GRAUN, Carl Heinrich (1704-1759) - Ouverture 'Cesare e Cleopatra' (1742)

Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) - Ouverture 'Cesare e Cleopatra' (1742)

Performers: Orfеus Barock; Francesco Cοrtі (conductor)

Painting: Antoine Pesne (1683-1757) - Carl Heinrich Graun with his wife Anna Luise

Further info: Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759) - Sinfonia in C

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Carl (Karl, Carolus, Carlo) Heinrich Graun [Braun, Craun, Grann, Grau, Graue, Grauen]

(Wahrenbrück, 7 May 1704 - Berlin, 8 August 1759)

German composer and singer. Born into a family of musicians, his brothers August Friedrich Graun (c.1698-1765) and Johann Gottlieb Graun (1702-1771) were also musicians and composers. Carl Heinrich Graun was educated at the Kreuzschule in Dresden in 1714, where he composed his earliest works, sacred compositions, under the tutelage of Johann Zacharias Grundig. In 1718 he matriculated at Leipzig University, where he continued his musical studies with Emanuel Benisch, Johann Christoph Schmidt and Christian Pezold. In 1725 he was employed in Braunschweig as a tenor, and it was there that he composed his earliest opera 'Polydorus'. Further successes led to his coming to the attention of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia, into whose musical establishment at the court in Rheinsburg he was admitted in 1735. He remained at the Prussian court after it moved to Berlin when the crown prince became Frederick II, and in 1742 he was appointed Kapellmeister at the opera. Along with colleagues Johann Joachim Quantz, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Franz Benda, as well as his brother Johann Gottlieb Graun, he was part of the inner intellectual artistic circle that formed around the king, and during the last decade of his life he was known, along with Johann Adolph Hasse, as one of the chief opera seria composers of the period. His inaugural opera for Berlin, 'Cesare e Cleopatre' (1742), can be considered a seminal work in the composition of the Italian opera in German, and his 'Montezuma' (1755), to a text by Frederick II, explores an exotic subject unusual for the period. The same year he collaborated with poet Carl Ramler in writing a new type of Passion titled 'Der Tod Jesu', which only a few years later Johann Adam Hiller stated was an indispensible piece for any music library. It remained the quintessential German Easter oratorio on into the 19th century. The scope of Graun’s compositions has yet to be determined, given that many compositions, particularly chamber works, bear only his last name. This leads to inevitable confusion with his brothers’ works, and there remain issues of proper attribution. He did, however, write 32 operas (mostly opera seria), six Easter oratorios/cantatas, a Te Deum, six cantatas, seven Masses, 15 German sacred cantatas, 32 songs, three symphonies, seven concertos for keyboard, 25 trios (mainly two violins or flutes and basso), and numerous smaller works. The music has been cataloged by Christoph Hewel and is known by GraunWV numbers, further specified as CHG in the catalog itself. 

MARTINES, Marianne (1744-1812) - Missa solemnis (1765)

Marianne Martines (1744-1812) - Missa solemnis in D-Dur (1765)

Performers: Katharina Spiеlmann (soprano); Nina Amοn (mezzosoprano); Felix Riеnth (tenor); Michael Krеis (bass); Chorgemeinschaft Kirchdοrf; Peter Lοοsli (conductor)

Painting: Anoniem - Angel playing music

Further info: Marianne Martines (1744-1812) - Concerto da Cimbalo (c.1771)

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Marianne (Maria Anna Katharina) von Martines [Martinez]

(Vienna, 4 May 1744 - Vienna, 13 December 1812)

Austrian composer, singer and keyboardist. She was the daughter of a Neapolitan who had come to Vienna as ‘gentiluomo’ to the papal nuncio. She spent her childhood under the educational guidance of Pietro Metastasio, a friend of the family who lived in the same house; she was taught singing, the piano and composition by Nicola Porpora and Jospeh Haydn, who were also living there, by Giuseppe Bonno and possibly by J.A. Hasse. As a child she had attracted attention at court with her beautiful voice and her keyboard playing, and in 1761 a mass by her was performed in the court church. She acknowledged in 1773, when she became an honorary member of the Bologna Accademia Filarmonica, that as a composer she took as her principal models Hasse, Jommelli and Galuppi. Not only did she possess a thorough understanding of imitation and fugue, but she also knew how to set words in the Baroque manner. Her predilection for coloratura passages, leaps over wide intervals and trills indicate that she herself must have been an excellent singer. In 1772 Burney praised her singing for all the typical virtues of the Italian school as well as for ‘touching expression’. Burney’s remark that her vocal works were ‘neither common, nor unnaturally new’ applies to her instrumental works as well. A typical composer of the early Classical period in Vienna, she wrote in the Italian style. Her works include four Masses, six motets, three litanies, numerous Psalms and other sacred works, two oratorios, three keyboard sonatas, a keyboard concerto, and a symphony, as well as songs. 

