for writing dramatic
instrumental works that often deviated from conventional formal
structures. He also incorporated Spanish melodies and rhythms
frequently. He can be considered one of the most popular and important
composers resident in Spain during the 18th century. He was survived by a
daughter and a son Francesco Brunetti (c.1765-1834), a cellist in the
royal chamber orchestra.
dimecres, 6 d’agost del 2025
SCHOBERT, Johann (c.1720-1767) - Concerto I Pour le clavecin
Johann Schobert (c.1720-1767)
- Concerto (I, F-Dur) pour le clavecin avec accompagnement de deux
violons, alto et basse et deux cors de chasse ad libitum... op. XI
Performers: Marcelle Charbonnier (clavecin); Orchestre de chambre de
Versailles;
Bernard Wahl (1922-1994, conductor)
---
German composer and keyboardist. Nothing is known about his origins or
youth; there is differing information on his birth date, which ranges
from 1720 to 1740. Gerber’s Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der
Tonkünstler, however, gives Strasbourg as his place of birth (though the
name occurs in no contemporary Alsatian records), and Schubart in his
autobiography claimed Schobert as a kinsman, supposedly from Nuremberg.
Schobert first appeared in Paris in 1760, where he began a career as a
keyboard virtuoso, eventually publishing 20 sets of works. In 1761 a few
of his pieces appeared in the pasticcio Le tonnelier, and in 1765 he
unsuccessfully attempted to become a composer of opéra comique with the
comedy Le garde-chasse et le braconnier. He found employment with Louis
François I de Bourbon, Prince of Conti, however. Throughout his career
he achieved some fame for his expressive performances and works, in
addition to being a rival of Johann Gottfried Eckard. He died along with
his family, a servant, and four friends as a consequence of eating
poisonous mushrooms. His musical style was influenced by that of
Mannheim, although he was noted for his expressive melodies. His works
include 21 violin sonatas, six symphonies, seven trio sonatas, five
harpsichord concertos, three keyboard quartets, and several sonatas and
miscellaneous works for harpsichord. Schobert greatly influenced
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who admired his music warmly. The work which
most impressed the seven-year-old composer seems to have been the D
major Sonata of op.3; imitation of this sonata and others can be traced
in Mozart’s subsequent Parisian and English sonatas. Movements from
Schobert’s sonatas also appear recast in Mozart’s earliest piano
concertos. His fascination for Schobert’s music was not merely fleeting:
when Mozart was in Paris in 1778 he taught his pupils Schobert’s
sonatas, and the A minor Sonata k310, composed in Paris, contains in its
Andante an almost literal quotation from a movement of Schobert’s op.17
no.1 that Mozart had already arranged years before in a concerto.
dilluns, 4 d’agost del 2025
MARTINI, Giovanni Battista (1706-1784) - Concerto a quattro (1754)
Giovanni Battista Martini (1706-1784)
- Concerto (Re maggiore) a quattro pieno (1754)
Performers: Accademia degli Astrսsі; Federico Fеrri (conductor)
---
Italian writer on music, teacher and composer. His father, Antonio Maria
Martini, a violinist, taught him the elements of music and the violin
and he later learned singing and harpsichord playing from Padre
Pradieri, and counterpoint from Antonio Riccieri and Giacomo Antonio
Perti. Having received his education in classics from the priests of the
Oratory of Saint Philip Neri, he afterwards entered the novitiate of
the Conventual Franciscans at their friary in Lago, at the close of
which he professed religious vows and received the religious habit of
the Order on 11 September 1722. In 1725, though only nineteen years old,
he received the appointment of chapel-master at the Basilica of San
Francesco in Bologna, where his compositions attracted attention. He
established a composition school at the invitation of amateur and
professional friends, where a number of well-known musicians received
their education. As a teacher, he consistently expressed his preference
for the practices of the earlier Roman school of composition. Martini
was a zealous collector of musical literature, and possessed an
extensive musical library. Burney estimated it at 17,000 volumes; after
Martini's death a portion of it passed to the Imperial library at
Vienna, the rest remaining in Bologna, now in the Museo Internazionale
della Musica (ex Civico Museo Bibliografico Musicale). Most contemporary
musicians spoke of Martini with admiration, and Leopold Mozart
consulted him with regard to the talents of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. The latter went on to write the friar in very effusive terms
after a visit to the city. The Abbé Vogler, however, makes reservations
in his praise, condemning his philosophical principles as too much in
sympathy with those of Fux, which had already been expressed by P.
