DESAUGIERS, Marc-Antoine (1742-1793) - Messe Des Morts (1786)

Marc-Antoine Désaugiers (1742-1793) - Messe Des Morts ... à la mémoire d'Antonio Sacchini (1786)

Performers: Sabine Revault d'Allonnes (soprano); Jacques Chardon (alto); Patrick Garayt (tenor);

Jean-Louis Serre (bass); Ensemble Vocal du Chesnay; Ensemble Vocal Loré;

Orchestre Français D'Oratorio; Jean-Pierre Loré (conductor)

Painting: Jacques-Louis David (1748-1825) - The Death of Seneca (1773)

Further info: Marc-Antoine Désaugiers - Réquiem

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Marc-Antoine Désaugiers

(Fréjus, 16 November 1739 - Paris, 10 September 1793)

French composer. After some musical studies he settled in Paris in 1774 and first attracted attention by his translation of Giovanni Battista Mancini's 'Pensieri e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato' (1774) under the title 'L'art du chant figuré' de J.B. Mancini (1776) and by his 'Lettres sur la musique des grecs'. The first of his works to be performed in Paris was a motet presented at the Concert Spirituel in 1777. He then wrote several stage works which were performed at the Comédie-Italienne and the Opéra; among these 'Les deux sylphes' (1781) and, above all, 'Les deux jumeaux de Bergame' (1782) became popular. He was a friend of Christoph Willibald Gluck and Antonio Sacchini and in memory of the latter wrote a Requiem (1786) which was well received. He was quick to support the ideas of the Revolution and, at the request of the National Assembly, wrote a cantata for choir and orchestra, 'La prise de la Bastille, hiérodrame tiré des livres saints', in which he arranged fragments of verses from the Scriptures in a sequence depicting the events surrounding the fall of the Bastille. The work was enthusiastically received at Notre Dame on 13 July 1790; it was later performed several times and revised slightly in 1794. As a composer, he left many comic operas, a symphony, airs, romances and the opera 'Bélisaire', with a libretto by his elder son Auguste Félix Désaugiers (1772-1827), who also revised Antonio Salieri's 'Danaïdes' (1817) and 'Tarare' (1819). Marc-Antoine Désaugiers suffered from the inadequacy of his musical technique but his charming style and sense of drama, as well as his generous nature, account for the reputation he enjoyed in his day.

WECBACHER, Lorenzo (18th Century) - Quartetto per il cembalo principale

Lorenzo Weckbacher (18th Century) - Quartetto (F-Dur) per il cembalo principale,

violino primo, violino secondo con violoncello (c.1790)

Performers: Korneel Bernolet (harpsichord); Apotheosis ensemble

Drawing: Auguste Edouart (1789-1861) - The Music Room (1828)

Further info: Quartetti per il Cembalo Principale

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Lorenzo Weckbacher

(fl. second half 18th Century)

German or French composer active during the second half of the eighteenth century whose life and career remain unknown. He is primarily known through a 370-page manuscript collection comprising sixteen compositions - including keyboard concertos, orchestral overtures, harpsichord quartets, and quintets - held at the library of the Royal Conservatoire of Antwerp, alongside incomplete quartet violin parts preserved at the Fürst zu Bentheim-Tecklenburgische Musikbibliothek in Rheda, Germany. Although the Antwerp manuscript designates him in French as 'maître de chapelle de Sa Majesté le Roi de Prusse', a title seemingly supported by the title of his orchestral piece 'Ouverture pour le jour de la naissance du Roi de Prusse', no biographical records or documentary evidence exist to confirm his service as Kapellmeister to the Prussian court.

KRESS, Georg Philipp (1719-1779) - Ouverture a 5

Georg Philipp Kress (1719-1779) - Ouverture (D-Dur) | a | 2 Violini | 2 Oboes | 2 Corni | Viola | e | Basso

Performers: Gοttingеr Barockorchester; Antonius Adаmskе (conductor)

Painting: Johann Tobias Sonntag (1716-1774) - Prospect von dem Meliboco und dessen Gegend (1746)

Further info: Gottingen Christmas Cantatas

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Georg Philipp Kress [Kreß]

(Darmstadt, bap. 10 November 1719 - Göttingen, 2 February 1779)

German violinist and composer. He was the second son of Johann Jakob Kress (c.1690-1728) and Anna Maria Kress, both of whom died when he was young. Although details regarding his specific musical training remain unknown, he received a thorough musical education that enabled him to become an acclaimed virtuoso violinist. By 1744 he was first violinist in the Mecklenburg court orchestra at Schwerin. In 1748 he obtained leave to visit Plön, where he was Konzertmeister from 21 February 1748 to 1 July 1751. In 1755 he was again in Schwerin, but left his court post in the summer of 1767 to become Konzertmeister at the University of Göttingen; the appointment dated from 23 November 1766 in a post he held the rest of his life. As a composer, he wrote symphonies, two concertos and sonatas. His compositions excited less admiration; one critic described them as 'awkward, wooden and unmelodious'. Stylistically they owe something to the works of his godfather, Georg Philipp Telemann.

LEFEVRE, Jean Xavier (1763-1829) - Quatrième concerto pour clarinette

Jean Xavier Lefèvre (1763-1829) - Quatrième concerto pour clarinette

Dedié à Monsieur A. Bronice... Exécuté par l'auteur, au théâtre des arts... [en si b] (1797)

Performers: Eduаrd Brunnеr (1939-2017, clarinet); Munіch Chamber Orchestra; Reinhard Goebel (conductor)

Painting: Johann Heinrich Bleuler Jr. (1787-1857) - Lausanne, Montbenon

Further info: Concertos pour Clarinette

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Jean (Giovanni) Xavier Lefèvre [Lefèbvre, Lefévre, Le Févre, Lefévre]

(Lausanne, 6 March 1763 - Paris, 9 November 1829)

French clarinettist and composer of Swiss birth. He studied the clarinet with Michel Yost in Paris, joined the Gardes Françaises in 1778 and was a member of the Garde National from 1789 to 1795. Between 1783 and 1791 he performed at the Concert Spirituel; he also played in the Opéra orchestra from 1791 to 1817 and was principal clarinettist in the Imperial Chapel (later the Royal Chapel) from 1807 until 1829. In 1814 he was made Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur. Lefèvre taught at the Paris Conservatoire from its foundation (1795) until 1824. Many of his pupils became well-known performers and composers including César Jannsen, Claude-Gabriel Péchignier, Claude François Buteux and Bernhard Crusell. His thorough 'Méthode de clarinette' (1802) was used there for many years, and translated into German and Italian. He was the first to use the now standard range from e to c'''' and trill fingerings from e to e''', and played with the reed against the upper lip. His compositions include concertos, symphonies concertantes and chamber music, all of which use the clarinet prominently. Lefèvre noted in his method that he had the Parisian maker Jean-Jacques Baumann add a c '/g '' key to the standard five-keyed clarinet; this happened in about 1790, although the fingering chart in the method was intended for a five-key instrument. It was added to clarinets during the early 19th century by the use of a pillar attached to a metal base by Baumann, Simiot and other French makers. It is not known whether Lefèvre was related to the woodwind maker François Lefèvre (?-1856) or to Lefèvre of Nantes, a manufacturer of clarinet mouthpieces during the first half of the 19th century.

