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.
Austrian composer and violinist. No details of his musical training are
known, but it has been surmised that he studied with court composer
Giuseppe Bonno, the teacher of his sister Catharina Starzer. By about
1752 he was a violinist in Vienna's Burgtheater orchestra, where he
began his career as a composer of ballets. During the winter of 1758-59,
he went to Russia, where he was active at the Imperial court in St.
Petersburg; gave concerts and later was made Konzertmeister and then
deputy Kapellmeister and composer of ballet music; served as maitre de
chapelle et directeur des concerts in 1763. Returning to Vienna about
1768, he composed several notable ballets. With Florian Leopold
Gassmann, he helped in 1771 to organize the Tonkiinstler-Sozietat, for
which he wrote a number of works. In 1779 he retired as a violinist and
in 1785 gave up his duties with the society. Joseph Starzer was one of
the leading Austrian composers of his day, winning distinction not only
for his ballets but for his orchestral and chamber music; his string
quartets have been compared favorably with those of Joseph Haydn.
Italian composer and violinist. Following early training in Jesi under
Francesco Santini, he enrolled in the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù
Cristo in Naples, where his teachers were Gaetano Greco and Francesco
Feo. He began his compositional career composing oratorios, such as the
1731 'La conversion e morte di San Guglielmo'. His first opera,
'Salustia', written for Naples in 1732, was a limited success, but he
was appointed as maestro di capella to Prince Ferdinando Colonna
Stigliano. Other operatic successes followed, but the most important was
his 1733 'Il prigionero superbo' with its two-act intermezzo 'La serva
padrona'. This is considered a seminal work in the creation of the
buffa. A second appointment at the court of the Duke of Maddaloni in
1734 led to further commissions, such as the opera 'L’Olimpiade', which
premiered at the Teatro Tordinona in Rome in 1735. Although this work
was initially not a success, Pergolesi’s career was meteoric. His
health, however, deteriorated and in 1736 he was confined to the
Capuchin monastery in Pozzuoli, where he died from tuberculosis.
Although he was only 26, he completed 11 operas and oratorios, two
Masses, five cantatas (including Orfeo in 1736), two Salve Reginas, one
Magnificat, a set of Marian vespers, and his most famous work, the
Stabat mater, which was commissioned by the Confraternità dei Cavalieri
di San Luigi di Palazzo shortly before his death (although a later
composer, Giovanni Paisiello, claimed it had actually been written
around 1730). His instrumental works were few, including four violin
sonatas and possibly a violin concerto. Following his untimely death,
his reputation spread throughout Europe, and a number of works were
falsely attributed to him, such as a set of six concerti grossi (now
known to be by Uno van Wassenaer). His Stabat mater was performed widely
(in various arrangements), and his Serva padrona was considered the
epitome of the new Italian comic style, particularly in Paris, where it
served as the center of the Querelle des bouffons. His style emphasizes
diatonic melody and triadic harmony, often with good contrasting themes.
He was a leading figure in the rise of Italian comic opera in the 18th
century.
Bohemian organist and composer. Son of Šimon Brixi (1693-1735), he
received his musical education at the Piarist Gymnasium in Kosmonosy.
His teachers included Václav Kalous, a significant composer. In 1749 he
left Kosmonosy and returned to Prague, where he worked as an organist at
several churches. In 1759 he was appointed Regens chori (choir
director) and Kapellmeister of St Vitus Cathedral, thus attaining, at
age 27, the highest musical position in the city; this office he held
till his early death. He wrote some 290 church works (of the most varied
type), cantatas and oratorios, chamber compositions, and orchestral
compositions. He was a prolific composer of music for the liturgy, and
wrote more than 100 masses, vespers and motets, among others. He also
composed secular music such as oratorios and incidental music, concertos
and symphonies. Brixi died of tuberculosis in Prague in 1771, at the
age of 39.
Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782)
-: Suite des 'AMADIS | DES GAULES | TRAGEDIE LIRIQUE DE QUINAULT |
Reduite En Trois Actes | Dedieé | A Monsieur | DE. CAUMARTIN' (1779),
WarB G 39
German composer. The youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750),
he received his earliest musical training from his father and a cousin,
Johann Elias Bach. After serving as a secretary to his father the final
year of his father’s life, he moved to Berlin in 1750, receiving further
instruction from his brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. In 1755 he left
for Milan, where he eventually obtained the patronage of Count Agostino
Litta. Following study with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini and
conversion to Roman Catholicism, he was appointed second organist at the
Milan cathedral in 1760. A commission for an opera from the Teatro
Regio in Turin the same year, however, altered his fortunes; the work,
Cantone in Utica, was a success that led both to commissions throughout
Italy and an international reputation as a composer of Italian opera. In
1762 he was invited to London, where he set the opera Orione. Its
success and the appointment as Music Master to the Queen allowed him to
reside permanently there. A further trip to Paris solidified his ability
to publish his music, and, finally, his lodging with compatriot Carl
Friedrich Abel resulted in a collaborative concert series beginning in
1764. For the next decade he traveled regularly to Paris where his works
were highly esteemed, and in 1772 he was invited to Mannheim to set the
opera Temistocle. In 1779 he wrote his first tragédie lyrique for
Paris, 'Amadis de Gaule'. Despite the successes, competition with rival
concert a difficult economic situation, and ill health led to his early
death. Bach can be considered one of the pivotal composers of the age.
Unlike his brothers Wilhelm Friedemann Bach and Carl Philipp Emanuel
Bach, he fully immersed himself in the Italian style, creating works
that feature clear period lyrical themes, solid harmonic foundations,
and distinct formal structures. His orchestration, often using obbligato
instruments, is colorful, and Bach used various Mannheim orchestral
devices to great effect. He was one of the most popular composers of the
period, whose music had circulation throughout Europe, influencing a
later generation of composers, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was a
prolific composer in virtually all genres. His works include 39 operas,
three serenatas, an oratorio, seven Mass/Requiem movements, 28 other
sacred works, 15 concert arias and cantatas, 45 songs/canzonetts, 34
symphonies, 19 sinfonia concertantes, 28 keyboard concertos, 11 other
concertos (violin, flute, oboe, and bassoon), six wind symphonies, 11
marches, a sextet, 13 quintets (string and piano), 20 quartets (string,
flute, and piano), 14 trio sonatas, 12 trios (almost all piano trios),
26 violin sonatas, two viola da gamba sonatas, 23 keyboard sonatas (four
for keyboard four hands), and numerous miscellaneous pieces for the
keyboard and harp. His music has been cataloged according to Terry (T)
or Warburton (W or CW) numbers.
French composer and double bass player. Born into a family of
construction artisans, he rose to prominence as a double bassist for the
Musique du roi in Versailles, a prestigious post he held from 1762
until his retirement with a full pension in 1785. A well-integrated
member of the royal musical circle, he married Louise Hélène Bernard in
1768, raised four children on the Avenue de Saint-Cloud, and served as a
legal guardian to the harpist Philippe Joseph Hinner. Beyond his
musical duties, Demignaux enjoyed a close proximity to the court,
receiving an annual stipend for presenting the Gazette to Queen Marie
Antoinette, a relationship that may have facilitated his protege’s own
success. Despite his long-standing royal service leading to his
denunciation as a "suspect" during the revolutionary period in 1794, he
survived the era and remained active in family life in Paris well into
the early 19th century, witnessing the marriages of his children. As a
composer, he wrote a small number of chamber pieces, primarily for the
harp, as well as songs with accompaniment.
