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.
Italian composer and violinist. He was born into a family of musicians
and artists. His grandfather was one of the first violinists of
Florence; his uncle Antonio Veracini (1659-1733) was that and a fine
composer as well. He studied violin with his uncle, with whom he
appeared in concerts in Florence, and also received instruction from
Giovanni Maria Casini and Francesco Feroci, and from Giuseppe Antonio
Bernabei in Germany (1715). In 1711 he went to Venice, where he appeared
as a soloist at the Christmas masses at San Marco; in 1714 he gave a
series of benefit concerts in London, and in 1716 entered the private
service of the Elector of Saxony; in 1717 he went to Dresden and entered
the court service. In 1723 he returned to Florence, where he was active
as a performer and composer of sacred works; he also gave private
concerts. In 1733 he returned to London, where he played for the Opera
of the Nobility, a rival to Handel's opera company; he also composed
operas during his London years. In 1745 he returned to Italy, where from
1755 until his death he was maestro di cappella for the Vallambrosian
fathers at the church of S. Pancrazio in Florence; he also held that
position for the Teatini fathers at the church of S. Michele
agl'Antinori there (from 1758). He acquired a reputation as an
eccentric, and some considered him mad. Nonetheless he was esteemed as a
violinist and composer. Charles Burney remarked that ‘by travelling all
over Europe he formed a style of playing peculiar to himself’.
Performers: Maria Mrazova (alto); Miroslav Svejda (tenor); Maîtrise
d'enfants de Brno; Chœur féminin du Conservatoire de Prague, Chœur
d'hommes Moravan; Orchestre Radiosymphonique de Bratislava;
Bohemian organist and composer. His musical training began at the Jesuit
Gymnasium Jičín (1711-1717). Though he briefly studied law at Prague
University, he soon abandoned it for music, becoming the organist at the
Týn Church. His major breakthrough came in 1720 with the success of his
works for the annual 'musica navalis', the St. John’s Eve festivities
on the Vltava River. This success secured him a lucrative commission to
compose the music for these festivals every year from 1722 to 1729. He
later served as a music teacher and organist at St. Martin's school,
rising to choirmaster at St. Martin's in 1727. As a composer, his output
include 34 extant works, among them, several masses, settings of the Te
Deum and the Magnificat, litanies, offertories and motets; one school
comedy is known, 'Cancet preambulans'. His compositions are in the
Venetian style represented by Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldara,
with some elements of Czech folk music. His style is marked by full
instrumentation and a preference for brass. He handled contrapuntal
texture skilfully, and in homophonic passages often made use of
concertato interplay between soloists and chorus. His son František
Xaver Brixi (1732-1771) was also organist and composer.
German composer and violinist. Brother of August Friedrich Graun
(c.1698-1765) and Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759), he received his
earliest education at the Kreuzschule in Dresden before enrolling in
music at Leipzig University. In 1723 he studied with violinist Giuseppe
Tartini in Prague before obtaining the post as concertmaster in
Merseburg in 1726. In 1728 he relocated to Arolsen to serve in the court
of Prince von Waldeck, before joining the private orchestra of Crown
Prince Frederick of Prussia in Ruppin and Rheinsburg in 1732. There he
was concertmaster at the opera until his death. Along with his brother
Carl Heinrich Graun, he was one of the principal figures in the musical
circles of the Berlin court, and although he concentrated his own
efforts toward writing instrumental works, he was adept at vocal genres
as well. Among the latter can be counted an oratorio, La Passione di
Gesù Cristo; several sacred works; six Lieder; and seven Italian secular
cantatas. He was a prolific composer of the former, however, in many
cases defining the emerging North German empfindsamer Stil
(Empfindsamkeit). He composed no fewer than 54 symphonies, 13
two-movement overtures, 62 trios (mostly for flutes/violins and basso),
36 sonatas for violin, four sonatas for flute, and 62 concertos (48 for
violin, five for two violins, three for oboe, two for bassoon, two for
violin/viola, and one each for viola da gamba and viola da
gamba/cembalo). The scope of his compositions has yet to be determined,
given that many works, particularly chamber music, are attributed only
to 'Graun'. He was held in high regard by his contemporaries, especially
as an orchestral trainer and instrumental composer.