Vallotti. His Elogio was published by Pietro della Valle at Bologna in
the same year. In 1758 Martini was invited to teach at the Accademia
Filarmonica di Bologna. He died in Bologna. Referred to at his death as
‘Dio della musica de’ nostri tempi’, he was one of the most famous
figures in 18th-century music.
Among Martini's pupils: Grétry, Mysliveček, Berezovsky, his fellow
Conventual Franciscan friar, Stanislao Mattei, who succeeded him as
conductor of the girls choir, as well as the young Mozart, Johann
Christian Bach and the famous Italian cellist Giovanni Battista Cirri.
The greater number of Martini's mostly sacred compositions remain
unprinted. The Liceo of Bologna possesses the manuscripts of two
oratorios as well as three intermezzos, including L'impresario delle
Isole Canarie; and a requiem, with some other pieces of church music,
are now in Vienna. Litaniae atque antiphonae finales B. V. Mariae were
published at Bologna in 1734, as also twelve Sonate d'intavolalura; six
Sonate per l'organo ed il cembalo in 1747; and Duetti da camera in 1763.
Martini's most important works are his Storia della musica (Bologna,
1757-81) and his Esemplare di contrappunto (Bologna, 1774-75). The
former, of which the three published volumes relate wholly to ancient
music, and thus represent a mere fragment of the author's vast plan,
exhibits immense reading and industry, but is written in a dry and
unattractive style, and is overloaded with matter which cannot be
regarded as historical. At the beginning and end of each chapter occur
puzzle-canons, wherein the primary part or parts alone are given, and
the reader has to discover the canon that fixes the period and the
interval at which the response is to enter. Some of these are
exceedingly difficult, but all were solved by Luigi Cherubini. The
Esemplare is a learned and valuable work, containing an important
collection of examples from the best masters of the old Italian and
Spanish schools, with excellent explanatory notes. It treats chiefly of
the tonalities of the plain chant, and of counterpoints constructed upon
them. Besides being the author of several controversial works, Martini
drew up a Dictionary of Ancient Musical Terms, which appeared in the
second volume of GB Doni's Works; he also published a treatise on The
Theory of Numbers as Applied to Music. His celebrated canons, published
in London, about 1800, edited by Pio Cianchettini, and his unpublished
set of 303 canons, show him to have had a strong sense of musical
humour.
diumenge, 3 d’agost del 2025
GIANETTINI, Antonio (1648-1721) - Salmi a quattro voci (1717)
Antonio Gianettini (1648-1721)
- Salmi a quattro voci (1717)
Performers: Cantar Lοntano; Marco Mеncοbοni (conductor)
Further info: Notti Di Modena
---
Italian composer, organist and singer. He went to Venice and sang bass
in the choir of San Marco from 1674. He served as organist at SS.
Giovanni e Paolo (1676-79), where he was described as a pupil of Carlo
Grossi, as well as at San Marco during periods between 1677 and 1686. He
left San Marco on 1 May 1686 to take the post of maestro di cappella to
the Duke of Modena, which he retained, with interruptions, almost until
the end of his life. The duke had to order a large boat to transport
Giannettini and his family’s personal effects from Venice. At Modena he
was responsible for the selection and payment of musicians, as his
correspondence shows, and for organizing the performance of his own and
others’ works. He maintained his connections with Venice and during his
visits, often at Carnival, he recruited musicians for the duke. In
Modena he was called on to produce oratorios and small occasional works
more often than operas and he may have composed new music for the 1690
performance in Modena of Giovanni Legrenzi's 'Eteocle e Polinice'. When,
during the War of the Spanish Succession, the French occupied Modena in
1702, Duke Rinaldo fled to Bologna, and Giannettini accompanied him. He
soon moved on to Venice with his family. During this period he is
supposed to have returned to Modena twice as opera director. After the
war, in February 1707, he resumed his earlier activities at Modena. From
June 1721 was employed as a singer at the Bavarian court at Munich. As a
composer, he wrote about 10 operas, of which 'Medea in Atene' (1675)
became the best known. His other works included 9 oratorios, many
cantatas, 12 motets, a Kyrie a 5, and Psalmi a 4 (1717). He was among
the most talented Italian composers of his generation; his works were
fairly popular, and two of his operas circulated in Germany.