ZOMB, František Xaver (1779-1823) - Vesperae Cassovienses

František Xaver Zomb (1779-1823) - Vesperae Cassovienses

Painting: Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) - The Pool at Bethesda

Performers: Livia Aghοvá (soprano); Marta Bеňačkοvá (alto); Ludovit Ludhа (tenor); Peter Mіkulás (bass);

Spevácky zbor mesta Bratislavy; Statna filharmónia Kosice; Richard Zimmеr (conductor)

Further info: Zomb - Missa Brevis & Vesperae

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František Xaver Zomb

(Košice, 9 November 1779 - Košice, 20 December 1823)

Slovakian composer and teacher. Almost nothing is known about his life. He was mainly active as a regens chori, teacher and composer in his hometown. In 1819 he was appointed choirmaster at the Košice Cathedral in a post he held the rest of his life. He was also documented as music critic to the 'Allgmeine musikalische Zeitung' in Leipzig and Vienna. As a composer, he mainly focused on sacred music, among them, a collection of ten masses from 1812 and a set of Vespers.

KALKBRENNER, Friedrich (1784-1849) - Grande Sonate Brillante (c.1840)

Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1784-1849) - Grande Sonate Brillante Pour le Piano ... 

Dediée à Mr. Sigismond Thalberg, Op: 177 (c.1840)

Performers: Adrian Ruiz (piano)

Drawing: Henri Grevedon (1776-1860) - Portrait of Friedrich Kalkbrenner (1829)

Further info: Thalberg - Grande Sonate & Friedrich Kalkbrenner - Grande Sonate Brillante

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Friedrich (Frédéric) (Wilhelm Michael) Kalkbrenner

(Kassel, 7 November 1785 - Enghien-les-Bains, 10 June 1849)

German pianist, teacher and composer. He was born while his parents were en route from Kassel to Berlin. His father, Christian Kalkbrenner (1755-1806), of Jewish extraction, was a professional musician of some repute, whose own inflated sense of self-worth led him in 1803 not only to re-arrange Mozart’s Don Giovanni for the Parisian theatre but to interpolate fresh pieces into the opera. Soon after Friedrich’s birth, Christian Kalkbrenner was appointed choirmaster at the Prussian Court (1788) and subsequently (1790-96) for Prince Heinrich, brother of Frederick II 'The Great', at his castle at Rheinsberg. It was in this exotic environment that the young Kalkbrenner grew up. By the age of five-and-a-half he was advanced enough to play a Jospeh Haydn concerto before the Queen of Prussia. At eight, he spoke four languages fluently. Having abandoned Germany in 1796, the Kalkbrenners travelled through Italy for two years, before visiting Vienna where, it is said, young Friedrich was among the violinists in the first performance of Joseph Haydn’s The Creation in March 1799. His father, having procured an engagement as choirmaster at the Paris Opéra, enrolled his son in the Conservatoire. Here he studied from 1799 to 1801 with Louis Adam and František Nicodami (piano) and Charles-Simon Catel (harmony), winning first prizes for piano and composition in a ceremony graced by the presence of Napoleon. Introduced by Joseph Haydn to Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, he studied counterpoint in Vienna from 1803, striking up a warm friendship with Johann Nepomuk Hummel and passing his leisure time in the company of Ludwig van Beethoven and Muzio Clementi. The latter made a deep impression on him and he remained a firm adherent of Clementi’s methods for the rest of his life. Kalkbrenner plunged into a dazzling career as a soloist, but only for a short while. 

His father’s death in 1806 affected him profoundly and, for several years, he turned his back on music, buying an estate at Praslin where, in the company of an unidentified lady, he turned his attention to agriculture. The estate speedily doubled in value. Unluckily, his banker became bankrupt and Kalkbrenner sailed for England in 1814 in an attempt to recover his losses. Having opened his musical campaign in Bath, he settled in London where he lived for the next ten years. His success as a pianist and teacher was extraordinary. Pupils flocked to him (at a guinea for forty minutes, his fee was the highest in the capital); and in 1818 he added to his considerable earning power by buying into an invention called the 'Chiroplast'. Dreamt up by a German emigrant musician, Johann Logier, this contraption had two parallel mahogany rails attached to the instrument in front of the keyboard to restrict extreme vertical motion of the wrists and forearm. Kalkbrenner brought out his own simplified version, his 'Guide-Mains'. It was said to be still available in England as late as the 1870s. Among those he put to work on it was his pupil Camille Stamaty, who in turn introduced it to his pupils Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Camille Saint-Saëns. The latter spoke up in favour of its use for 'forming the young pianist in the execution of works written for the clavecin and earliest pianofortes, of which the notes spoke without effort on the player’s part'. With his fortune and ego substantially inflated, Kalkbrenner returned to Paris in 1824 where he became a partner in the firm of Camille Pleyel, 'a man famous for his pianos and his wife’s adventures' as one contemporary wag put it. Here he remained as a fashionable teacher and successful pianist until his death. 'After my death or when I stop playing', he informed Frédéric Chopin, 'there will be no representative of the great pianoforte school'. 