Austrian violinist and composer. The son of an impoverished painter, he
showed talent as a violinist at an early age. He was a pupil of Joseph
Suche in 1797 and of Anton Wranitzky from 1798. Encouraged by Ignaz
Schuppanzigh, he made his first public appearance with brilliant success
at a morning concert in the Augarten in 1800. In 1802 he began piano
and composition lessons with Emanuel Aloys Förster. In 1810 he was
appointed leader of the Hoftheater orchestra in Vienna, soloist at the
Hofkapelle (1816) and later soloist to the emperor (1835) and musical
director of the Hofkapelle (1836). He never went on tours and rarely
gave concerts, yet he was a finished virtuoso, admired even by Niccolò
Paganini. In Vienna he was very successful as a teacher. He was awarded
the Salvator medal (1811), the freedom of Vienna (1817) and the Order of
Franz Joseph (1862), and was an honorary member of several musical
academies. As a composer, his works include 3 violin concertos, a Mass
(1848), 5 string quintets, 8 string quartets, trios, and solo violin
pieces. Most of these are conservative in style and were intended
primarily for his own performance.
Austrian composer and violinist. Born to Paul Ditters, costumier at the
imperial court and theatre in Vienna, and his wife Anna (née Vandelin),
he received his earliest education at the Jesuit school in Vienna, where
he displayed a precocious talent as a violinist, enough so that in 1751
he was performing with local court orchestras. Here he came to the
attention of Giueseppe Bonno and Christoph Willibald von Gluck, the
latter of whom took him with him to Italy in 1763. There Ditters
achieved success as a virtuoso, and by 1765 he had been hired by
Archbishop Adam Patachich as Michael Haydn’s successor at Großwerdein
(now Oradea, Romania). He improved the quality of the ensemble, but in
1769 it was dissolved and Ditters relieved of his duties. He found other
employment with the Archbishop of Breslau, Count Philipp Gotthard von
Schaffgotsch as a state administrative functionary at Schloss
Johannesberg (now Janský vrch, Poland), and in 1773 he was appointed as
chief forester at nearby Javernig (Javornik). This appointment required
aristocratic rank, and Ditters was ennobled as von Dittersdorf at
Freiwaldau (Jeseník). In 1784 he returned to Vienna where he
participated actively in the musical life of the city. His rank allowed
him access to all levels of the court society, and his abilities earned
him the friendship of colleagues such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, with whom he performed in a string quartet (the cellist
was his student Jan Křtitel Vanhal). In 1790, however, he returned to
music as Kapellmeister to Duke Carl Christian Erdmann zu
Württemberg-Oels, a post that also included governmental administrative
duties. He moved to Oels (Olésnice) and then Karlsruhe in Upper Silesia.
A reversal of fortune caused him to retire in 1796, and he moved to the
small town of Neuhof (Červená Lhota), where he died only a couple of
days after completing his autobiography. He was a prolific and
progressive composer, particularly with respect to his use of the
characteristic symphony, sometimes based upon Classical stories. He was
conventional in terms of his harmony, but his skill in contrasting
instruments (as well as writing for unusual timbres and combinations)
demonstrates a good sense of color. His formal structures are often
conventional, and his textures mainly homophonic, but he was considered
one of the foremost composers of Vienna during his day. He can be
considered one of the most popular composers of Singspiels of his day,
with one work, Doktor und Apotheker, achieving international success.
The number of works composed demonstrates an almost inexhaustible
creativity and includes: 127 symphonies (with another 90 likely, making
him the most prolific composer in the genre of all time, if true), 18
violin concertos, five viola concertos, eight oboe concertos, four
keyboard concertos, nine other concertos (for oboe d’amore, harp,
contrabass, cello, flute, and two violins), four sinfonia concertantes
(including two for string quartet and orchestra, one for viola,
contrabass, and orchestra, and another for 11 solo instruments), four
serenades, five cassations, 16 divertimentos, 18 string trios, seven
string quartets, six horn quintets, six string quintets, 35 partitas, 72
preludes, 31 keyboard sonatas, 136 solo keyboard works, 16 violin
sonatas, 32 operas, three concert arias, 16 secular cantatas, 16 Masses,
a Requiem, four oratorios, 11 offertories, eight litanies, and 170
smaller sacred works such as Psalms, motets, and so forth.
