DE FESCH, Willem (1687-1761) - Concerto Grosso (1741)

Willem de Fesch (1687-1761) - Concerto Grosso (D-Dur) des

'VIII Concerto's in seven parts' ... Opera the Tenth (1741)

Performers: La Sfera Armoniosa; Mike Fentross (conductor)

Painting: Jan Josef Horemans (1714-1792) - A music party on a terrace

Further info: Willem de Fesch - Concerti Grossi and Violin Concerto

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Willem (William, Guillaume, Guglielmus) de Fesch [Defesch, de Veg, de Feghg, du Feche]

(Alkmaar, bap. 26 August 1687 - London, 3 January 1761)

Dutch composer and violinist. He was the son of Louis de Fesch and Johanna Maasbragt. Despite his parents’ marriage in Amsterdam (1685) and his brother’s birth in Alkmaar, the family orginated from the Pays de Liège and returned to Liège before 1690. De Fesch may have been a choirboy or even a singer in Liège during the 1690s. By about 1710 both he and his elder brother Pieter (1685-?) had settled in Amsterdam: Pieter had stayed some years in Leiden, where he was registered as a musician at the University on 6 June 1706. In Amsterdam De Fesch married Anna Maria Rosier, daughter of the composer Carl Rosier, who was active in Bonn, Amsterdam and Cologne. The names Willem, Pieter and Anna Maria de Fesch occur in the accounts of the City Theatre for dancing, singing and playing during the years 1708-21. De Fesch remained in Amsterdam until 1725. During this period he made several appearances as a concert violinist, including three at Antwerp in 1718, 1719 and 1722. In 1725 he was appointed kapelmeester at Antwerp Cathedral in succession to Alphonse d’Eve, a post he held until 1731, when he resigned because of repeated quarrels with the chapter and the chapel – quarrels for which his temperamental, mean and slovenly character was apparently to blame. A few years later De Fesch was with his family in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. In London, De Fesch was able to develop his activity as a concert violinist and virtuoso to the full. He seems to have been organist of the Venetian Chapel in London during the first years of his stay in England. He also appeared frequently as a concert violinist, often performing his own compositions. In 1748 and 1749 De Fesch directed the orchestra at Marylebone Gardens. After 1750 he seems to have withdrawn from public life.

ROSENMULLER, Johann (1619-1684) - Sinfonie con cinque stromenti (1660)

Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684) - Sinfonie con cinque stromenti aus 'Sonate da camera cioè sinfonie, alemande, correnti, balletti, sarabande, da suonare con cinque stromenti da arco, et altri' (1660)

Performers: Gradus ad Parnassum Wien; Ton Kοοpman (conductor)

Painting: Follower of Pier Francesco Mola (1612-1666) - Homer playing the violin, in the company of a pupil

Further info: Sonate da camera

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Johann (Giovanni) Rosenmüller [Rosenmiller]

(Oelsnitz nr Zwickau, 24 August 1619 - Wolfenbüttel, bur. 12 September 1684)

German composer, trombonist, organist and teacher. He studied music at the Olsnitz Lateinschule and theology at the University of Leipzig (1640). There he most likely continued his musical studies with Tobias Michael, cantor of the Thomasschule, and he is listed as an assistant there in 1642, being made first assistant in 1650. He was also named organist of the Nicolaikirche in 1651 and music director in absentia of the Altenburg court in 1654. However, he lost these posts when he and several of the schoolboys were arrested and incarcerated as homosexuals in 1655. He escaped and eventually made his way to Venice, where he became a trombonist at San Marco in 1658. He secured a position as a composer there by 1660, and later was composer at the Ospedale della Pieta (1678-1682). He then returned to Germany to serve as Kapellmeister at the Wolfenbuttel court. He was a distinguished composer of both sacred vocal works and instrumental music. His compositions were well known in Germany and helped to advance the acceptance of the northern Italian styles.

GORCZYCKI, Grzegorz Gerwazy (c.1665-1734) - Missa Rorate Coeli

Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (c.1665-1734) - Missa Rorate Coeli

Performers: Aldona Bartnik (soprano); Matthew Venner (alto); Maciej Gocman (tenor); Tomáš Král (bass);

Andrzej Kosendiak (conductor)

Painting: Marcin Zaleski (1796-1877) - Wnetrze kosciola OO.Dominikanów w Krakowie (1849)

Further info: Gorczycki - Sacred music

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Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki [Gorczyca, Gorczyce, Gorzzyski]

(Rozbark, c.1665 - Kraków, 30 April 1734)