divendres, 1 d’agost del 2025
FIALA, Josef (1748-1816) - Concerto per due Corni (c.1780)
Josef Fiala (1748-1816)
- Concerto in Eb | per il | Corno Primo | Corno Secondo Principale |
Due Violini | Due Flauti | Due Corni | Due Viole | e | Basso (c.1780)
Performers: Zdenek Tylsar (1945-2006, horn); Bedrich Tylsar (horn);
Prague Symphony Orchestra;
Martin Turnovsky (1928-2021, conductor)
Further info: Doppelkonzerte Für 2 Hörner Und Orchester
---
Bohemian composer, oboist, viola da gamba virtuoso, cellist, and
pedagogue. He began his professional career as an oboist in the service
of Countess Netolicka. In 1777, he moved to Munich to serve in the court
orchestra of Elector Maximilian Joseph. That same year in Munich,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was highly impressed by the wind band Fiala
trained, helping him secure a position in 1778 after the Elector's
death. In 1785, he moved to Vienna, and in 1786, to Saint Petersburg,
where he worked in the court of Catherine the Great. By 1790, he had
relocated to Prussia, serving as a viola da gamba player in the court of
Friedrich Wilhelm II. Finally, in 1792, he became Kapellmeister in
Donaueschingen, where he spent the rest of his life.
dimecres, 30 de juliol del 2025
AULETTA, Domenico (1723-1753) - Concerto di Cembalo
Domenico Auletta (1723-1753)
- Concerto (sol minore) di Cembalo
Performers: Ruggero Gеrlin (1899-1983, clavecin); Ensemble orchestral de L’Oiseau-Lyre;
Louis de Fromеnt (1921-1994, conductor)
Further info: Four Concertos of the Neapolitan School
---
Italian composer and organist. Son of Pietro Auletta (c.1698-1771), he
was active in Naples as a composer of sacred music, but nothing is known
of any appointments he may have held. Domenico's three sons were also
musicians: Raffaele Auletta (1742-1768), composer of a motet 'Alto
Olimpo triumfate', of whose life nothing is known; Ferdinando Auletta, a
singer, who studied at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini,
1759-69, with Nicola Fago and Pasquale Cafaro; and the younger Domenico
Auletta (?-1796), who was appointed in November 1779, with Domenico
Cimarosa, ‘supernumerary’ organist without salary in the royal chapel in
Naples and in 1796 second organist (Cimarosa having been promoted to
first). The homonymy between father and son poses problems of
attribution, especially as regards undated works.
dilluns, 28 de juliol del 2025
VOLCKMAR, Theophil Andreas (c.1684-1768) - Sonata Prima in C
Theophil Andreas Volckmar (c.1684-1768)
- Sonata Prima in C
Performers: Cappella Gedanensis
Further info: Music Treasures of Old Gdansk
---
German organist and composer. Son of the organist Johann Arnold
Volckmar, in 1707, he succeeded his father as organist at the Peter-und-Paul church in Stettin. In 1712, he moved to Danzig (Gdańsk),
where he first worked at the Trinity church and, from 1717, at St.
Catherine's church. In Danzig, he was considered a modern and virtuosic
organ player. However, Volckmar's modern style was not well-received by
the Danzig pastors, resulting in his unsuccessful applications for the
organist position at St. Mary's church. In 1730, he left Danzig and
moved to St. Mary's church in Köslin. In 1733, he returned to Stettin to
take up the organist position at St. Nicholas' church. In 1746, he
finally was appointed organist at Stettin's largest church, St. James'
church, in a post he held until 1767.
diumenge, 27 de juliol del 2025
VIVALDI, Antonio (1678-1741) - Vos invito, barbarae faces
Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)
- Vos invito, barbarae faces, RV 811
Performers: Margherita Maria Sаlа (contralto); Coro e orchestra Ghisliеri; Giulio Prаndi (conductor)
---
Italian violinist and composer. He was born the eldest of nine children
of Giovanni Battista Vivaldi (1655-1736), a violinist at Basilica San
Marco in Venice. He took the tonsure on 18 September 1693, trained for
the Roman Catholic priesthood, and was ordained on 23 March 1703.
However, a condition that Vivaldi himself described as strettezza di
petto (“tightness of the chest”), probably bronchial asthma, had the
curious effect of preventing his celebrating the mass from 1706 onward
yet allowing his extensive teaching, publishing, and traveling about
Italy to oversee his operatic productions. While training for the
priesthood, he probably learned the fundamentals of violin from his
father and occasionally substituted for him at San Marco. Son Antonio’s
performance as an extra violinist at the basilica for Christmas 1696 is
his first documented public appearance. Thereafter, he developed into a
violinist of international reputation, with technical capacities that
founded much of the innovation of his solo violin concertos. Vivaldi’s
income as a musician came from three different kinds of activity, which
constantly intertwine chronologically: as a salaried violin teacher at
the famous Pio Ospedale at the Pietà, as an independent opera composer
and impresario, and as a composer of instrumental publications for sale.
