DE MONTE, Philippe (1521-1603) - Missa sine nomine

Philippe de Monte (1521-1603) - Missa a 6 'Missa sine nomine'

Performers: La Capella Ducale; Roland Wilson (conductor)

Painting: Niccoló Frangipane (c.1550-c.1600) (attributed) - Bacchanal

Further info: Musica Sacra In Colonia

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Philippe de (Filippo di) Monte [Mons]

(Mechelen, 1521 - Prague, 4 July 1603)

Flemish composer. It is likely that he received his first musical training as a choirboy at St Rombouts Cathedral in Mechelen. He was employed early on as an instructor to the children of the Genovese banker Domenico Pinelli, in Naples. He then went to Rome, where he published his first book of madrigals (1554), and from Rome to Antwerp in 1554, and then to England, where he served as 'chorus praefectus' in the private chapel of Philip II of Spain, the husband of the Queen, Mary Tudor. In September 1555 he left England and went to Italy again; in 1567 he was in Rome. On 1 May 1568, he became Imperial Court Kapellmeister to the Emperor Maximilian II in Vienna; he held this position until his death, which occurred while the court was at Prague during the summer of 1603. In 1572 he was appointed treasurer of Cambrai Cathedral, and in 1577, also a canon (residence was not required for either position there). He was greatly esteemed as a composer, numbering among his works some 1,000 madrigals, about 40 masses (mostly in cantus firmus, paraphrase and parody masses), and many other works of sacred music. He was an important representative of the last generation of great Flemish composers of the Renaissance, and was one of the major composers of Italian madrigals. 

POKORNY, František Xaver (1729-1794) - Concerto per due Corni (c.1750)

František Xaver Pokorný (1729-1794) - Concerto (F-Dur). Corno Primo | Corno Secundo Principale | Violino Primo | Violino 2do: | Flauto Primo | Flauto 2do | Viola | Basso d: 30 Juli Di Pokorni (c.1750)

Performers: Hermann Bаumаnn (horn); Christoph Kοhlеr (horn); Concerto Amsterdam;

Jaap Schrödеr (1925-2020, conductor)

Drawing: Unknown artist (18th Century) - Le Régal sur l'herbe

Further info: L. Mozart, Pokorny, Witt, Rosetti - Horn Concertos

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František (Franz) Xaver (Thomas) Pokorný [Pokorny, Pockorny, Bockorni et al.]

(Mies [now Střibro], 20 December 1729 - Regensburg, 2 July 1794)

Bohemian composer and violinist. Son of a bureaucrat, he was sent to Regensburg as a youth to study under Joseph Riepel. In 1750 he obtained a post as violinist at the court of Oettingen-Wallerstein, and in 1753 he was given leave to further his studies in Mannheim, where his teachers included Johann Stamitz, Franz Xaver Richter, and Ignaz Holzbauer. Returning to Wallerstein he was also employed at the Thurn und Taxis court in Regensburg, commuting back and forth for several years before being offered a permanent position in the latter city in 1769. He was appointed as court chamber composer, though his relationship with the Kapellmeister, Baron Theodor von Schacht was not smooth, resulting in much of his music being deliberately misattributed to others after (and possibly before) his death in 1794. As a composer, he was one of the most prolific symphonists of the period, noted for his particular use of the orchestra. His works in this genre are mostly four movement, and in his numerous concertos he was able to exploit the technical capabilities of the instrumental solos. His works include at least 145 symphonies (with as many as another 100 still of possible attribution), 65 concertos (including 45 for keyboard), numerous serenades/divertimentos, three quartets, a piano quintet, three string trios, and five trio sonatas. Much of his music remains to be explored, primarily due to von Schacht’s intervention.

