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.
Vojtěch Nudera (1748-1811)
- Parthia (Es-Dur) in Dis | a | Clarinetto Primo | Clarinetto
Secundo | Cornu Primo | Cornu Secundo | con | Fagotto | pro me |
Augustin Erasmus Hübner | beym Schulfach Anno 1806.
Bohemian composer. Very little is known about his life. He received
violin and clarinet training before being appointed Kantor at a school
in Vyšehrad. Shortly thereafter, it is believed he settled in Prague,
where he worked as a chamber musician. Around 1796, he was documented as
a violinist at Prague Cathedral. As a composer, only a few works are
extant, among them divertimentos, orchestral variations, and partitas,
mostly for wind instruments. His style was inherited from the classical
Viennese tradition, though with incorporations more typical of Bohemia.
Austrian composer and music theorist. His exact date of birth is
unknown. According to his death certificate he was 81 when he died. His
father, Andreas Fux (c.1618-1708), married twice, and Johann Fux may
have been his eldest child. Although a peasant, Andreas Fux was a parish
official attached to the church at St Marein and came into contact with
a number of musicians, among them the Graz organist Johann Hartmann
Peintinger and the Kantor Joseph Keller, who probably influenced his
son's early musical development. In 1680 he enrolled as a ‘grammatista’
at Graz University, and in 1681 he entered the Jesuit Ferdinandeum as a
student of grammar and music. By August 1685 he had taken a position as
organist at St Moritz in Ingolstadt. Fux's movements between the
beginning of 1689, when a new organist was appointed at St Moritz, and
his marriage in 1696 remain uncertain. Although Fux's employment as
court composer in Vienna dates officially from April 1698, he himself
was ambiguous about his length of service in this capacity. In various
documents, he implied that he began to work for the imperial household
in 1695, or even 1693. Together with the recently appointed composers
Carlo Badia, Giovanni Bononcini and Marc’Antonio Ziani, Fux effectively
began to introduce elements of late Baroque style into the sacred and
secular genres cultivated at court. After the death of Leopold I in 1705
and the accession of his son Joseph I, he retained the office of court
composer. In the same year he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister at the
Stephansdom, where in 1712 he succeeded Johann Michael Zacher as first
Kapellmeister. He retained this office until the end of 1714, and during
the same period he also directed services at the Salvatorkirche. His
duties as deputy Kapellmeister at the Stephansdom centred on the music
performed before the statue of Our Lady of Pötsch, which the emperor had
had placed on the high altar of the cathedral in 1697. After the
unexpected death of Joseph I on 17 April 1711, the empress-regent
Eleonora dissolved the Hofmusikkapelle, and many of its personnel.
By October 1711 he had been appointed deputy Kapellmeister to the court.
In January 1715 Charles VI appointed him as Hofkapellmeister, a
position he held for the rest of his life. As a composer who served
three emperors, he undertook an especially taxing combination of duties.
His coronation opera, 'Costanza e Fortezza', nominally in celebration
of the Empress Elisabeth Christine's birthday but effectively written to
mark the coronation of Charles VI as King of Bohemia, represents the
peak of his public office. The publication of the 'Gradus ad Parnassum'
in 1725 has been compared in importance with the publication of Fischer
von Erlach's 'Entwurf einer Historischen Architektur' (1721). Both works
embody the concept of Habsburg style selfconsciously, and persuasively
relate their author's achievements to a coherent past. On 8 June 1731
Fux's wife died, and some seven months later the composer drew up his
will (5 January 1732). His activities at court notably decreased, with
many of his responsibilities being assigned to Antonio Caldara and
others. He had complained of serious illness at the close of the Gradus,
and by the late 1720s his rate of composition had sharply declined. His
last testimonial is dated 10 March 1740. On 13 February 1741 he
developed a ‘raging fever’ and died. He was much mourned at court. The
most outstanding of his many students were Gottlieb Muffat, Georg
Christoph Wagenseil and Jan Dismas Zelenka. According to Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach placed him first among those
contemporary composers whom he most admired. Fux represents the
culmination of the Austro-Italian Baroque in music. His compositions
reflect the imperial and Catholic preoccupations of the Habsburg
monarchy no less than does the architecture of Fischer von Erlach or the
scenic designs of the Galli-Bibiena family. His 'Gradus ad Parnassum'
(1725) has been the most influential composition treatise in European
music from the 18th century onwards.