MENAULT, Pierre (c.1642-1694) - Magnificat Anima Mea (1693)

Pierre Menault (c.1642-1694) - Magnificat Anima Mea

des 'Vespres à deux chœurs, avec symphonies' (1693)

Performers: Arsys; La Fenice; Jean Tubéry (conductor)

Painting: Circle of Jacques-François Courtin (1672-1752) - Elegant Women Playing Music

Further info: Vepres pour le Pere la Chaize

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Pierre (Richard) Menault

(Beaune, c.1642 - Dijon, 1694)

French composer. He attended the choir school of the collegiate church of Notre Dame, Beaune, from 1650 to 1660 and was taught by Jacques Huyn, the 'maître de chapelle', and Claude Chardenet, the organist. He was appointed 'maître de musique' at Châlons-sur-Marne Cathedral, and he then occupied the same post in the collegiate church of his native city from 1671 to 1676. He was back in Châlons-sur-Marne from 1676 to 1687. In 1683 he took part in the competition for the appointment of 'sous-maîtres' to the royal chapel at Versailles, but he did not get past the first round. He ended his career in Dijon, where he became choirmaster of the large collegiate church of St Etienne. The works by Menault which have come down to us were published by Christophe Ballard between 1676 and 1693. The five Masses are in the old Franco-Flemish style and, like many others of the period, use the same head-motif at the beginning of several sections. The 'Vespres à deux chœurs, avec symphonies' (1693) is ambitious in both its dimensions (five psalms, antiphons and motets) and its scoring (for few voices, strings, organ and continuo).

ALBERTINI, Thomas Anton (c.1660-1736) - Entrée à 10 (1694)

Thomas Anton Albertini (c.1660-1736) - ENTREE. | à 10 |

2- Hautbois | 2- Clarini: | 2- Violin: | 2- Violi | Violone et Fagotto (1694)

Performers: Societas Incognitorum; Eduard Tomaštík (conductor)

Painting: Jan Peeter Verdussen (1700-1763) - A Military Encampment, Depicting the Household Cavalry of The duke of Savoy (1744-1745) with a Standard Bearer and Horses by a Tent

Further info: Music of the Kappelmeisters at St. Wenceslas' cathedral in Olomouc

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Thomas Anton Albertini

(c.1660 - Olomouc, 3 October 1736)

German composer. Nothing is known of his early years. After 1690 he came to Olomouc from Vienna and entered the services of the Olomouc chapter. In 1691 he was appointed chapel master at the cathedral after Philipp Jakob Rittler death. In 1696 he married Magdalena Cecilie Zindel, daughter of the cathedral organist. Although his salary was raised from 100 to 300 florins by 1702, he complained throughout his life of the low pay and engaged in continual battles with the chapter, which refused to meet his demands and blamed him for the decline of music in the cathedral. In 1708 he requested special leave to perform his compositions before the Emperor Joseph I in Vienna; he overstayed his leave and the chapter gave him notice, which was revoked only after the emperor’s direct intervention. In spite of perpetually strained relations with the chapter he remained in his post until his death. As a composer, all that survive of his extensive works are two orchestral suites from the year 1694, dedicated to the Bishop Liechtenstein-Kastelcorn, a pastoral sonata for strings, a Mass and a Te Deum. He was probably related to the Ignaz Albertini who applied for a musical post in Olomouc as early as 1671. His son Reymund Albertini (1701-?) was a musician in the orchestra of Count Rottal in Holešov (c.1734-37) and later with Count Leopold Dietrichstein in Brno.

DITERS VON DITTERSDORF, Joannes Carolus (1739-1799) - Missa in C

Joannes Carolus Diters von Dittersdorf (1739-1799) - Missa in C

| a | Violino Primo | Violino Secundo | Oboa Prima | Oboa Secunda | Clarino Primo | Clarino Secundo

| Tympana | Canto Alto Tenore Basso | con | Organo

Performers: Hilda Gulyás (soprano); Matej Benda (alto); Matúš Šimko (tenor); Matúš Trávniček (bass);

Vocal ensemble SoLa; Solamente Naturali; Miloš Valent (conductor)

Painting: Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) - Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome (c.1754)

Further info: Musica Tyrnaviensis

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Joannes Carolus (Carl, Karl) Diters von Dittersdorf [Dietters, Dittero, Rittersdorf, Titters et al.]

(Vienna, 2 November 1739 - Neuhof [now Nový Dvůr], 24 October 1799)

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.

FRISCH, Jean-Paul (1945-2013) - Concerto per il Trombone

Jean-Paul Frisch (1945-2013) - Concerto per il Trombone

Performers: Marc Meyers (trombone); Latvian Chamber Orchestra; Carlo Jans (conductor)

Painting: Erik Henningsen (1855-1930) - Changing of the Guard (1888)

Further info: Posaunenkonzerte

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Jean-Paul Frisch

(Pétange, nr Luxembourg, 29 October 1945 - Luxembourg, 27 April 2013)

Luxembourgish trombonist, composer and music educator. He studied music at the Luxembourg Conservatory, covering harmony, counterpoint, musical analysis, history of music, trumpet, trombone, piano, double bass and conducting. He continued his studies at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, where he obtained a first prize in both harmony and transposition as well as a higher certificate for trombone playing. Concurrently, his professional career includes directing various wind and brass ensembles and serving as a professor of trombone and harmony at the Luxembourg City Conservatory, both since 1963. Active as a composer since 1965, his output comprises over fifty compositions, primarily written for wind and brass ensembles, in addition to works for chamber groups, choral ensembles, and pedagogical purposes. A selection of his catalogue has been published by Musica Mundana.

BORTNJANSKIJ, Dmitrij (1751-1825) - Sinfonie concertante (1790)

Dmitrij Bortnjanskij (1751-1825) - Sinfonie concertante (B-Dur) ...

composee pour Son Altesse imperiale Madame La Grande Duchesse de Russie (1790)

Performers: Olga Martynova (pianoforte); Prаtum Intеgrum Orchestra; Pavel Serbin (conductor)

Painting: Mikhail Ivanovich Belsky (1753-1794) - Dmitry Bortniansky (1788)

Further info: The Russian Album

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Dmitrij Stepanovič Bortnjanskij [Bortnyansky, Bartniansky, Bortnjansky, Bortnyans'ky et al.]