Gessel (18th Century) - Schmecket und sehet wie freundlich der Herr ist

Gessel (18th Century) - Dominica Laetare "Schmecket und sehet wie freundlich der Herr ist"

Performers: Ingrida Gapova (soprano); Jan Medrala (alto); Krzysztof Kozarek (tenor); Jacek Ozimkowski (bass); Goldberg Baroque Ensemble; Andrzej Mikołaj Szadejko (conductor)

Painting: Jacques de La Joue II (c.1687-1761) - Allegory of Winter

Further info: Lent Cantatas Of 18th Century Gdansk

ENGEL, Jan (?-1788) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur (1772)

Jan Engel (?-1788) - SINFONIA (Es-Dur) | A | Violini, Oboe, Corni, | Alto, e Basso. | [by hand with black ink: "Due Clarinetti"] | DEDICATA | A SUA ECCELLENZA | II Sig|r: Conte | PRZEZDZIECKI. ... ANNO 1772

Performers: Capella Claromontana; Jan Tomasz Adamus (conductor)

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) - Kosciol brygidek i arsenal

Further info: Musica Claromontana 15

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Jan Engel

(? - Warsaw, 30 June 1788)

Polish composer, printer and music publisher. He served as Kapellmeister at the Cathedral of St. John in Warsaw between 1771 and 1772, during which time he established a printing press on Ulica Krzywe Koło that remained operational until 1776. In 1772, he independently published six of his own symphonies, issued separately with uniform title pages and distributed through the Warsaw booksellers M. Gröll and J.A. Poser; while extant copies of the first three symphonies are preserved in the Pauline Monastery in Częstochowa, the remaining works are known exclusively through contemporary Warsaw press announcements and entries in the Breitkopf (Leipzig) catalogs spanning 1772, 1777, and 1785-1787. The following year, he compiled and published a collection titled 'Mélanges de Musique pour le clavecin par Monsieur Engel', which notably featured works by M. Kamieński alongside what were highly probable to be his own compositions and those of other contemporaries, though this publication was regrettably destroyed during World War II. In tandem with advertising this collection, he offered for sale various manuscripts and prints, including Masses, motets, arias, duets, and oratorios, alongside a novel, proprietary "music printing machine of his own invention" before resigning from his cathedral post on September 1, 1773. A subsequent notice in the Gazeta Warszawska, dated February 14, 1776, documented the relocation of his printworks to the Wędrychowska tenement on ul. Kamienne Schodki and publicized the release of "new Polish dances arranged for the harpsichord" as well as twelve forthcoming pieces. Ultimately, given the scarcity of surviving historical data, evidence suggests that Engel’s publishing endeavors were sporadic, representing the pioneering, independent efforts of a single individual.

STRACH, Leopold (1699-1755) - Missa Solemnis (c.1730)

Leopold Strach (1699-1755) - Missa Solemnis (c.1730)

Performers: Mieke van der Sluis (sopran); Bernhard Landauer (alt); Wilfried Jochens (tenor); Wolf Matthias Friedrich (bass); Kammerchor des Ferdinandeums; Concerto Armonico Budapest; Josef Wetzinger (conductor)

Painting: Michel-François Dandré-Bardon (1700-1785) - Allegorie auf den Frieden von Wien (1735)

Further info: Musik aus Stift Stams XXI

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Leopold Strach [Strach von Treyenfeld, Stroch]

(Kolin, 11 November 1699 - Brixen, 28 June 1755)

Bohemian composer and church musician. His early life and training remain unknown. Born in Kolín, his documented career began in 1727 when he was employed as a bassist and court composer under the Prince-Bishop of Brixen. By 1728, he provisionally assumed the duties of Vice-Kapellmeister for Prince-Bishop Kaspar Ignaz von Künigl, a leadership position over the court and cathedral choir (Hof- und Domkapellmeister) that he officially secured in 1730 and held for the rest of his life. Strach was a prolific creator of sacred music, much of which was performed at the Stams Abbey (Abbatia B. M. V. et Sancti Ioannis Baptistae), but he also composed secular theatrical music for the Brixen Gymnasium, including Conradinus (1737) and Genovefa (1739). Following his death in Brixen in June 1755, he left behind an extensive library of roughly 3,000 sheets of usable musical material, which the cathedral chapter purchased from his widow for 100 florins on the advice of his successor, Simon Judas Thaddäus Mayr.