English organist and composer. Son of John Camidge (1734-1803), at an
early age he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal under his father’s
old master, James Nares. On his return to York he became assistant to
his father. He is said to have been the first to teach the cathedral
choristers to sing from notes; previously all the services had been
learnt by ear. The two Camidges also originated the York musical
festivals, beginning with a performance, on a small scale, of Handel's
‘Messiah’ at the Belfry church, which led to oratorios being given with
orchestral accompaniments in the minster. On the resignation of John
Camidge, he was appointed his successor as organist (11 November 1799), a
post he held until his retirement (8 October 1842). As a composer, he
published a considerable quantity of music for the harpsichord, organ,
and piano, besides a collection of psalm tunes, a ‘Method of Instruction
in Musick by Questions and Answers,’ and some church music. In the
preface to his Organ Concertos, op.13 (c.1815), he wrote that he had
"endeavoured to imitate the particular style of music which has been so
long admired, namely that of Handel and Corelli. This acknowledgement
will, he hopes, secure him from the critics’ censure". Matthew Camidge
was married to a niece of Sheriff Atkinson of York, by whom he had three
sons; two took orders, and became respectively vicar of Wakefield and
canon of York, and chaplain at Moscow and Cronstadt, and the third, John
Camidge (1790-1859), succeeded his father as organist of York.
Jan Zach (1713-1773)
- Missa S[ancti] Thomae Aquin[atis] a Canto, Alto, Tenore, Basso, 2
Violini,
2 Traversi, obl., 2 Oboe, 3. Trombe [and] 2 Corni in D. Viola
& Organo (1771)
Performers: Ingrid Kеrtеsi (soprano); Bernhard Landaսer (alto); Johannes
Chսm (tenor); Wolf Matthias Friеdrich (bass)
Kammerchor Collegium Vocale Innsbruck; Kammerorchester Bratislava;
Bеrnhard Siеbеrеr (conductor)
Bohemian composer and organist. The son of a wheelwright, he went to
Prague in 1724 and began his career as a violinist at St Gallus and at
St Martín. According to Dlabacž, he studied organ under Bohuslav Matěj
Černohorský, who lived in Prague from 1720 to 1727. Zach's career as
organist started at St Martín, and by 1737 he was also playing the organ
at the monastic church of the Merciful Brethren and the Minorite chapel
of St Ann. In 1737 he competed for the position of organist at St.
Vitus Cathedral, but was not successful. Details of what happened next
are unknown: he was reported to have left Bohemia, but apparently
remained in Prague at least until 1740. By early 1745 he was living in
Augsburg and then on 24 April 1745 he was appointed Kapellmeister of the
Electoral orchestra at the court of Johann Friedrich Karl von Ostein,
Prince-Elector of Mainz. He visited Italy in 1746 and, briefly, Bohemia
in 1747. Zach evidently had a complex and eccentric personality, which
led to numerous conflicts that plagued his life at Mainz. He was
suspended from his position in 1750 and finally dismissed in 1756. From
that point on it appears that Zach never again had steady employment. He
traveled through Europe and supported himself financially by performing
and selling copies of his works, teaching, dedicating his compositions,
and so on. He visited numerous courts and monasteries in Germany and
Austria, stayed in Italy in 1767 and between 1771 and 1772, and may have
worked as choirmaster at the Pairis Abbey in Alsace. He stayed several
times at the Stams Abbey at Stams, Tyrol, where he may have had
connections, and served as music teacher at the Jesuit school in Munich,
for several brief periods of time. The last mentions of Zach in
contemporary sources indicate that in January 1773 he was at the
Wallerstein court, and according to the Frankfurt Kayserliche
Reichs-Ober-Post-Amts-Zeitung of 5 June 1773 he died on a journey, at
Ellwangen. Zach was buried in the local church of St Wolfgang.