DELLER, Florian Johann (1729-1773) - Suite 'Orfeo Ed Euridice' (1763)

Florian Johann Deller (1729-1773) - Suite-Ballet 'Orfeo Ed Euridice' (1763)

Performers: Consortium Musicum; Walter Thoеnе (conductor)

Drawing: Johann Hieronymus Löschenkohl (1753-1807) - Sprievod bratislavských mäsiarov (1790)

Further info: Am Hofe Des Herzogs Karl Eugen Von Württemberg

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Florian Johann (Giovanni) Deller [Teller, Döller, Töller]

(Drosendorf, bap. 2 May 1729 - Munich, 19 April 1773)

Austrian composer and violinist. Little is known of his early education, save that it was at regional monastic schools. He first appears in 1751 as a violinist in Stuttgart, where he studied under Niccolò Jommelli. His first success as a composer was with a ballet 'Orfée et Euridice' (1763), choreographed by Jean-Georges Noverre. By 1769 he had achieved a success as an opera composer in Vienna with a production at the Burgtheater of 'Il maestro di cappella' (1773) and had been appointed concertmaster and Hofcompositeur in Stuttgart. He soon left and settled in Munich, where he is reputed to have received a commission from Maria Antonia Walpurgis to write a mass for Dresden. He died in Munich on his way back from further work in Vienna. As a composer, he was known as a facile composer particularly of ballet music, with a good solid sense of danceable rhythm. His music was generally in the Viennese Classical style with the addition of Italian orchestral recitative for the large pantomime scenes and folklike melodies. His works include 11 ballets, nine comic operas, four symphonies, six trio sonatas, two flute concertos, and numerous sacred compositions.

RODRIGUEZ, Felipe (1760-1815) - Sonata III (1801)

Felipe Rodríguez (1760-1815) - Sonata (III, en Si bemol mayor) from 'Quaderno de Sonatas para Organo Del Rdo. P. Fr. Felipe Rodríguez. Para uso de Fr. Francisco Moll Orgta. Año 1801'

Performers: Josep Maria Roger (fortepiano)

Painting: José del Castillo (1737-1793) - Un paseo a la orilla del Estanque del Retiro (1780)

Further info: Rodriguez - Obras Para Fortepiano

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Felipe Rodríguez

(Madrid, 1 May 1760 - Madrid, 5 May 1815)

Spanish organist and composer. His parents, Matías and Josefa, were born in the city of Corella, Navarre. As a boy he studied music in the Escolanía of Montserrat with Anselm Viola Valentí, and where Narcís Casanoves Bertrán held also the post of organist. He finished his stay there at the age of 17 years and on 13 February 1778 he took the monastic novice habit from the hands of Dídac Camino, president of the monastery, in the absence, surely, of Abbot Pere Viver (abbot during years 1777-1782). The following year he took his full monastic vows at Montserrat. Is not documented when he was transferred to the monastery of Montserrat of Madrid, where he cultivated his musical talents as organist (he was a very fine player) and composing a book of organ sonatas. It is interesting to note that his works were fairly well known in Catalonia, since there are different copies made outside Montserrat, and that they were well received. It is not certain whether he composed any vocal works for the escolanía. 

HIRSCHBERGER, Albericus (1709-1745) - Concerto I (1743)

Albericus Hirschberger (1709-1745) - Concerto I (C-Dur) aus Philomela Cisterciensis ex valle Bernardina Raittenhaslacensi In Orbem evolans, tàm in Urbe, quàm Rure Dei Laudem ter tremulâ Voce decantatura, id est Opus tripartitum constans Sex Missis, totidémque Offertoriis, ac Concertis, adjuncto Te Deum, &c (1743)

Performers: Kammerorchester Musica Bavarica; Alois Kirchbеrgеr (conductor)

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) - Widok lak Wilanowskich

Further info: Musik aus Bayerischen Klöstern

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(Josef Joachim) Albericus (Alberico, Alberich) Hirschberger [Hirshperg, Hirsperger, Hyrschperger]

(Ried im Innkreis, 11 March 1709 - Schupfing bei Halsbach, 27 September 1745)

German priest and composer. In 1727 he entered the Cistercian abbey of Raitenhaslach in Upper Bavaria, where he was ordained a priest in 1734. In 1731 he settled at the Benedictine monasteries of Rott am Inn (1732-33) where he received music lessons. Few years later, he was appointed music director in Raitenhaslach in a post he held until 1743. As a composer, despite he wrote many works, he was mainly known by his collection 'Philomela Cisterciensis ex valle Bernardina Raitenhaslacensi in orbem evolans' (1743) which includes 6 masses, 1 Te Deum, 11 church sonatas (concertos), 1 pastorello as well as other minor sacred pieces. The masses included in that collection were highly praised and were reprinted several times. He was family-related to the organists Johann Amand Hirschberger (1678-1727), Anton Hirschberger (1700-1736) and Anton Claudius Hirschberger (1734-1810).