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.
Bohemian cellist and composer. He was the son of Franz Kraft, a brewer
and amateur musician who was his first teacher. He later was sent to
Eisenstadt to study under Gregor Joseph Werner. Probably through
Werner's connections as former cellist to the court of Count Morzin, he
was engaged as principal cellist in the Kapelle of Prince Nikolaus
Esterházy in 1778, a post he retained until the orchestra was dissolved
in 1790, and where he studied composition with Joseph Haydn. After 1790
he also served with the orchestras of Count Anton Grassalkovich and
Prince Lobkowitz. From 1793 he performed with other prominent Viennese
musicians at Prince Lichnowsky's Friday morning chamber music recitals,
which led to the establishment of the famous 'Schuppanzigh string
quartet' with Kraft as cellist. He became a favourite in performances of
early chamber works by Beethoven. He was appointed cello teacher at the
conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1819, but died the
following year. As a composer, he wrote a cello concerto, six cello
sonatas, seven duos for strings, a notturno, and a number of trios
featuring the baryton. He married Maria Anna Schevitzka and had at least
five children, among them, Mikuláš (Nikolaus) Kraft (1778-1853), also
cellist and composer.
Jakub Šimon Jan Ryba (1765-1815)
- Missa Pastoralis in C 'Missa In Nativitate Domine In Nocte' a
Canto, Alto, Tenore, Basso, Violini 2ae, Flauto et Fagotto Solo, Clarino
Principale, Tympani con Organo
Performers: Daniel Straková (soprano); Tatána Kopalová (contralto);
Stefаn Mаrgitа (tenor); Peter Mikulás (bass);
The New Czech Chamber Orchestra; Coro di Praga; Jiri Belohlavek
(1946-2017, conductor)
Bohemian composer and teacher. Son of Jakub Ryba (1732-1792), a cantor
(schoolmaster) and organist who worked at Rožmitál, Přeštice and
Nepomuk, and probably also a composer, he studying with his father at
Nepomuk. In 1780 he settled in Prague where he studied at the Priarist
Gymnasium. On 11 February 1788 he was appointed assistant teacher and on
23 May 1788 cantor and church choirmaster at Rožmitál in a post he held
the rest of his life. He was a dedicated promoter of Enlightened
education policies promulgated by Imperial legates such as Ferdinand
Kindermann, but the struggle may have proved too much for he committed
suicide in 1815. Although known only locally, he was one of the most
prominent 18th-century Bohemian cantors; though he devoted himself
assiduously to his teaching duties, he wrote a large number of
compositions. These include 90 Masses, seven responsories, 100 motets,
six operas, 31 Bohemian sacred songs and 30 secular songs, 50 sacred
arias, 50 pastorellas, 87 symphonies, seven quintets, 72 quartets, 48
trios, 56 duos, 38 sonatas, and 35 miscellaneous secular works, as well
as over 650 dances. He also wrote hymn texts, didactic poetry and prose,
occasional and gratulatory poems, and translated Latin and Greek works
into Czech.
Elizabeth Weichsell (1765-1818)
- Lessons (I & II) for the Harpsichord from 'Three lessons [D,
Es, A] for the harpsichord or piano forte ... by Elizabeth Weichsell, a
child eight years of age. [London, Welcker]' (1773)
Performers: Pau NG on Sibelius with samples of a German harpsichord
(18th Century)
English singer and composer. Daughter of the singer Frederika Wierman
(c.1745-1786) and the oboist Carl Weichsell, she received early music
lessons from her parents. She made her debut as a child in 1775 and
studied under Johann Christian Bach and Johann Friedrich Schroeter. On
13 October 1783 she was married under her mother's maiden name, Wierman,
at Lambeth Church to James Billington, a double-bass player in the
Drury Lane orchestra, from whom she had had lessons in singing.
Immediately after their marriage the Billingtons went to Dublin, where
she made her first appearance on the stage in the part of 'Eurydice'. In
1785 she settled in Paris where she received lessons from the Antonio
Sacchini, whose last pupil she was. She returned to London for the
season of 1786-87, and continued to sing there, at Covent Garden, the
Concerts of Ancient Music, the so-called Oratorios, and the Handel
Commemorations, until the end of 1793. In 1792 there appeared an
anonymous publication, which professed to contain her private
correspondence with her mother. This work was of so disgraceful and
scurrilous a description that Mrs. Billington was forced to take legal
proceedings against the publishers. An answer to the 'Memoirs' appeared
in due course ; but it seems probable that the scandal induced Mrs.
Billington to abandon her profession and retire to the Continent.
Accompanied by her brother and her husband, she left England early in
1794, and travelled by way of Germany to Italy. At Naples she was
induced by Sir William Hamilton, the English ambassador, to sing in
private before the royal family.