German violinist and composer. He received his early musical training in
Freising as a chorister at the Jesuit schools. Subsequently, Count
Clemens von Bayern engaged him as a musician in his service. He then
studied with Placidus von Camerloher, after which, in 1758, he was sent
to Italy to complete his education. There, he garnered recognition for
his violin performance and his operatic works, which were composed for
both Italian theaters and Jesuit seminaries within Germany. He also
achieved acclaim in Italy as a distinguished 'violin virtuoso'. While
his Italian and German operas are no longer extant, his surviving
musical output includes three symphonies, a violin concerto, a Requiem,
and two litanies. His brothers, Benedikt Vogl (1718-1790) and Christoph
Vogl (1722-1767), were also musicians who dedicated themselves to
monastic composition within Benedictine abbeys.
French composer and harpsichordist. His father was the keyboard player
and composer Jacques Champion, known as La Chapelle (c.1555-1642), who
served in the king's chamber as a 'gentilhomme ordinaire'. By 1632
Chambonnieres was associated with the court, where he became esteemed as
both a harpsichordist and dancer. During the 1630s, his reputation as a
harpsichordist grew rapidly, with Marin Mersenne praising his
exceptional playing. In 1641 he founded a series of private concerts
known as the 'Assemblee des Honnestes Curieux', with which he was active
as director and performer. In 1643 he succeeded his father as a
'gentilhomme ordinaire' in the king's chamber. In 1662 he retired from
his court duties and was succeeded by D'Anglebert. As a composer, he
only wrote works for solo harpsichord and published 'Les Pieces de
clavessin' (two vols., Paris, 1670). Chambonnieres was an influential
teacher, numbering among his pupils the Couperin brothers (Louis and
Charles), Jean-Henri D'Anglebert, Jacques Hardel, Nicolas Lebègue, and
Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers. Chambonnieres was the founder of the French
Classical school of harpsichord playing, and was one of the first to
adapt the lute idiom to the composing of harpsichord music.
Bohemian clarinettist, teacher and composer. His earliest career was as a
trumpeter in the military, following which he made his way to Paris,
where he was employed as a clarinettist by the Duke of Orléans (1767-77)
and by the Prince of Lambesc (1778-79, 1781-82) and where he debuted as
a clarinetist at the Concerts spirituels (1771-79), mostly as a soloist
of Carl Stamitz concertos. In 1782 he began to tour Europe extensively,
and by 1783 he had obtained a post at the Imperial orchestra in Moscow.
By 1792 he had been called to Potsdam and engaged to direct concerts
for King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. In 1809, at the age of 65, he
performed in a concert at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and was
overwhelmingly praised. As a composer, his music has been little
studied, but he wrote mostly for his own instrument, including three
clarinet concertos, a sonata for clarinet and bassoon, and six duos for
two clarinets. He was important not only because he was the earliest
well-known virtuoso clarinettist but because he popularized the German
style of playing, which incorporates a soft expressive tone quality with
a brilliant technique. He taught several influential clarinettists
including Michel Yost, Etienne Solère and Heinrich Baermann.
Venezuelan flautist, teacher and composer. He came from a family of
Venezuelan musicians, initiated by his father, Alejandro Mezerón, a
Frenchman who settled in Caracas in his youth, Hispanicized his surname,
and Ana María Victoria de Acosta, a Venezuelan. He began his music
studies with his father. In 1803, he appeared as a musician in the
Veterans Battalion of Caracas. He was the best flautist of his time, and
he is found as a soloist with the orchestra that accompanied Espenu's
opera company in 1808. He continued in the orchestra of the Teatro El
Conde until an earthquake (1814) destroyed it. Then, with the
independence political upheavals, he emigrated to eastern Venezuela.
Around 1821, he settled in Petare, seeking peace in the turbulent
capital, where, apart from being a school teacher, he also served as a
choirmaster. It was there that he composed most of his sacred music
works, without neglecting, more innovatively, the cultivation of
symphonic music, with overtures and symphonies (of a single movement,
that is, concert overtures); his 8th Symphony is dated "Petare, 1822."