[Дмитро Степанович Бортнянський]

(Glukhov [now Hlukhiv], 28 October 1751 - Sant Petersburg, 10 October 1825)

Russian composer. He was born into an Ukrainian Cossack's family in the city of Glukhov which at that time used to be the capital of Malorussia famous by its choir schools. Having studied in one of them for a year or two the seven-year-old boy endowed with the fine treble together with nine other best pupils had been sent to St-Petersburg and admitted to the Court Choirs as a chorister yet during the time of Elizabeth, Peter the Great's daughter. The brilliant talents of the choir-boy haven't been left unnoticed. Eleven-year-old Dmitry was entrusted with the part of Alzesta in the opera of the same name written by the court composer Hermann Raupach. Two years later when the production was renewed he performed the main men's tenor part of Admet. The boy was appointed to the Shlyahetsky Corps to be taught dramatic arts and foreign languages. But what is the most important his successes were noticed by Baldassare Galuppi himself. The eminent maestro highly appreciated Bortnyansky's talents and was teaching him vocal, clavicembalo playing and composition for over three years. Leaving Russia in summer, 1768, Galuppi urgently recommended to send the gifted young man to Italy to continue his education. In 1776 Bortnyansky makes his debut as an opera composer. The first performance of his 'Creont' took place in the Venetian theater 'San Benedetto'. The next opera 'Alkid' (1778) was also staged in Venice, in 'San Samuel' theater presumably under Galuppi's protection. The new composition testified to the indisputable maturity of the twenty-seven-year-old composer and his outstanding artistic talent. In April, 1779, he received from Russia the order signed by the Director of the Court Theaters I. P. Yelagin 'without a moment's delay... to come back to the Motherland...'. Settled in Sant Petersburg for the rest of his life, he wrote music for the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as operas for the court of Catherine II. By 1796, her successor, Paul III, made him director of the Imperial Choir and recognized him as a national musical figure. As a composer, he wrote over 100 sacred works, including 45 sacred concertos, seven Orthodox liturgical settings, an Ave Maria and a Salve Regina, and numerous other pieces in Russian. In addition, he wrote seven operas, a large ode, several part songs, a quintet and a symphony (titled Symphonie concertante), two harp sonatas, and a march for wind band. Bortnjanskij’s style follows the harmony and lyricism of his Italian teacher, but the Russian works include paraphrases of Old Slavonic chant, as well as occasional folk elements, particularly in the instrumental compositions. 

JARNOVIC, Ivan Mane (1747-1804) - Concerto a Violon Principal (1776)

Ivan Mane Jarnović (1747-1804) - Concerto a violon principal, premier, second, alto et basse,

deux hautbois, deux cors ad libitum... [1er en la] (1776)

Performers: Paul Yeager (violin); Starling Chamber Orchestra; Kurt Sassmannshaus (conductor)

Drawing: Louis Charles Ruotte (1754-1806) - L'Escamoteur, from Cinq Costumes Parisiens, (1804)

Further info: Violin Concertos

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Ivan (Giovanni) Mane Jarnović [Giornovichi, Jarnovicki, Jarnowick et al.]

(Republic of Dubrovnik, 26 October 1747 - St Petersburg, 23 November 1804)

Croatian violinist and composer. Son of Ivan Marija Jarnović and Marija de Marchi, he was born on board a ship bound for Italy from Dubrovnik [now Croatia], and baptized two days later in Palermo. At an early age he may have been sent to study with Antonio Lolli, and in 1773 he made his debut at the Concerts spirituels in Paris after having arrived there in 1770. His performance was successful enough to launch a career as a traveling virtuoso throughout Europe. This success was soon followed by stories about his scandalous and quarrelsome behaviour. He gave frequent public performances until 1777, when he probably became leader of the orchestra for Prince Rohan-Guémémee. In 1779 he suddenly left Paris, reportedly under questionable circumstances. After appearing in Frankfurt he went to Berlin where he was appointed leader of the orchestra to the Crown Prince of Prussia late in 1779. Less than three years later he left because of quarrels with the cellist Jean-Pierre Duport. He played in Warsaw in September 1782 and early the next year went to St Petersburg where he entered the service of Catherine II. In 1786 he went to Vienna and made an excellent impression on such discerning artists as Joannes Carolus Diters von Dittersdorf, Leopold Mozart and Vojtech Matyáš Jírovec. Early in 1791 he began to play regularly in London. He was repeatedly successful at Salomon’s Hanover Square series and took part in Joseph Haydn’s first benefit concert. Once again his personality created difficulties. William Thomas Parke reported that he behaved arrogantly to royalty at the Duke of York’s house, and Ernst Ludwig Gerber that he nearly provoked a duel with Johann Baptist Cramer. Towards the end of 1796 he left London. For the next six years he reportedly lived in Hamburg, more active as a billiard player than as a violinist. In 1802 he played in St Petersburg, where he was once again given a place in the court orchestra, probably as leader. He held the position until he died of a stroke apparently suffered during a game of billiards. Ivan Mane Jarnović was known as a facile and progressive violinist, a rival of Giovanni Battista Viotti, with whom he was close friends, he helped to create the French school of violin playing. His own works largely reflect this focus and include 22 violin concertos, seven symphonies, six string quartets, 10 duos, and seven sonatas. His most important compositions are his violin concertos, which evidently reflect his performing style. Simple in texture and harmony, clear in structure, and charming but limited in expression, they epitomize the later stages of the galant style.

D'HELFER, Charles (1598-1661) - Missa pro defunctis (1656)

Charles d'Helfer (1598-1661) - Missa pro defunctis, quatuor vocum... (1656)

Performers: A Sei Voci; Les Sacqueboutiers; Bernard Fabre-Garrus (1944-2006, conductor)

Painting: School of Lucca (17th Century) - A Concert

Further info: Missa pro defunctis, quatuor vocum...

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Charles (Carolo) d’Helfer [Delfert, Dhelfer, d’Helfert, d’Helpher]

(1598 - Soissons, 4 November 1661)

French composer. Nothing is known of his youth and music formation. He was documented in Soissons in 1648 serving as a priest and as a 'maître de musique'. In 1653 he was appointed by decree chaplain of one of the 12 chapels in the cathedral. Three years later he described himself as 'simphoneta simphoniarca', that is, music master to the children in the choir school, and later he became a canon. Helfer is known to have composed only Latin sacred music, particularly a cappella masses, four of which are his only surviving works. He wrote them in sparingly ornamented counterpoint whose melodic lines are remarkable for their fluid elegance. He did not adhere at all strictly to the traditional modal system but made much use of major-minor tonality. His masses were esteemed by connoisseurs and long remained in the repertory of the best choirs; some of them were in print as late as 1729. Moreover, Sébastien de Brossard, reported in his manuscript Catalogue of 1724 that the Missa Deliciae regum "still delights people with good taste". In particular the Missa pro defunctis (1656) had a surprisingly long history. It was sung for the obsequies of Michel-Richard Delalande in 1726.

TOUCHEMOULIN, Joseph (1727-1801) - Sinfonia ex D (1795)

Joseph Touchemoulin (1727-1801) - Sinfonia ex D. | à | Violino primo. | Violino Secondo.

| Corno primo. | Corno Secondo. | Violetta | e | Basso (1795)

Performers: Lеs Invеntions; Pаtrick Ayrtοn (conductor)

Drawing: Anonymus (18th Century) - Copy of a concert ticket with a group of eleven musicians playing various instruments in an interior with a Venetian window

Further info: Symphonies–D major

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Joseph Touchemoulin [Touchmolin, Dousmoulin, Dousmolin et al.]

