Amandus Ivanschiz (1727-1758)
- Missa Pastoritia (G-Dur) a Canto, Alto, Tenore, Basso,
Violinis
2bus, Corn: 2bus Con Organo
Performers: Irena Bааr (soprano); Sabira Hajdаrеvic (alto); Marjan Trcеk
(tenor); Zoran Potοcаn (bass);
Musica Antiqua Labаcеnsis; MPZ Te Deum;
Simon Rοbinsοn (conductor)
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Austrian composer of south Slav extraction. Only fragmentary information
about his life is available. He entered the Pauline order in his
hometown and choose the name of Amandus likely by the end of 1742. After
his novitiate in the Ranna monastery at the age of 16 (1743) he took
his monastic vows. He then studied in Maria Trost and Wiener Neustadt,
where he was ordained a priest on November 15, 1750. Between 1751 and
1754 he stayed in Rome as an assistant to the Procurator General of the
order, from where he returned to Wiener Neustadt. In 1755 he was sent
again to the Maria Trost monastery, where he died in 1758, at the young
age of 31. He was a prolific and popular composer: there survive about
100 works by him in manuscripts copies, dating mostly from 1762 to 1772
and scattered throughout the Habsburg Empire and in south Germany. His
music is characteristic of the transition from late Baroque to early
Classical style, and his best works are his masses and symphonies. The
masses are mostly scored for four soloists, four-part choir, two violins
and bass and a pair of trumpets; some are of considerable dimensions,
and they show distinct Neapolitan traits. The symphonies, many of which
have four movements, are scored for strings, sometimes with a pair of
trumpets or horns. The trios, entitled variously ‘Divertimento’,
‘Nocturno’, ‘Sinfonia’, ‘Sonata’ and ‘Parthia’, are mostly in three
movements in the same key; Ivanschiz’s frequent use of the viola as the
second solo instrument is a forward-looking trait.