He also composed some patriotic songs, of which two are preserved, as
well as waltzes and polkas. In 1824, he published the book 'Explicación y
conocimiento de los principios generales de la música' in Caracas,
which is the first printed musical teaching work in Venezuela; he
himself says in the prologue: "It is the first attempt made in the
country." In 1837, the Petare city council appointed him municipal
secretary, and in 1831, revenue administrator for the entire canton. At
the end of 1834, the Caracas Philharmonic Society appointed him director
of the Philharmonic Orchestra, also performing as a solo flautist. He
was also a music teacher in renowned schools in Caracas. On May 25,
1800, he married Candelaria de Alva, with whom he had two sons: José
Nicanor Meserón de Alva (1806-?) and José Idelfonso Meserón de Alva
(c.1808-?), both musicians; compositions by the latter, belonging to the
period of the Republic of Venezuela, are preserved.
Bohemian contrabassist and composer. Little is known about his early
life or education. He first appeared in 1775 in London, where he had
arrived as an itinerant musician and where he published collections of
trio sonatas and string quartets. There he became involved in the
cultural life of the city, performing and publishing his music, mainly
sonatas. In the late 1780s he was in Ireland. Back in London he took
part in the Concert of Ancient Music and in the Handel Commemoration of
May 1791. At the time of his death he played the double bass at the
King’s Theatre. François-Joseph Fétis claimed to have met and performed
for Kočvara while a child in his father’s house in Mons, though his
dating of the event (1792) is mistaken. According to Fétis, Kočvara
played not only the viola and double bass, but also the piano, violin,
cello, oboe, flute, bassoon and cittern. Kočvara gained special
notoriety by the manner of his death, with which most early accounts of
him are primarily concerned. He was reputed to have had unusual vices,
and was accidentally hanged while conducting an experiment in a house of
ill repute. Susan Hill, his accomplice in the experiment, was tried for
murder at the Old Bailey on 16 September 1791 and was acquitted. As a
composer, his most famous composition, 'The Battle for Prague', appears
to have been written in commemoration of an event from 1758. His
surviving works include three serenades, a symphony, some 26 sonatas, 12
trio sonatas, six quartets, and several songs. His music is imitative
of major European composers of the period, principally Joseph Haydn.
Portuguese composer and singer. Following study on a royal stipend in
Rome from 1714 to 1728, he returned to Lisbon as a chaplain and singer
for the Lisbon cathedral. He wrote a few festive cantatas for members of
the aristocracy, including 'Gli sposi fortunati', performed at the
house of Antónia Joaquina de Menezes de Lavra during Carnival 1732, and a
'Componimento drammatico' to celebrate the wedding of the Marquis of
Cascais during Carnival 1738. By 1760 he produced operas at the Teatro
do Bairro Alto Lima, becoming known for his lyrical style of Italian
opera, as well as being the first to write operas in Portuguese. The
first of these, 'Guerras do alecim e manjerona', was a major factor in
establishing opera in the native language. In 1765 he was elected to the
Irmandade de St. Cecilia. His compositions include seven operas, two
Masses, two motets, a large cantata, and numerous other sacred works.
While many of his sacred works reflect later 18th-century church style,
his most famous work, a 20-voice Te Deum composed in 1734, is largely
Baroque with polychoral writing.