(Chalon-sur-Saône?, 23 October 1727 - Regensburg, 25 October 1801)

French violinist and composer. The son of an oboist, he received his early training from his father before being sent to Italy to study under Giuseppe Tartini. Returning to Bonn in 1753 he served as a violinist at the court and later, in 1760, was appointed Kapellmeister. He left only a year later, however, to take up a position as violinist at the Thurn und Taxis court in Regensburg, where he spent the rest of his career. His music contains a similar style to the Mannheim composers. His surviving works include an opera, a Mass, a Requiem, six symphonies, 13 concertos (violin and flute), a string quartet, a divertimento, four violin sonatas, numerous Lieder, and a host of smaller chamber works. Of his three children, two are known to have been musicians, his daughter Anna Catharina Touchemoulin (1757-1844), who was singer and pianist, and his son Egidius or Ludwig Touchemoulin (1759-1830), who by about 1777 was a violinist in his father's orchestra and in 1787 became its leader.

LECLAIR, Jean-Marie (1697-1764) - Suite 'Scylla et Glaucus' (1746)

Jean-Marie Leclair (1697-1764) - Suite 'Scylla et Glaucus' (1746)

Performers: English Chamber Orchestra; Raymond Leppard (1927-2019, conductor)

Painting: Jacques Sébastien Leclerc (c.1734-1785) - Personnages autour d'une fontaine lisant et filant

Further info: Scylla et Glaucus

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Jean-Marie Leclair (l’aîné) [Claire, Le Clair, Le Clerc]

(Lyons, 10 May 1697 - Paris, 22 October 1764)

French composer, violinist and dancer. His father was the master lacemaker and cellist Antoine Leclair. He studied violin, dancing, and lacemaking in his youth, excelling in all three. He then began his career as a dancer at the Lyons Opera, where he met Marie-Rose Casthagnie; they were married in 1716. About 1722 he went to Turin, where he was active as a ballet master. During a visit to Paris in 1723 to arrange for the publication of his op.1, a distinguished set of sonatas, he acquired a wealthy patron in Joseph Bonnier. Returning to Turin, he wrote ballets for the Teatro Regio Ducale and also received instruction from Giovanni Battista Somis. He then made a series of appearances at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1728. He also visited London, and then made a great impression when he played at the Kassel court with Pietro Locatelli. He subsequently received additional instruction from Andre Cheron in Paris. After the death of his first wife, he married Louise Roussel (1700-c.1774) in 1730; she engraved all of his works from op.2 forward. From 1733 to 1737 he served as 'ordinaire de la musique du roi' to Louis XV. He then entered the service of Princess Anne at the Orange court in the Netherlands in 1738, and was honored with the Croix Neerlandaise du Lion. He was active three months of the year at the court, and, from 1740, spent the remaining months as maestro di cappella to the commoner François du Liz at The Hague. He returned to Paris in 1743. With the exception of a brief period of service with the Spanish Prince Don Philippe in Chamhery in 1744, he remained in Paris for the rest of his life. From 1748 until his death, he was music director and composer to his former student, the Duke of Gramont, who maintained a private theater in the Parisian suburb of Puteaux. He separated from his wife about 1758. He was murdered as he was entering his home. The Paris police report listed three suspects: His gardener (who discovered his body), his estranged wife, and his nephew, the violinist Guillaume-François Vial, with whom he was on poor terms. The evidence clearly pointed to the nephew, but he was never charged with the deed. As a violinist, he was the founder of the French violin school. He was also a distinguished composer who successfully combined the finest elements of the Italian and French styles of his day. His brothers Jean-Marie Leclair [le cadet] (1703-1777), Pierre Leclair (1709-1784) and Jean-Benoît Leclair (1714-c.1759) were also violinists and composers. 

KOHL, Leopold (1753-c.1802) - Quatuor concertant

Leopold Kohl (1753-c.1802) - Quatuor concertant des

'Six Quatuors concertants pour cor, violon, alto et basse... Oeuvre III'

Performers: AIеssio AIIеgrini (horn); SoIisti deIIa ScaIa MiIano

Painting: Jean-Baptiste Pillement (1728-1808) - Pastoral scene

Further info: La Grande Fanfare

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Leopold (Wenceslas) Kohl

(Quatierub, 1753 - c.1802)

Bohemian composer and horn player. He received his earliest musical training as a chorister in Prague before mastering the horn, an instrument on which he gained distinction as a virtuoso performer. Prior to establishing himself in Paris in 1784, he served as court music director to Prince Lobkowitz in Bílina, Bohemia. During his Parisian period, he published three collection of 'Quatuors concertants pour cor, violon, alto et basse' (Opus 1, 2, and 3; c.1781-1802).

SCHUBERT, Ferdinand Lukas (1794-1859) - Pastoralmesse (c.1830)

Ferdinand Lukas Schubert (1794-1859) - Pastoralmesse in B-Dur 'Hirten-Messe', Op.13 (c.1830)

Performers: Bernadette Degelin (soprano); Lucienne Van Deyck (alto); Zeger Vandersteene (tenor); Kurt Widmer (bass); Maastricht Kamerchor Conservatorium; Musica Polyphonica; Louis Devos (1926-2015, conductor)

Painting: Ferdinand Schubert (1824-1853) - Ferdinand Lukas Schubert

Further info: Requiem & Hirtenmesse

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Ferdinand Lukas Schubert [Subert, Šubert]

(Vienna, 18 October 1794 - Vienna, 26 February 1859)

Austrian organist, composer and teacher. Brother of Franz Schubert (1797-1828), he received his first music lessons from his father Franz Theodor Florian Schubert (1763-1830), and after training in the Normalhauptschule in Vienna (1807-8) he became a teacher in his father’s school. He was an assistant teacher (1810-16) and a teacher (1816-24) at the Alsergrund orphanage, then headmaster (1824-51) and director (1851-59) of the Normalhauptschule. He was twice married, first to Anna Schüler (1816) and, after her death, to Therese Spazierer (1832). He frequently drew on his brother’s music for help in his daily work, passing it off as his own. The most famous instance of this appropriation is the Deutsches Requiem, which he submitted to the examiners of the Alt-Lerchenfeld school; on its strength he was appointed organist and choirmaster (1820). As a composer, he wrote vocal music almost exclusively, including two Singspiels, four masses and a requiem. As a custodian of his brother’s manuscripts his record is mixed; he continued to appropriate the lesser, earlier works for school music books and choral test pieces (so that a list of his compositions must be suspect). But he also did all in his power to obtain the publication of Schubert’s larger works, and in this task he was more or less successful. 

