Josef Mysliveček (1731-1781) - Violin Concerto in D (1770)
Performers: Ernö Sebestyen (violin); Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
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Czech composer. The elder of identical twin brothers, he grew up in
Prague in the households of his father and stepfather, both prosperous
millers. Although it is believed that Mysliveček’s father arranged
musical instruction for his sons before his death in 1749, there is no
evidence to confirm speculation that they were taught by Felix Benda, a
near neighbour. Reports that the twins attended the Dominican
Normalschule at the Church of St Giles (Jiljí) and the Jesuit Gymnasium
in the Clementinum are conjectural, but their enrolment in the
philosophy faculty at Charles-Ferdinand University (now Charles
University) is confirmed in surviving matriculation records. Owing to a
lack of academic success, Mysliveček withdrew from the university in
March 1753 without graduating. The following May, the twins became
apprentice millers; they were admitted into the Prague millers’ guild as
journeymen in 1758 and became master millers in 1761. In the early
1760s, Mysliveček abandoned the family business to devote himself to
music. Probably he began studies in composition with Franz Habermann,
but soon transferred to Josef Seger, organist at the Týn Church in
Prague. According to Pelcl, Mysliveček completed six symphonies named
after the first six months of the year within six months of study with
Seger (no symphonies with evocative titles survive to confirm the
legend, however). It seems that he established an excellent reputation
as a violinist; nonetheless, there is no evidence to support reports
that he was employed as a church violinist. In November 1763, Mysliveček
left for Venice to study operatic composition, funded at least partly
by his twin brother Jáchym and his long-standing patron Count Vincenz
von Waldstein. His studies there with G.B. Pescetti brought quick (and
impressive) results in the form of a first opera, Semiramide, performed
in Bergamo in 1765 and Alessandria in 1766. The librettos confirm that
he was by then referred to as ‘Il Boemo’ by Italians, who had difficulty
pronouncing his name.
Mysliveček achieved his first great operatic success in 1767 with 'Il
Bellerofonte' at the Teatro S Carlo in Naples. The cast included
Caterina Gabrielli, a singer with whom Mysliveček’s name has been linked
romantically even though there is no evidence of a love affair either
with her or with Lucrezia Aguiari earlier at Parma. From this time
onwards Mysliveček lived mainly in Italy, where he travelled continually
in order to fulfil operatic commissions, almost always at major houses
with excellent casts. In 1771 he was admitted into the Accademia
Filarmonica of Bologna after befriending Padre Martini. Mysliveček made
at least three trips to northern Europe after establishing himself in
Italy. The first, a triumphant return to Prague in 1768, was probably
occasioned by his mother’s death in 1767 and the settlement of his
father’s estate. His second trip, in 1772, may have been intended to
establish his reputation in Vienna. If so, the effort clearly failed,
but he did meet Charles Burney in September. Mysliveček ventured north
for the last time at the invitation of Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of
Bavaria, in 1777-78 (reports of an earlier trip to Munich in 1773
cannot be verified). While in Munich, he witnessed successful
productions of his opera Ezio and his oratorio Isacco and sought
surgical treatment for what is believed to have been venereal disease,
with the result that his nose was burnt off. On his return to Italy in
1778, Mysliveček enjoyed operatic successes in Naples and Venice, but
his final decline was signalled by the failure of both of the operas
that he prepared for Carnival 1780 ('Armida' for Milan and 'Medonte' for
Rome). He died in Rome, in abject poverty; his funeral at the church of
S Lorenzo in Lucina was paid for by a mysterious Englishman named
Barry, a former pupil.