Jan Křtitel Vanhal (1739-1813) - Concerto (F-Dur) per il organo aus 'Concerto in F. | per il |
clavi cembalo | Violino Primo | Violino Secundo | Cornu Primo | Cornu
Secundo | con | Basso' (1786)
Performers: Jaroslav Tumа (organ); Hipοcοndria Ensemble
Bohemian composer and cellist. Born into a poor peasant family, he
obtained some early education in music from a local organist, Anton
Erban. His first post was as an organist at the town of Opocžna, and
subsequently he became a choral director at Niemcžoves, during which
time he was trained as a string player by Matthias Nowák. In 1769 he
moved to Vienna to study under Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. In turn he
established a reputation as a teacher, whose students included Ignaz
Pleyel. In 1769 he traveled to Italy, where his first opera, Demofoonte,
was performed a year later. He returned to Vienna in 1771 but visited
the estates of his patron, Ladislaus Erdödy, in Croatia. Thereafter he
continued to publish his music actively as a member of the most
important musical circles of the Imperial capital. Vanhal can be
considered one of the more prolific and popular composers of the period,
with over 1,300 works written. Although Charles Burney claimed that his
creativity had diminished due to mental issues (now known to be false),
he continued to produce compositions that were disseminated throughout
the world, becoming almost as popular as his friend and colleague Joseph
Haydn. These include 76 symphonies, around 60 concertos (for violin,
flute, viola, oboe, contrabass, keyboard, and other instruments), 100
string quartets, 13 piano quartets, 51 piano trios, 49 other trios, six
quintets, 98 duets for various instruments, 102 sonatas/sonatinas for
various instruments and keyboard, 196 keyboard sonatas, 68 sets of
keyboard variations, 76 miscellaneous keyboard works, 25 divertimentos,
38 organ works, 47 sets or pieces of dance music, three operas, 48
Masses, two Requiems, 46 offertories, 32 motets, 15 antiphons, 34 sacred
arias, 32 Stabat maters, 10 litanies, 10 graduals, 17 other sacred
works, 17 pieces of programmatic music, and 41 songs. Vanhal’s musical
style is often dramatic but carefully constructed according to form and
structure. His use of melody is often lyrical, with good sequencing and
internal variation. He can be considered one of the main figures in late
18th-century music. His works are known by their Bryan numbers.
Christoph Strauss (c.1575-1631)
- Missa Maria Concertata à 9 aus 'Missae ... octo, novem, decem,
undecim, duodecim, tredecim et viginti, tam vocibus, quam variis
instrumentis,
et basso generali ad organum accomodato' (1631)
Performers: Concerto Pаlаtino; Bruce Dickеy (conductor)
Austrian composer and organist. He was born into a musical family long
associated with the Habsburg court. In 1594 he entered its service,
becoming organist of the court church of St. Michael in 1601. After
serving as administrator of the imperial estate of Kattenburg (1614-17),
he was director of the court music from 1617 until he was removed in
1619 by the new Emperor, Ferdinand II. In 1626 he finally obtained the
post of director of music at St. Stephen's Cathedral, where he remained
until his death. As a composer, he published two collections of music;
'Nova ac diversimoda sacrarum cantionum compositio sen [36] motettae'
(1613), greatly influenced by the transitional polychoral style of
Giovanni Gabrieli, and 'Missae ... octo, novem, decem, undecim,
duodecim, tredecim et viginti, tam vocibus, quam variis instrumentis, et
basso generali ad organum accomodato' (1631), mostly of them in form of
parody masses, in which the basic melodic units appear in many
different guises throughout and lend unity to the whole. The influence
of the Venetian mixed concertato style may be found in the contrast
between vocal, instrumental and mixed groups, in the rhythms and style
of the vocal writing, in the treatment of the polychoral medium, and
also in the juxtaposition of powerful tuttis and sections for one, two
or three voices, sometimes accompanied by instruments. Christoph Strauss
was one of the foremost Austrian composers of his time.
Claude Balbastre (1724-1799)
- Sonata (I, Si bemol majeur) en quatuor des 'Sonates en quatuor
pour le clavecin ou le forte-piano avec accompagnement de deux violons,
une basse et deux cors ad libitum... Oeuvre III' (1779)
Performers: France Clidat (1932-2012, piano); Orchestre de Chambre;
Jean-Louis Petit (conductor)
French organist and composer. He received his earliest musical education
from his father Bénigne Balbastre (?-1737) and under Claude Rameau, the
brother of Jean-Philippe Rameau, in Dijon. Moving to Paris in 1750 he
continued his studies with Pierre Février, and with the help of Rameau
was introduced to the most important musical circles. He obtained a
position as organist at Saint Reh, later adding additional posts at
Nôtre Dame and the Chapelle Royale, where he became the tutor of Marie
Antoinette in 1776. In 1759 he published his 'Premier livre pièces de
clavecin' and began performing frequently as a soloist at the Concerts
spirituels. Charles Burney entered a long account of the performance
there in his 'Present State of Music in France and Italy': "He performed
in all styles in accompanying the choir. When the Magnificat was sung,
he played likewise between each verse several minuets, fugues,
imitations, and every species of music, even to hunting pieces and jigs,
without surprising or offending the congregation, as far as I was able
to discover." Burney also visited Balbastre at home and described the
instruments he saw there, "...including a large organ and a fine Rucker
harpsichord which he has had painted inside and out with as much
delicacy as the finest coach or snuff-box I ever saw at Paris. … On the
outside is the birth of Venus; and on the inside of the cover the story
of Rameau’s most famous opera, 'Castor and Pollux'; earth, hell and
elysium are there represented; in elysium, sitting on a bank, with a
lyre in his hand, is that celebrated composer himself [i.e. Rameau]; …
The tone of this instrument is more delicate than powerful; one of the
unisons is of buff, but very sweet and agreeable; the touch is very
light, owing to the quilling, which in France is always weak." His
playing also earned the praise of an anonymous reviewer in the Mercure
de France (May 1755): "M. Balbatre played an organ concerto of his own
composition, that surprised and charmed the entire assemblage; his
brilliant playing made this instrument sound in an authoritative manner
and made the impression that he alone has the right to lead all others.