ZELENKA, Jan Dismas (1679-1745) - Ouverture à 7 concertanti (1723)

Jan Dismas Zelenka (1679-1745) - Ouverture (F-Dur) à 7 | Concerta:

| Violin 2 | Oboe 2 | Viola | Fagotto e | Basso Contin. | à Praga | 1723

Performers: Il Fondamento; Paul Dombrecht (conductor)

Painting: Johann Georg Platzer (1704-1761) - Outdoor party

Further info: Jan Dismas Zelenka - Prague 1723

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Jan (Lukáš Ignatius) Dismas Zelenka [Zekenka]

(Louňovice pod Blaníkem, bap. 16 October 1679 - Dresden, 22/23 December 1745)

Bohemian composer. He was the son of an organist and it is most probable that he received his early music training from his father. About 1710 he went to Prague, where he attended the Jesuit Clementinum. He also learned to play the double bass and was a member of the orchestra of Count Hartog. Upon Hartog's recommendation in 1710, he was accepted as a member of the Dresden court orchestra. In 1715 he went to Venice to study with Lotti and, between 1716 and 1719, he spent considerable time in Vienna studying with Johann Joseph Fux. With his training completed, he remained at the Dresden court for the rest of his life. In 1721 he became vice-Kapellmeister there, but was passed over as Kapellmeister in 1731 when Hasse accepted the court's appointment. In 1735 he was named Kirchen-compositeur to the court. Zelenka was particularly known during his lifetime as a composer of sacred music, winning the admiration of Bach and Telemann. His extensive output of such music included the oratorios 'Il serpente di bronzo' (1730), 'Gesu al Calvario' (1735), and 'I Penitenti al sepolchro del Redentore' (1736), about 20 masses, 2 Magnificats, over 35 cantatas, and various motets, Psalms, antiphons, hymns, and other pieces. For the coronation of the Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI as King of Bohemia, he composed the Melodrama de Sancto Wenceslao ("Sub olea pacis et palma virtutis conspicua orbi Regia Bohemiae Corona"), which was first performed in Frankfurt am Main on 12 November 1723. Almost all of the manuscripts of Zelenka's sacred music were lost in 1945. Since several of his instrumental works were published in his lifetime, copies have survived and today Zelenka is known as a distinguished and refreshing composer of instrumental music. Among his extant works for orchestra are 5 capriccios (1-4, 1717-18; 5, 1729), a Simphonie a 8 Concertante (1723), a Concerto a 8 Concertante (1723), and the Hipocondrie a 7 Concercante (1723). Also extant are 6 Trio or Quadro Sonatas for 2 Oboes, Bassoon, and Basso Continuo (c.1720).

BESOZZI, Carlo (1738-1791) - Concerto à Oboe obligato

Carlo Besozzi (1738-1791) - Concerto (Sol maggiore) à Oboe obligato,

Violino Primo, Violino Secondo, Alto Viola e Basso

Performers: Jаn Adаmus (oboè); Prаgue Chamber Orchestra

Painting: Follower of Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) - Dresden from the right bank of the Elbe

Further info: Oboe Concertos

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Carlo Besozzi [Besuzzi, Bezocy, Bezozi, et al.]

(Naples or Dresden, 1738 - Dresden, 22 March 1791)

Italian oboist and composer. Son of Antonio Besozzi (1714-1781), he received music lessons from his father. He must have displayed phenomenal ability for in 1755 he became a regular member of the Dresden court orchestra, a position which he retained throughout his life. His tours of Europe with his father included visits to Paris (1757) and Stuttgart (1758-59). He was judged favourably by Burney and by Leopold Mozart, who heard him play in Salzburg in 1778. Joseph Schubert heard Carlo in Augsburg and referred to him as the monarch of oboists and a great, ‘but somewhat unusual’, theorist. Even though none of Carlo’s music was printed during his lifetime, 23 concertos, 26 sonatas and a divertimento have survived. The concertos were clearly written for Carlo to play himself, and while conceived to display his skill, they rarely indulge in virtuoso display per se. The final movements are more serious than was common at that time and often introduce Sturm und Drang characteristics. There is an emphasis on novelty, frequently of an unexpectedly chromatic nature. The works for wind ensemble are, with one exception, in major keys and each of the four movements is usually in the tonic key. Carlo’s son Francesco Besozzi (1766-c.1816) succeeded him as oboist in the Dresden royal chapel in 1792. Francesco was one of the best-known oboists of his time but no compositions by him are known to have survived.

PETERSEN, David (1651-c.1737) - Sonata a 4 (1683)

David Petersen (1651-c.1737) - Sonata a 4 aus

'Speelstukken samengestelt door David Petersen, dese stukken werden gespeelt met en viool en bas continuo, waar by gevoegt kan werden een theorbe, of viool dagamba' (1683)

Performers: Manfredo Kraemer (violin); The Rare Fruits Council

Painting: Gerrit Adriaenszoon Berckheyde (1638-1698) - The town hall on the Dam, Amsterdam

Further info: David Petersen - Speelstukken

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David Petersen [Pietersen, Peterson]

(Lübeck, 1651 - Amsterdam, c.1737)

Dutch composer and violinist. He went to Lund (Sweden) with Gregor Zuber, possibly his tutor and almost certainly his mentor; both were employed as university musicians there during the early 1670s. From shortly before 1680 onwards he was active in Amsterdam; it is not clear whether he worked as a professional musician. Considering his 'Speelstukken' of 1683 and a possible connection between Johann Jacob Walther and Amsterdam (as expressed in Walther’s 'Hortulus chelicus'), it is possible that Walther taught Petersen. Petersen dedicated the 'Speelstukken' to an Amsterdam burgomaster and subsequently received a few small city appointments, which he held until his death. The 'Speelstukken' mentioned was his most important composition. The sonatas included are in a virtuoso style with many polyphonic passages, rapid scales and other figures, and the use of high positions. He also wrote numerous continuo songs to Dutch poems mostly by Abraham Alewijn, a close friend. David Petersen belongs to the generation of Dutch composers that includes Johannes Schenk, Carolus Hacquart, Servaas de Konink and Hendrik Anders, all of whom were influenced by German, French and Italian music.