He was appointed master of violin teaching della Pieta in 1703 by
Francesco Gasparini, and his intermittent and at times tumultuous
relationship with the governors of the Pietà would last until nearly the
end of his life. His duties included teaching the young girls on
various string instruments, maintaining the instruments, directing
ensembles, and composing music for them.
In April 1718, he did not apply for reappointment at the Pietà, perhaps
because he had been invited to Mantua to compose operas. From 1723 to
1729, Vivaldi composed about 140 concertos for the Pietà on commission
and rehearsed them with the girls when he was in Venice. The governors
hired him again, this time as maestro di cappella in 1735 but, tiring of
his many travels, dismissed him in March 1738. The last transaction
between Vivaldi and the Pietà was the sale of 20 concertos in May 1740.
His earliest known opera, Ottone in Villa, opened in the city of Vicenza
in May 1713. Thereafter, he was associated with the public theater at
Sant’ Angelo in Venice. The Hapsburg governor of Mantua, Prince Phillip
of Hesse-Darmstadt, appointed him maestro di cappella di camera. From
1733 to 1735, he composed operas for the Teatro Sant’ Angelo and for
another Venetian venue, Teatro San Samuele, working with the brilliant
young Venetian poet Carlo Goldoni. He was offered a chance
to compose operas for the Carnivals of 1737, 1738, and 1739 in Ferrara,
but the Archbishop Tommaso Cardinal Ruffo forbad Vivaldi to enter the
city, possibly on account of Anna Girò. A chance to perform at Vienna’s
Kärntnertortheater seems to have inspired Vivaldi’s last journey in
1740, but the death of Emperor Charles VI in October shut down all the
theaters throughout the Carnival period of 1741. Vivaldi stayed on,
perhaps too sick or poor to return to Venice. His last documented
professional act was the sale of some concertos to one Count Antonio
Vinciguerra of Collalto. On 27 or 28 July, he died and was buried as a
pauper in the Spittaler Gottsacker, a hospital burial ground in Vienna.
divendres, 25 de juliol del 2025
ERLEBACH, Philipp Heinrich (1657-1714) - Ouverture IV (1693)
Philipp Heinrich Erlebach (1657-1714)
- Ouverture (IV, d-moll) aus 'VI. Ouvertures, begleitet mit ihren
darzu schicklichen Airs, nach französischer Art und Manier eingerichtet
und gesetzet' (1693)
Performers: Musica antiqua Köln; Reinhard Goеbеl (conductor)
Painting: Adam Frans van der Meulen (1632-1690) - The Crossing of the Rhine at Lobith on the 16th of June 1672
---
German composer. He was one of the leading composers of his time in
central Germany, especially of church music and more particularly of
cantatas, of which he wrote several hundred. Erlebach probably received
his earliest musical training at the East Friesian court. Through the
family connections of the ruling house he was sent with a recommendation
to Thuringia, where he was employed from 1678 to 1679, first as
musician and valet and then, from 1681, as Kapellmeister, at the court
of Count Albert Anton von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. At Rudolstadt he
entered a lively musical environment. During his 33 years as
Kapellmeister he not only succeeded in making this small establishment
into a main centre of musical activity in Thuringia but also made a
considerable name for himself in central Germany as a composer. He
enjoyed both musical and personal relations with J.P. Krieger,
Kapellmeister of the court at Weissenfels, and he paid visits to the
ducal court of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and to Nuremberg, where several of
his works were printed. In 1705 he took part, as a member of Albert
Anton's retinue, in a ceremony of homage to the Emperor Joseph I at
Mühlhausen, where, with the Rudolstadt court orchestra, he directed a
large-scale ceremonial work, which he had composed for the occasion and
which is his only music to survive in an autograph copy. He wrote
several pieces for the funerals of Albert Anton (1710) and of his
consort (1707). When Albert Anton's son Ludwig Friedrich came to the
throne in 1711, the event was celebrated with a number of festival
cantatas, all of which Erlebach also composed. In his last years he was
revered and sought out above all as a teacher; Johann Caspar Vogler, who
also studied with Bach, was one of the many musicians who learnt the
rudiments of their craft from him. After his death the Rudolstadt court
bought his collection of music from his widow; it included many sacred
and secular works that were destroyed by fire in 1735 and are known now
only from two extensive catalogues.