One cannot praise too highly … the singular talent of M. Balbatre."
Thereafter he appeared frequently at the Concert Spirituel until 1782.
As organist of the Panthémont, he taught the daughters of prominent
French and foreign dignitaries, including Thomas Jefferson. With the
fall of the royalty, he lived in poverty for the rest of his life. One
of his last performances was his own arrangement of the Marseillaise,
played on the organ of the deconsecrated Notre Dame. As a composer, his
output include 14 organ concertos (of which only one survives), four
noëls variés, six sonates en quatuors, and numerous variations and
smaller pieces for keyboard. He also wrote church music, of which
nothing survives. His style is more homophonic than some of his
contemporaries.
Carl Stamitz (1745-1801) - Sinfonie (G-Dur) a grand orchestre des 'Six sinfonies, grand
orchestre, deux violons, alto et basso, deux hautbois et deux cors de
chasse ad libitum', Oeuvre XIII (1777)
German composer and violinist. The son of concertmaster Johann Stamitz
(1717-1757), he received his training from his father’s colleagues
Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Franz Xaver Richter before
being appointed a violinist in the Mannheim orchestra at the age of 17.
In 1770, however, he decided to resign his position and began a 25-year
career as a touring virtuoso, performing mainly on the viola and viola
d’amore. His first city was Paris, where he began publishing his music,
followed by Frankfurt in 1773, St. Petersburg in 1775, Strasbourg in
1777, London in 1778, Amsterdam and The Hague in 1782, Berlin in 1786,
Nuremburg in 1788, Kassel in 1790, and Weimar in 1792. His successes
were variable, but he maintained close contact to various composers and
musicians he met in each city. In 1795 he settled in the university town
of Jena, where he spent the last years of his life devoted to the study
of alchemy in a place without any appreciable musical establishment,
although he did find employment teaching at the university. Toward the
end of his life he planned further tours to Russia. Stamitz came to
epitomize the clarity and regularity of Classical form and structure in
his numerous compositions. These include good lyrical contrasting
melodies, careful use of the so-called Mannheim devices, regularized
harmony, and sometimes colorful harmony. His focus was on instrumental
music, particularly the symphony and concerto, of which he is recognized
as a universalist composer. His music includes over 50 symphonies, 38
sinfonia concertantes (mainly for two violins or violin and viola), over
80 concertos (20 for violin, three for viola, six for cello, 11 for
flute, four for oboe, 15 for clarinet, 12 for bassoon, five for horn,
and others for keyboard, harp, basset horn, and viola d’amore), seven
wind parthies, 22 wind serenades, six string quintets, 21 string
quartets, 12 woodwind quartets, 35 string trios and six piano trios, 90
duets, 15 violin sonatas, two operas, two festive cantatas, a Mass,
three canticles, a massive quodlibet in two acts titled Great
Allegorical Musical Festivity (written in 1788 in Nuremburg to celebrate
the balloon flight of Jean-Pierre Blanchard the previous year), and
other smaller chamber works. He can be reckoned as one of the most
prolific composers of the period. His brother Anton Stamitz
(1750-c.1809) was also a violinist and composer.