GHERARDESCHI, Filippo Maria (1738-1808) - Messa in re minore

 

Filippo Maria Gherardeschi (1738-1808) Work: Messa in re minore

Performers: Coro Polifonico S.Nicola; Camerata Musicale; Stefano Barandoni (conductor)

Painting: Aloysia Fauquet (18th Century) - Filippo Maria Gherardeschi (1773)

Further info: Il Settecento Musicale Pisano

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Filippo Maria Gherardeschi [Gherardesca]

(Pistoia, 11 October 1738 - Pisa, 30 September 1808)

Italian organist and composer. He began his musical education in his home town, where his father, Giuseppe Gherardeschi, was organist at the churches of SS Trinità and Santa Maria dell’Umiltà, and his uncle, Atto Gherardeschi, was cantor in the chapel of Pistoia Cathedral. He continued his studies in Bologna with Giovanni Battista Martini from 1756 to about 1761, when he was admitted to the Accademia Filarmonica. In 1763 he was appointed as maestro di cappella in Volterra, at the same time as he functioned as organist in Pisa. There he soon attained notable fame, being invited to play the harpsichord at court, for the patrician families of Pisa, and at the town theatre of the Accademia dei Costanti. In 1770 he obtained the post of director at the Pistoia cathedral. In 1771 he resigned from the cathedral, and the post was taken up by his brother Domenico Gherardeschi (1733-1800), who was already organist there. In 1783 Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, appointed him 'maestro di musica' to his children and director of concerts (when the court was resident in Pisa), and in 1785 appointed him organist and maestro di cappella at the Chiesa Conventuale dei Cavalieri di San Stefano at Pisa, a post he retained until his death. Despite he spent his whole life in Tuscany, he corresponded with Padre Martini until the latter’s death in 1784 (39 letters). As a composer, his music is little known, but includes seven operas, 10 sonatas, a concerto, and numerous sacred works, as well as a treatise, 'Elementi per suonare il cembalo'.

KONIGSPERGER, Marianus (1708-1769) - Concerto à Cembalo Principali

Marianus Königsperger (1708-1769) - Concerto (G-Dur) à Cembalo Principali aus

'CERTAMEN MUSICUM | COMPLECTENS | VI. | CONCERTA | COMMUNIA | & | II. PASTORITIA | AD FACILEM CUJUSVIS USUM | ACCOMMODATA. | Organo Principali | 2. Violinis & Alto Viola necessariis, | 2. Clarinis vel Cornibus & Violoncello ad libitum | Modulatore | R. F. Mariano Königsperger, | Ord. S. P. Benedicti, in Exempto | Monasterio Priflingensi Professo. | OPUS XVIII. | AUGUSTÆ-VINDELICORUM, | Sumptibus JOANNIS JACOBI LOTTERI Hæredum. MDCCLIV' (1754)

Performers: Consortium Musicum Passau; Markus Eberhardt (harpsichord)

Painting: Anoniem - Herrenporträt und Justitia vor der Ansicht von Regensburg (c.1750)

Further info: Donaubarock II

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Marianus (Johann Erhard) Königsperger

(Roding, nr Regensburg, 4 December 1708 - Prüfening, nr Regensburg, 9 October 1769)

German monastic composer and organist. The son of an instrument maker, he went to the Benedictine abbey of Prüfening as a choirboy. Although he was the son of a music instrument maker, he intended to enter the priesthood as a teacher of theology. In 1734 he entered the Benedictine monastery at Prüfening, becoming regens chori and eventually Kapellmeister. His main musical focus was on the development of suitable church music for smaller churches in Bavaria, and he partnered with the firm of Lotter in Augsburg to publish sets of works that could be performed with limited musical forces. His music thus gained tremendous popularity throughout the region. His works include a number of sacred Singspiels (now lost), 59 Masses, five Requiems, 33 sacred odes, six Stabat maters, over 30 offertories, 12 litanies, numerous Marian antiphons, several Te Deums, and other sacred music, almost all of which was published.

FIORE, Andrea Stefano (1686-1732) - Venite exultemus

Andrea Stefano Fiorè (1686-1732) - Venite exultemus

Performers: Cyrille Gerstenhaber (soprano); Roberto Balconi (1967-2025, alto); Chœur départemental de Haute-Savoie; Orféo orchestra Budapest; Bernard Spizzi (conductor)

Painting: Unknown artist (18th Century) - Andrea Stefano Fiorè

Further info: Musiques pour le Saint Suaire

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Andrea Stefano Fiorè [Fiore, Fiori, Gierosa]

(Milan, 1686 - Turin, 6 October 1732)

Italian composer. Son of Angelo Maria Fiorè (1660-1723), he was a child prodigy: in the dedication of his 'Sinfonie da chiesa' (1699) he explained that the pieces 'are the last squalls of my infancy, and the first expressions of my boyhood, I having just turned 13'. The title-page of this collection of 12 trio sonatas indicates that he was 'musico di camera' of the dedicatee, Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy, a member of the Bolognese Accademia Filarmonica (which he joined with his father in 1697), and Milanese by birth. The royal account books in the Turin State Archive show that the duke sent Andrea Stefano with Giovanni Battista Somis, to study in Rome. An opera composed for Carnival 1707, 'La casta Penelope', was well received, and the Duke of Savoy soon thereafter appointed Fiorè his maestro di cappella on 13 June 1707. Until his death in 1732 he was in charge of the 30 to 36 musicians at the Turin court and the singers at the cathedral. 16 scores of sacred music in the cathedral chapter archive testify to his direction of the choir there. Johann Joachim Quantz, who visited Turin in June 1726 and praised Fiorè’s orchestra and its leader Somis, wrote that he regarded Fiorè one of the best Italian composers of church sonatas. Until more scores of his operas come to light, modern judgment of Fiorè’s music must be based chiefly on his published trios, a handful of solo cantatas and his surviving choral music.