Erlebach composed in nearly all the forms common at the time and was
equally successful in instrumental and vocal works. Of his 120 or so
instrumental works there survive only six suites, six trio sonatas and a
march. The suites show the influence of French orchestral suites, and
the trio sonatas that of the Italian sonata da camera; in all these
works Erlebach succeeded in uniting foreign formal elements with German
features, which can be seen above all in the distinctly folklike nature
of some of the melodic material and which also produces sonorities
reminiscent of those of vocal music. Erlebach was most prolific as a
composer of church music, which was the field in which he began his
career as a composer about 1680. His sacred music embraces a cappella
motets for four or more voices, concertato psalms and hymns, masses,
oratorios (the Christmas, Easter, Resurrection and Whitsuntide stories
and pieces for the New Year) and various kinds of cantata. All the
oratorios are lost, and only some of their texts are extant. But his
best works in the other genres bear witness to his mastery as a composer
of church music. His psalm settings, which adhere to the style of the
sacred concerto for large forces, are interesting particularly for their
colourful harmonies, precisely indicated contrasts of tempo and
dynamics and free use of madrigalian motifs: such features, following in
the wake of Schütz's achievements, helped to enhance the importance of
works of this type, at least in central Germany. Erlebach soon began to
specialize as a composer of cantatas. Most of them are lost, but their
texts show a logical development from those closely adhering to Gospel
passages, through those containing arias and concerto-like textures
conceived on soloistic lines, to cantatas based on free texts with
recitative and da capo arias, and to solo cantatas with an obbligato
instrument.
dimecres, 23 de juliol del 2025
HEBERLE, Anton (c.1780-c.1816) - Concertino pour le csakán (1807)
Anton Heberle (c.1780-c.1816)
- Concertino pour le csakán et trio à cordes (1807)
Performers: Hugo Reyne (flute); La Simphonie du Marais
Painting: Rudolf von Alt (1812-1905) - Budapest
Further info: Viennoiseries Musicales
---
Hungarian composer. Refered as the "inventor" of the csakan, very few
details are known about his life. Between 1807 and 1811 he probably
lived in Vienna, where his works appeared in print through the
publishing house Chemische Druckerey. Among them we find the following
works for the csakan or flûte douce: 8 volumes of easy pieces, a
fantasy, a sonata, a Sonata brillante, all solo works, 2 volumes of
small duets, a concertino with string trio and 2 horns ad libitum, and a
set of variations with string quartet and two horn. We may assume that
he left Vienna in 1812 to settle in Hungary.
dilluns, 21 de juliol del 2025
Unknown composer (18th Century) - Variations for Clarinet
Unknown composer (18th Century)
- Variations (B-Dur) for Clarinet
Performers: Ludmila Peterková (clarinet); Virtuosi di Praga
Further info: Vanhal/Kapperasch/Asplmayer/Druzecky: Treasure-trove
diumenge, 20 de juliol del 2025
AUFSCHNAITER, Benedikt Anton (1665-1742) - Missa Sancti Antonii (1712)
Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter (1665-1742)
- Missa Sancti Antonii aus
'Alaudae V ad aram purpurati honoris Victimae sive Sacra V ... op. 6' (1712)
Performers: Nеuе lnnsbruckеr Hofkapеllе; Detlef Brаtschke (conductor)
---
Austrian composer. His main appointment was in Passau, where he
succeeded Georg Muffat as court Kapellmeister in 1705. He spent his
early years in Vienna, where he may have been a pupil of Johannes Ebner
(a member of the well-known family of organ players and son of Wolfgang
Ebner) whom he declared his model. Apparently he came into contact with
members of the Viennese nobility, and he may have been employed at a
court. In a letter of 1724 to Prince-Bishop Lamberg, while complaining
about the quality of the violinists in Passau, Aufschnaiter claimed to
have had in Vienna, where he spent many years, ‘16–18 excellent
musicians’ at his disposal. His op.1 (of which no copy is extant) was
dedicated to Count Ferdinand Ernst von Trautmannsdorf, who may have been
his employer. In 1695 his op.2 appeared in Nuremberg with a dedication
to Archduke Joseph (later Emperor Joseph I). Under the title Concors
discordia it contains six orchestral suites which show Italian concerto
grosso structure but also an apparent French influence; they probably
followed the example of Georg Muffat. All that is known of op.3 is that
it was dedicated to Emperor Leopold I; no copy is extant. Op.4 consists
of eight church sonatas published under the title Dulcis fidium harmonia
symphoniis ecclesiasticis concinnata, which appeared in 1703 and were
dedicated to the four early fathers of the church and the four
evangelists. These are orchestral sonatas for two solo violins (which
have complicated double stops), two violins ad libitum, viola, violone
and organ; they may have been inspired by Heinrich Biber’s works. From
1705, when he became Kapellmeister at Passau, Aufschnaiter was active as
a composer of church music (although he was not officially appointed
cathedral Kapellmeister as Muffat had been). His opp.5 and 8 comprise
vespers for four voices, strings and continuo instruments (1709, 1728),
his op.6 five masses (1712) and his op.7 offertories with two solo
violas (1719). In all his church works Aufschnaiter favours a more
traditional style similar to the Roman cantata style; there are fewer
demanding violin passages and double stops than in his earlier works,
and he prefers to please with melodic charm. In his theoretical writings
he emphasizes the difference between church, chamber and theatre music.