This led to her singing at the San Carlo, where she appeared in a new
opera, 'Inez di Castro,' written expressly for her by Francesco Bianchi,
on 30 May 1794. Her singing created an extraordinary impression, but
her triumph was cut short by the sudden death of her husband, which took
place the day after her first appearance, as he was preparing to
accompany his wife to the theatre, after dining with the Bishop of
Winchester. She stayed at Naples sixteen months, and then sang at
Florence, Leghorn, Milan, Venice, and Trieste. In 1797, when singing at
Venice, she was prostrated with a severe illness for six weeks. At Milan
she was received with much favour by the Joséphine de Beauharnais, and
here she met a young Frenchman, M. Felissent, to whom she was married in
1799. After her second marriage she went to live at St. Artien, an
estate she had bought between Venice and Treviso; but her life was
rendered so insupportable by the ill-treatment she received from her
husband that in 1801 she left him and returned to England. Felissent,
who, it was said, had been publicly flogged as an impostor at Milan,
followed her to London, but he was arrested and expelled the country as
an alien. Her return to London caused a great stir in the musical world.
From this time until her retirement in 1811 she continued to sing in
Italian opera. After her retirement she lived in princely style at a
villa at Fulham. In 1817 she returned with her husband to Italy and
there were rumours that he was responsible for her death. As a composer,
she wrote a few songs and two sets of keyboard pieces. Her brother
Charles Weichsell (1767-1850) was a violinist and composer, mainly
active in Dublin and London.
Moravian composer and organist. Following training from a local organist
at Königgrätz (now Hradec Kráslové, Czech Republic), he obtained a post
in Pressburg in 1770 as organist and town Kapellmeister and where his
Singspiel Narcisse et Pierre is reported to have been performed in 1772
(as documented by the Pressburger Zeitung). In 1773 he also composed
works for the St Cecilia festivities there. Early in 1776 he was
appointed Kapellmeister and court composer to Count Joseph Batthyány,
the Archbishop (cardinal from 1778) of Hungary. He developed the
orchestra into an outstanding ensemble of over 20 musicians (including
the double bass virtuoso Johannes Matthias Sperger), in which wind
instruments seem to have been prominent; he conducted from the first
violinist’s chair and remained the head of the orchestra until his
death. As a composer, he was widely known for his good sense of thematic
contrast in his instrumental music, as well as his progressive chamber
music. His works include five operas, 10 Masses, an oratorio, 12
graduals, six motets, two hymns, 16 Marian antiphons, 18 symphonies, 12
concertos, 15 divertimentos, a serenade, four partitas, 30 string
quartets, six sextets, 20 quintets, four duets, and a large number of
dances. Some works attributed to Zimmermann may be spurious, as he has
often been confused with like-named contemporaries.
German composer, impresario, and viola da gamba player. The son of the
gambist at the court of Anhalt-Cöthen, Christian Ferdinand Abel
(c.1683-1737), grandson of Clamor Heinrich Abel (1634-1696) and brother
of Leopold August Abel (1718-1794), he received his early training from
his father. Upon the recommendation of Johann Sebastian Bach, he
obtained his first post in the Saxon Kapelle in 1748, but a decade later
he immigrated to England to become the chamber composer for Queen
Charlotte. On 29 February 1764 he performed his first joint concert with
Johann Christian Bach at the Carlisle House on Soho Square. Its success
began a collaborative series of 10 to 15 annual subscriptions concerts
there and later at Hannover Square known as the Bach-Abel Concerts.
Although competition began to weaken their appeal beginning with a
series of concerts at the Pantheon in 1774, it was the death of his
partner, Bach, in 1782 that caused these popular events to cease. At
this time, Abel toured Paris and Germany, briefly staying in Potsdam at
the court of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, ultimately
returning to London in 1785. He remained active as a performer on an
instrument long out of fashion up until his death. He had a reputation
as a generous and likeable person, who offered aid in establishing
younger musicians. He also had a penchant for living well. As a soloist,
he was particularly praised for his sensitive and lyrical playing,
particularly in the slow movements. Charles Burney noted that “the most
pleasing, yet learned modulations, the richest harmony and the model
elegant and polished melody were all expressed with feeling, taste, and
science.” He is also known to have played the keyboard and French horn.
His 233 works were almost entirely concentrated on instrumental genres;
only a couple of arias and a song exist of his vocal compositions. These
include 44 sonatas for viola da gamba and keyboard, 42 symphonies, 39
trio sonatas (two violins, two flutes, and violin/cello with keyboard),
28 miscellaneous pieces for viola da gamba, 24 violin sonatas, 12 piano
trios, 12 string quartets, 10 flute quartets, seven flute sonatas, six
keyboard concertos, three sinfonia concertantes (including one for two
clarinets), two flute concertos, two cello concertos, and a number of
miscellaneous keyboard works.