ORSCHLER, Johann Georg (c.1698-1777) - Trio con Violini e Basso

Johann Georg Orschler (c.1698-1777) - Trio (f-moll). | co Violini e Basso. | 3. St.[immen]

Performers: Collegium 1700

Engraving: Ichnographica Urbis Wratislaviensis Delineatio, Praeter Alia Exactissime

Etiam Repraesentans Singula Templa et Monasteria (1752)

Further info: Sonata in f-moll

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Johann Georg (Giovanni) Orschler [Orsler, Urschler, Orschel]

(Breslau [now Wroclaw], c.1698 - Vienna, 4 October 1777)

German composer and violinist. He received his initial musical training from Michael Kirsten, the organist at the St. Mary Magdalene Church in Breslau. His early patron, the music-loving Count Zierotin of Falkenberg, appointed him as a page and funded his advanced education, enabling him to study the violin under Johann Otto Rosetter and composition in Vienna under the renowned composer and theorist Johann Joseph Fux. Orschler spent the late 1720s in Prague before serving as a violinist to the Archdeacon of Olomouc, Count von Thurn und Valsassina, around 1730. Between 1731 and 1736, he served as Hofmeister at Holešov Castle for Count Franz Anton von Rottal, a position later held by Ignaz Holzbauer, after which he worked as Kapellmeister to Prince Liechtenstein until roughly 1750. In his later years, he was a respected member of the Imperial Court Chapel (Wiener Hofmusikkapelle) in Vienna, where he spent his last years. As a composer, he left few works, among them, symphonies, divertimentos, chamber pieces as well as a Salve Regina in D and the motet 'Psallite pueri jubilate'.

HUBLER, Ignaz Aloys (fl. 1822-1832) - Missa brevis ex E (c.1825)

Ignaz Aloys Hubler (fl. 1822-1832) - Missa brevis ex E | a | Canto. Alto. | Tentore. Basso. |

Violino 1Imo | Violino IIIdo | et | Organo (c.1825)

Performers: Vocal ensemble SoLa; Solamente naturali; Miloš Valent (conductor)

Painting: Italien 18th century - Orthodox scene

Further info: Musica Nitriensis

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Ignaz Aloys (Ignatz Alloys) Hubler

(fl. 1822-1832)

Moravian singer and composer, active primarily during the 1820s and 1830s. In January 1822, he married Anna Fingermann, also from Moravia, in Nitra, with whom he had a daughter named Maria Anna Hubler (1822-1831) and a son named Carl Johann Hubler (1825-?). Hubler's musical career in Nitra is documented by historic records: he sang bass in a cathedral ensemble on 3 October 1826, during the tuning of the organ at the Cathedral of St. Emmeram, and in July 1829 'Regens Chori' Joseph Vavrovits documented three of Hubler's new works. Tragic loss struck him in 1831 when a devastating cholera epidemic in Nitra claimed the lives of his wife and daughter, after which his documented activities in the city ceased. Nevertheless, his compositions, mainly sacred, with manuscripts bearing dates such as 1824, 1825, 1826, 1829, and 1832, spread widely across the region, surviving in the Diocesan Archive in Nitra, the Roman Catholic Parish Church in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, and the Music Museum of the Slovak National Museum from localities including Bratislava, Dubnica nad Váhom, Spišské Podhradie, Švedlár, and Trenčín.

TUMA, František Ignác Antonín (1704-1774) - Sinfonia Ex C

František Ignác Antonín Tuma (1704-1774) - Sinfonia Ex C | à | Violino Primo | Secondo |

Clarino Primo | Secondo | Tympanis | con | Basso

Performers: Czech Ensemble Baroque Orchestra; Roman Válek (conductor)

Drawing: Franz Josef Stanka (1765-1831) - Aufmarsch des Wiener bürgerlichen Artilleriecorps am Platz Am Hof am 12. März 1810 aus Anlass der Vermählung Napoleons und Marie-Louises (1810)

Further info: Tuma - Te Deum, Sinfonia, Missa

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František (Franz, Franciscus) Ignác Antonín (Anton) Tůma [Thuma, Tuma, Tumma]

(Kostelec nad Orlicí, 2 October 1704 - Vienna, 30 January 1774)

Bohemian composer. He received his first musical training from his father, organist at Kostelec, and probably studied in Prague, at the Jesuit seminary. He likely sang as a tenor chorister under Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský at the Minorite Church of St. James the Great, and he is believed to have received musical instruction from him. He then went to Vienna, where he was active as a church musician; according to Marpurg he became a vice-Kapellmeister at Vienna in 1722. Tůma's name first appears in Viennese records in April 1727, when he got married. In 1731 he became 'Compositor und Capellen-Meister' to Count Franz Ferdinand Kinsky, who was the High Chancellor of Bohemia. Kinsky's patronage made it possible for him to study counterpoint with Johann Fux in Vienna. He participated in the premiere of Fux's opera Constanza e Fortezza along with Georg Benda and Sylvius Leopold Weiss. In 1734, Kinsky recommended him for the post of the Kapellmeister to Prague Cathedral, but his recommendation arrived too late and he may have remained in Kinsky's service until the latter's death in 1741. In that year he was appointed Kapellmeister to the dowager empress, the widow of Emperor Charles VI. On her death in 1750, Tůma received a pension. For the next 18 years he remained in Vienna and was active as a composer and as a player on the bass viol and the theorbo; he was esteemed by the court and the nobility, and at least one work may have been commissioned from him by the Empress Maria Theresa. After the death of his wife in about 1768, Tůma lived at the Premonstratensian monastery of Geras, but in his last illness he returned to Vienna and died in the hospital of the Merciful Brethren in the Leopoldstadt. 

AUBERT, Jacques (1689-1753) - Concerto a 6 (1740)

Jacques Aubert (1689-1753) - Concerto (en re majeur) a quatre violons, violoncello et basse-continue...

IIe livre, gravé par De Gland..., oeuvre XXVI (1740)

Performers: Les Cyclοpеs ensemble

Painting: French school (c.1675) - Paris, a view of the Seine looking East, the Pont Rouge in the foreground

Further info: Concerto a quatre violons, violoncello et basse-continue

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Jacques Aubert [le vieux, le père]

(Paris, 30 September 1689 - Belleville, nr Paris, 17/18 May 1753)

French violinist and composer. He was probably a son of Jean Aubert, a member of the 24 Violons du Roi until his death in 1710. He was a student of Jean Baptiste Senaillé. In 1717 he is known to have been working in the Théâtres de la Foire, as a violinist and dancing-master, and had composed at least five ballets and comedies. In 1719, the year in which he married Marie Louise Lecat and published his first book of violin sonatas, he was appointed to the service of Louis-Henri, Duke of Bourbon and Prince of Condé. In 1727 he succeeded Noël Converset in the 24 Violons du Roi, remaining a member until 1746, and in the next year he accepted a position with the Académie Royale de Musique and was named first violinist of the Opéra orchestra, with which he performed for the next 24 years. As a composer, his output includes ballet and dance music, opéras comiques, concertos, sonatas for violin and continuo and what he called ‘concerts de simphonie’. His son, the painter Louis Aubert Aubert (1720-c.1800), was also a violinist and composer. Another son, Jean-Louis Aubert (1731-1814) was a dramatist, poet and journalist, also known as the Abbé Aubert.