divendres, 18 de juliol del 2025
BRESCIANELLO, Giuseppe Antonio (1690-1758) - Sinfonia à 4 (1738)
Giuseppe Antonio Brescianello (1690-1758)
- Sinfonia à 4 in g-moll, Opera I (1738)
Performers: Ensemble Barocco Sаns Sοuci
---
Italian violinist and composer. He first appears in documents when in
1715 the Elector of Bavaria brought him from Venice to Munich as a
violinist. In October 1716, after the death of his predecessor Pez, he
became musique directeur, maître des concerts de la chambre at the
Württemberg court in Stuttgart, and in 1717 chief Kapellmeister. Between
1717 and 1718 he wrote the pastoral opera La Tisbe, which he dedicated
to his employer Archduke Eberhard Ludwig. Hoping this opera would be
produced at the Stuttgart Opera, Brescianello wrote in his Präparationen
that he had suited its melodies to the theatre taste: but that did not
gain him a performance. From 1719 to 1721 he had to face heated battles
with his rival Reinhard Keiser, who sought unsuccessfully for
Brescianello’s position. In 1731 Brescianello became Rath und
Oberkapellmeister. When the court’s finances collapsed in 1737, the
Stuttgart opera troupe was dissolved and Brescianello lost his post,
which spurred him on to increased activity as a composer. In 1738
(according to EitnerQ) he wrote 12 concerti e sinphonie op.1 and other
works, and somewhat later ‘18 Piecen fürs Gallichone’. When the regency
of the generous artistic patron Duke Carl Eugen began in 1744,
Brescianello was reinstated as Oberkapellmeister ‘on account of his
particular knowledge of music and excellent competence’, and until his
retirement he brought the opera and court music to renewed fame. He was
pensioned off on 29 November 1751 according to Sittard, on St James’s
Day 1755 according to other sources. His successor was Ignaz Holzbauer,
then Jommelli. In his two decades as Kapellmeister, Brescianello helped
to put his stamp on the musical life of Stuttgart and Ludwigsburg. His
importance lies in his compositions, which mainly follow the conventions
of his time (sequences and imitations, influences of the galant style,
generally in loosened suite form). Apart from Tisbe, two cantatas and a
mass (occasional and commissioned works), Brescianello wrote mainly
chamber music using the violin, with which he was most acquainted
through his training as a violinist: these works are thus among his most
successful.
dimecres, 16 de juliol del 2025
HEINICHEN, Johann David (1683-1729) - Concerto à 7
Johann David Heinichen (1683-1729)
- Concerto (G-Dur) à 7, SeiH 215
Performers: Accademia Bizantina
---
German composer and theorist. He was the son of David Heinichen who,
after an education at Leipzig's Thomasschule and the university, moved
to Krössuln for a lifelong career as pastor. Johann David also attended
the Thomasschule Leipzig. There he studied music with Johann Schelle and
later received organ and harpsichord lessons with Johann Kuhnau. The
future composer Christoph Graupner was also a student of Kuhnau at the
time. Heinichen enrolled in 1702 to study law at the University of
Leipzig and in 1705-06 qualified as a lawyer (in the early 18th century
the law was a favored route for composers; Kuhnau, Graupner and Georg
Philipp Telemann were also lawyers). Heinichen practiced law in
Weissenfels until 1709. However, Heinichen maintained his interest in
music and was concurrently composing operas. In 1710, he published the
first edition of his major treatise on the thoroughbass. He went to
Italy and spent seven formative years there, mostly in Venice, with
great success with two operas, Mario and Le passioni per troppo amore
(1713). Mario was staged again in Hamburg in 1716 with the German title,
Calpurnia, oder die romische Grossmut. In 1712, he taught music to
Leopold, Prince of Anhalt-Köthen, who took him as composer. The same
prince would appoint Johann Sebastian Bach Kapellmeister at the end of
1717. In 1716, Heinichen met in Venice Prince Augustus III of Poland,
son of King Augustus II the Strong, and thanks to him was appointed the
Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Kapellmeister in Dresden. His pupils
included Johann Georg Pisendel. In 1721, Heinichen married in
Weissenfels; the birth of his only child is recorded as January 1723. In
his final years, Heinichen's health suffered greatly; on the afternoon
of 16 July 1729, he was buried in the Johannes cemetery after finally
succumbing to tuberculosis.