Maltese composer and theorist. His earliest training was under the
composer Michel’Angelo Vella, prior to his being sent to Naples in 1763,
where he enrolled in the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio a Porta Capuana.
His teachers there were Joseph Doll and Niccolò Piccinni. In 1774 he
returned to Malta to become maestro di cappella at the Mdina Cathedral
of Saint Paul. In 1783 he was appointed as successor of Benigno Zerafa
at the St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valletta, a position he finally
attained in 1789. As a composer, his works include an opera; the festive
cantata 'Malta felice'; an oratorio; 31 Masses; 76 Psalms; six
Magnificats; two Passions; six Lamentations; 70 motets; 16 antiphons;
and three symphonies of the singlemovement da chiesa form. His style
reflects the late Neapolitan opera, but his use of instrumental color
and harmony are particularly effective. His most famous theoretical work
is the treatise 'Il musico prattico' (c.1781). During his lifetime, he
was a well-known and much-soughtafter composer, particularly of church
music.
Spanish composer. Son of Basilio Furió and Ana María Brocat, almost
nothing is known of his youth. From 1759 to 1760, he was active as
maestro de capilla of the Guadix Cathedral. It is likely that this Pedro
Furió was the one appointed violinist and singer of the Santiago de
Compostela Cathedral in 1767, as his uncle Pedro Furió Brocat
(1688-c.1770) would have been 80 years old at that time. In 1770, he
began his teaching position at the León Cathedral. There, he replaced
Manuel Mencía, and after his departure, José Gallardo would take a year
to fill the position. On May 2, 1774, the maestro Enrique Villaverde had
passed away, leaving vacant the position of maestro de capilla of the
Oviedo Cathedral. The tenor Ventura Suárez remained as interim while the
competitive examinations to fill the position were organized. Besides
Pedro Furió, the candidates were Juan Antonio García Carrasquedo,
maestro de capilla of the Santander Cathedral; Francisco Náger, maestro
of the Orense Cathedral; and Juan Vidal, maestro of the Collegiate
Church of El Salvador in Seville. On March 4, 1775, after winning the
contest, he was officially appointed maestro de capilla of the Oviedo
Cathedral, a post he held for the rest of his life. His last documented
years show indiscipline and frequent absences. As a composer, his output
was mainly sacred, among them, several masses 'in stile antico' and
other minor sacred pieces.
Italian oboist and composer. Born into a musical family, he toured Italy
as an oboist when he was 20 years old. In 1777, he was appointed oboist
at Archbishop Colloredo's orchestra in Salzburg. There, he became close
to Michael Haydn and the Mozarts, who wrote solo or obbligato English
horn parts for him. Leopold Mozart stated that he was ‘a favorite in the
orchestra’ and that he had learned much from the Italian oboist Carlo
Besozzi, who visited Salzburg in 1778. By 1780, he had settled in
Venice, where he was often employed as principal oboist of the San
Samuele, San Benedetto, and La Fenice theaters. In 1795, he was active
in London, where he performed his own concertos for oboe and English
horn during Joseph Haydn's last season and became the lover of the
famous soprano Brigida Banti, whom he accompanied on a few occasions.
Haydn himself judged that he played moderately; the critics, on the
other hand, were well-disposed towards him. In 1801, he moved to Lisbon,
where he was employed at the royal chapel for a short time before his
death. Some sources state that he died in 1810 or even as late as 1833.
As a composer, he wrote at least four concertos and several chamber
works. He mainly specialized in performance on the English horn, and
many sources consider him responsible for improvements to the
instrument. Many family members were musicians; among them, his sons
Angelo Ferlendis (1780-c.1823) and Alessandro Ferlendis (1783-c.1826)
were oboists, and his daughter Josepha Antonia Hyacitha Ferlendis
(1777-c.1810) was a soprano. His brother Pietro Ferlendis (1748-1836)
was also an oboist and composer. Pietro Ferlendis's sons Gerardo
Ferlendis (1770-1802), Faustino Ferlendis (1771-1855), and Antonio
Ferlendis (fl. 1796-1826) were also professional oboists.