Polish composer. He studied philosophy at Prague University from about 1678 to 1683, and then theology at Vienna University until 1689. At the beginning of 1690 at the latest, he moved to Kraków, where he was ordained in spring 1692. Soon afterwards he was appointed professor at the Congregatio Missionis at Chełmno, Pomerania; one of his duties there was to direct the music in the chapel. In 1694 he returned to Kraków and became a curate and from 1696 the penitentiary of Wawel Cathedral. He was composing by this time, since one of his works, 'Tota pulchra es, Maria', is dated 1694. In 1698 he was made director of music at Wawel Cathedral, a position that he retained until his death. From 1702 he was also a senior member of the chapel of the Angelists at the cathedral. In 1705 he became canon of the collegiate church of Skalbmierz and from about 1720 parish priest of one of the Kraków churches. He conducted the Wawel chapel at the coronation of the Elector August III of Saxony at Kraków on 17 January 1734, and died shortly afterwards. He was mainly a composer of liturgical music to Latin texts. He was long remembered, particularly in Kraków.

SALULINI, Paolo (1709-1780) - Concerto con Saltero (1751)

Paolo Salulini (1709-1780) - Concerto (Sol maggiore) con Saltero e VV. (1751)

Performers: Karl-Heinz Schickhaus (1938-2007, dulcimer); Münchener Kammerorchester;

Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, conductor)

Painting: Carlo Lodi (1701-1765) & Antonio Rossi (1700-1753) - Telemaco vede mentore trasformarsi in Minerva

Further info: Concerto Con Salterio

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Paolo Salulini

(Siena, 1709 - Siena, 1780)

Italian composer. He received his initial musical training in Siena under 'Il Cavaliere de la Cioja' before undertaking advanced studies with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini at the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. Following his education, he returned to Siena, serving for several years as principal violinist of the opera orchestra. On 5 May 1765, he was appointed maestro di cappella at Siena Cathedral, a position he held until his death. During his fifteen-year tenure at the cathedral, he produced an extensive body of sacred music, including a complete annual cycle of modern-style orchestral services for Sundays and feast days. Among his liturgical works, his Requiem Mass for Emperor Francis I (1765) is particularly noted for its structural and counterpuntal merit. Although his sacred output remains largely unstudied, he is occasionally remembered for his secular instrumental output, notably a 'Concerto con Saltero' (1751).

SALIERI, Antonio (1750-1825) - Serenade in F-Dur (c.1773)

Antonio Salieri (1750-1825) - Serenade in F-Dur (c.1773)

Performers: Heidelberger Sinfoniker; Timo Jouko Herrmann (conductor)

Painting: Jacques François Joseph Swebach (1769-1823) - Halte de cavaliers dans un paysage vallonné

Further info: Salieri - Strictly Private

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Antonio (Anton) Salieri [Saliori]

(Legnago, 18 August 1750 - Vienna, 7 May 1825)

Italian composer, mainly active in Vienna. After studying with his brother Francesco Salieri, he received further education from Giuseppe Simone, a student of Padre Giovanni Battista Martini. After the deaths of his parents between 1763 and 1765, he was taken as a protégé by Giovanni Mocenjo in Venice. There he continued his studies with Giovanni Pescetti and Ferdinando Pacini until 1765. The following year he was taken by Florian Gassmann to Vienna, where in 1770 his first operas were performed. In 1778 he returned to Italy and succeeded in establishing a reputation for his works for the stage, and upon his return to Vienna in 1780 he wrote a German Singspiel, Der Rauchfangskehrer, for his newly emerging national theatre. Thereafter Christoph Willibald von Gluck took him on as a disciple, allowing him secretly to compose Les Danaïdes for Paris. This and work as a tutor to the royal family allowed him to be appointed as hofKapellmeister in 1788. By 1790 he began to withdraw from active duty, leaving much of the work to his student, Joseph Weigl, and although he had a revived career as an opera composer a few years later, his last work, Die Neger, was written in 1804. As a teacher, Salieri had numerous pupils who made major contributions to the world of music, including Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. For many years he was the head of the Tonkünstlersozietät and in 1815 was responsible for programming the music that accompanied the Treaty of Vienna conference. Although his reputation has suffered through mostly unfounded rumors of his relationship with Mozart, he must be considered one of the main composers of the entire era. His music demonstrates good orchestrational skill, dramatic use of harmony, excellent attention to form, and a good grasp of theoretical principles. A prolific composer, his works include 41 operas, five oratorios, five Masses, two Requiems, 13 graduals, 31 offertories, 18 introits, seven Psalms, 10 hymns, 12 motets, 17 choruses, 96 insertion or concert arias, 13 secular cantatas, 180 canons, 20 vocal quartets, 70 vocal trios, 50 vocal duets, 45 songs, five ballets, four symphonies, seven concertos and sinfonia concertantes, five serenades, and a large amount of smaller chamber works. He cataloged his own sacred music around 1817, but his works have been cataloged according to A numbers.