dilluns, 14 de juliol del 2025
ALBICASTRO, Henricus (1661-1730) - Concerti à quatro (1704)
Henricus Albicastro (1661-1730)
- Concerti (V, g-moll) à quatro, opera settima (1704)
Performers: Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin; Julian Doyle (conductor)
---
German composer and violinist. In 1686, he moved to Leiden, in the
Netherlands, where he registered at the University of Leiden as a
Musicus Academiae, but his name does not appear in the university's
archives. In 1696, a collection of twelve of his trio sonatas appeared,
entitled 'Il giardino armonico sacro-profano'. Edited by François
Barbry, it was published in Bruges by François van Heurck; no copies of
the last six, or of Albicastro's opus 1 or opus 2 from Bruges seem to
have survived. In Amsterdam a separate set of opus numbers were
published by Estienne Roger: collections of violin sonatas (Opp. 2, 3,
5, 6 and 9), trio sonatas (Opp. 1, 4 and 8), and string concertos (Op.
7) in a Corellian idiom. During the last phases of the War of the
Spanish Succession (1701-1713), he served as a captain of cavalry. He
remained active in this position until 1730, when he died in Maastricht.
One source erroneously suggests he may have died in 1738.
diumenge, 13 de juliol del 2025
Gessel (18th Century) - Vater ich will daß wo ich bin
Gessel (18th Century)
- Festo Ascensionis Christi | Vater, ich will, daß wo ich bin, auch die
Performers: Bettina Ranch (alto); Stefan Geyer (bass); Goldberg Baroque Ensemble;
Andrzej Mikołaj Szadejko (conductor)
Further info: Vater ich will daß wo ich bin
divendres, 11 de juliol del 2025
DE NEBRA, José (1702-1768) - Sinfonía Octava
José de Nebra (1702-1768) - Sinfonía Octava en Do mayor
Performers: Los Elementos
Further info: Jose de Nebra (1702-1768) - Arias
---
Spanish composer and organist. Born to a family of musicians, he began
his musical training under his father José Antonio Nebra (1672-1748),
who had settled in Cuenca as cathedral organist and teacher of the
choirboys (1711-1729) and later became maestro de capilla (1729-1748).
In 1719 José de Nebra became organist at the convent of Descalzas. In
1722 he served in the Osuna household as a musician, and in 1724 he was
appointed as one of the organists of the royal chapel in Madrid. By 1751
he had become vice-maestro and a teacher at the Colegio de niños
cantores, later serving at the Jeronimos convent as organist. His
students include Antonio Soler. Nebra’s focus as a composer was on
native Spanish stage works, including the autos sacramentales,
zarzuelas, and comedias. His music includes 21 autos sacramentales, 51
theatre works, 40 villancicos, 10 versos, 16 keyboard sonatas, two
Masses, 18 Lamentations, four vespers, 16 Salve Reginas, a Requiem, 23
Psalms, 22 hymns, 21 responsories, toccatas, and a number of smaller
sacred works. His two brothers were also musicians: Francisco Javier
Nebra (1705-1741) was organist at La Seo, Zaragoza (1727-1729) and then
in Cuenca (1729-1741), and Joaquín Nebra (1709-1782) was organist at La
Seo, Zaragoza, from 1730 until his death. His nephew Manuel de Nebra
Blasco (1750-1784) was an organist and composer.
dimecres, 9 de juliol del 2025
LEDESMA, Nicolás (1791-1883) - Stabat Mater (1837)
Nicolás Ledesma (1791-1883) - Stabat Mater (1837)
Performers: Paloma Pérez Iñigo (soprano); J. Mecharri (tenor); R.
Salaberria (bass);
Orquesta del Festival Internacional de LOIOLA; Javier
Bello-Portu (1920-2004, conductor)
Further info: Nicolás Ledesma – Stabat Mater
---
Spanish composer. He was a choirboy at Tarazona Cathedral, where he was
taught music by Francisco Javier Gibert and José Angel Martinchique. He
later moved to Zaragoza, where he studied the organ with Ramón Ferreñac.
From an early age he was organist and choirmaster in various collegiate
churches: Borja (1807), Tafalla (1809), Calatayud (where he is known to
have been about 1824) and finally Bilbao (1830), where he remained
until his death. He was a prolific composer of masses, Lamentations,
motets and villancicos. Although his music reflects the bombastic and
theatrical tendencies of his age, he had a sound technique and a certain
nobility of invention. He was also active with Hilarión Eslava in
efforts to renew and purify religious music.
dilluns, 7 de juliol del 2025
RUST, Friedrich Wilhelm (1739-1796) - Sonate in Fis moll (1784)
Friedrich Wilhelm Rust (1739-1796)
- Clavier=Sonate in | Fis moll | componirt | 1784
Performers: Seth Carlin (1945-2016, pianoforte)
---
German composer. As a small child he learnt to play the violin,
encouraged by his elder brother Johann Ludwig Anton, who was himself
considered an excellent violinist. He also learnt the piano, and
according to his own account in his autobiography (1775) could play the
first part of J.S. Bach’s Das wohltemperirte Clavier from memory when he
was 16. After his father’s death in 1751 he lived with his mother and
eldest brother in Gröbzig until 1755. A copy that he made of the trio
sonata from Bach’s Musical Offering dates from this period; it is now
considered lost. He then attended the Lutheran Gymnasium in Cöthen,
1755-58. From 1758 he studied law at Halle-Wittenberg University; he
also had lessons with W.F. Bach and in return deputized for him as a
church organist. Soon after Rust had completed his studies there, Prince
Leopold Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau sent him to Zerbst to study
with Carl Höckh, and then to Berlin and Potsdam (July 1763-April 1764)
to study the violin with Franz Benda and keyboard instruments with
C.P.E. Bach. In 1765-66 he visited Italy in the prince’s retinue, and
there completed his musical training. He then settled in Dessau, where a
lively court and civic musical life soon developed under his influence,
and he wrote most of his compositions for it. From 1769 he organized
regular subscription concerts, with music performed by both court
musicians and amateurs, and in 1775 a theatre was founded, a project for
which Rust was largely responsible. His achievements were recognized in
April 1775, when the prince made him court music director. He married
his former singing pupil Henriette Niedhardt in May; the couple had
eight children, two of whom became professional musicians. In his
lifetime Rust was honoured and esteemed as an instrumentalist and
composer; contemporary lexicons and his correspondence with colleagues
bear eloquent witness to this. He was also active as a teacher, and
trained a series of well-regarded instrumentalists and singers. The
surviving instrumental music includes works for clavichord, viola
d’amore, harp, lute, and nail violin, the sound of which appealed to his
introverted nature. In addition to large-scale vocal works and six
stage works he also wrote some 100 lieder, of which 70 have been made
usable for modern performance.
diumenge, 6 de juliol del 2025
D'AMBLEVILLE, Charles (1587-1637) - Missa Psallite Domino (1636)
Charles d'Ambleville (1587-1637) - Missa Psallite Domino des 'Harmonia sacra, seu vesperae in dies
tum dominicos, tum festos totius anni, una cum missa ac litaniis beatae
virginis cum sex vocibus' (1636)
Performers: Ensemble Meihua Fleur de Prunus; Chœur du Centre Catholique
Chinois de Paris;
François Picard (conductor)
Further info: Musique des Lumières
---
French composer. All that is known of his life is that in 1626 he was
procureur of the Compagnie de Jésus at Rouen. He left only musical
works, from which we may infer that he was director of music of one of
the colleges of his order. His Octonarium sacrum (1634) is a set of
five-part verses for the Magnificat, using all eight tones; they are
fugal and closely resemble similar pieces by Nicolas Formé. Two years
later he published his Harmonia sacra in two complementary volumes for
four and six voices respectively. It includes works for double choir in a
distinctly modern style originating in Italy that had already been
adopted in France by several composers. Each volume also contains
several masses and motets for a single choir. The double-choir works are
for liturgical use and comprise psalms, motets and hymns.
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