VAN WASSENAER, Unico Wilhelm (1692-1766) - Concertino a quattro violini obligati (1740)

Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766) - Concertino (V, f-moll) des 'VI Concerti armonici a quattro violini obligati, alto viola, violoncello obligato e basso continuo' (1740)

Performers: Barocco Boreale ensemble

Painting: Anonymous (17th Century) - The Paston Treasure (c.1670)

Further info: Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer (1692-1766) - Concertino a Quatro Violini oblige

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Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer [Conte di Wassenaer]

(Delden, 2 November 1692 - The Hague, 9 November 1766)

Dutch composer and statesman. He was born into one of the oldest and most influential families of the Dutch nobility and spent his childhood in his parents' house in The Hague and at Twickel Castle in Delden. He probably studied music with the organist, harpsichordist, composer and theorist Quirinus van Blankenburg in The Hague. In 1707-09 he stayed with his father and three sisters in Düsseldorf at the court of Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. The strong Italian influences at the court had a major influence on his musical development. On 18 September 1710 Unico Wilhelm was admitted to the University of Leiden to study law. In December 1711 he interrupted his studies to go to Frankfurt for the coronation of the Emperor Charles VI. In June 1713, after completing his studies, he returned to Düsseldorf where his father and sisters had settled. He may have accompanied Arent van Wassenaer Duyvenvoorde on a visit to Britain in 1715-16. He made a grand tour of France and Italy in 1717-18. In 1723 Unico Wilhelm married Dodonea Lucia van Goslinga (the daughter of Sicco van Goslinga), with whom he had three children. While based at the Hague between 1725 and 1740, Unico Wilhelm wrote the six Concerti Armonici. The Concerti armonici, published anonymously in 1740, were printed in London in 1755 as compositions by the violinist and impresario Carlo Ricciotti (c.1681-1756). It has since been established that these were the work of Unico Wilhelm. There is no evidence that Ricciotti wrote any music. The concerti were dedicated to Wilhelm's friend, Count Willem Bentinck. In 1744 he was sent on a diplomatic mission to the French court, and in the autumn of 1744 and again in 1745 he was sent to the court of Clemens August, Elector of Cologne. In 1746 he went again to France, and finally in 1746-47 to Breda for further discussions with the French. Although clearly intelligent, Unico Wilhelm was not a natural diplomat. Unico Wilhelm was a commander of the Bailiwick of Utrecht of the Teutonic Order. He was made coadjutor in 1753, and introduced administrative and managerial innovations. In 1761 he was made Commander of the order. He died in The Hague on November 9, 1766. 

RUGE, Filippo (c.1725-c.1767) - Sonata for flauto traverso

Filippo Ruge (c.1725-c.1767) (attributed) - Sonata (D Major) for flauto traverso

Performers: Luis Martínez Pueyo (flute); La Guirlande ensemble

Painting: Unknown artist (18th Century) - Musikstunde

Further info: Filippo Ruge (c.1725-c.1767)

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Filippo Ruge [Rugge, Rugi, Ruggi, Rouge, Romano]

(Rome, c.1725 - Paris?, after 1767)

Italian composer and flautist. Nothing is known about his early life or training; he first appears around 1751 in London, where he performed at the public concerts. In 1753 he arrived in Paris, where he made a successful debut performing his own flute concertos as a soloist at the Concerts spirituels. At this time he and his wife, a singer, performed in the famous musical salon of La Pouplinière. After 1755 he organized a series of concerts at his home in the rue Plâtrière, where he also taught music. In July 1755 he published 'Au dessert', a set of six vocal duos, and in August of the same year he took out a 'privilege général' of ten years for instrumental compositions. It is possible that between 1757 and 1761 he entered the service of the Marquis of Seignelay, but his trace disappears from records in 1767, presumably the date of his death. His music, little studied, includes 12 symphonies, six flute concertos, two vocal duets, six canzonetts, 35 flute sonatas, 18 trio sonatas, and 12 duo sonatas. He was an important agent in the diffusion and popularization of Italian music and musical style in 18th-century France.

PORPORA, Nicola Antonio (1686-1768) - Letatus a più voci con Istrumenti

Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768) - Letatus a più voci con Istrumenti (1744)

Performers: Isabelle Poulеnаrd (soprano); Choeur Éclаts; Les Pаssions; Jean-Marc Andriеu (conductor)

Painting: Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) - Carlo III di Borbone visiting the Pope Benedetto XIV

in the coffee-house of the Quirinale, Rome (1746)

Further info: Nicola Antonio Porpora (1686-1768) - Messa à 4 voci

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Nicola (Niccolo) Antonio (Giacinto) Porpora [Purpora]

(Naples, 17 August 1686 - Naples, 3 March 1768)

Italian teacher and composer. Son of a bookseller, Carlo Porpora, and his wife Caterina, he attended the Conservatorio dei Poveri di Gesù Cristo from 29 September 1696. At age 22, he composed his first opera, 'L’Agrippina' (1708), but after that, the presence in Naples of the great Alessandro Scarlatti prevented advancement in the theater. But in 1711, he was employed as maestro di cappella for Prince Philipp Hesse-Darmstadt, then residing as military commander in Naples, and then for the Portuguese ambassador in Rome from June 1713. From 1715 to 1722, he was a teacher at the Conservatorio di San Onofrio. Among his pupils were the poet and librettist Pietro Metastasio, the composer Johann Adolph Hasse, and the celebrated castrati Antonio Uberti (known as “Porporino”), Farinelli, and Caffarelli. His most important teaching post was in Venice at the Ospedale degli Incurabili, the famous music school for girls, from 1726 to 1733. In 1733 he went to London as chief composer to the Opera of the Nobility, a company formed in competition to Handel’s opera company. In London he wrote five operas, among them 'Polifemo', 'Davide e Betsabea', and 'Ifigenia in Aulide', with parts for his remarkable pupil Farinelli. When the Opera of the Nobility and Handel’s company closed, Porpora left England, in 1736. He subsequently taught in Venice and Naples, where he produced several comic operas. In 1747 he was in Dresden and from 1748 to 1751 was chapelmaster there. He went to Vienna in 1752, where he gave composition lessons to the young Haydn, and in 1758 returned to Naples. A revision of his opera 'Il Trionfo di Camilla' (first produced 1740) was given there in 1760 but failed, and Porpora’s last years were spent in poverty. In addition to about 50 operas, he composed a number of oratorios, masses, motets, and instrumental works.

DE CROES, Henri-Joseph (1758-1842) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur (1782)

Henri-Joseph de Croes (1758-1842) - Sinfonia in Es-Dur (1782)

Performers: Terra Nova Ensemble; Vlad Weverbergh (conductor)

Drawing: Louis Carrogis dit Carmontelle (1717-1806) - Les Gentilshommes du duc d'Orléans dans l'habit de Saint-Cloud

Further info: Henri-Joseph de Croes (1758-1842) - Clarinet Concerto (1790)

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Henri-Joseph de Croes 'le fils' [Crois, Kruss]

(Brussels, 16 August 1758 - Regensburg, 6 January 1842)

Flemish composer. Son of Henri-Jacques de Croes (1705-1786), kapellmeister and director of music at the Royal Court Orchestra in Brussels, he received music lessons from his father. When he was eighteen he joined the service of the Princes of Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg in Bavaria, at first as a violinist (1776-1798) and from 1798 onward, as kapellmeister. Karl Anselm, the fourth prince of Thurn and Taxis (from 1773 to 1797), encouraged court music in the summer residence at Trugenhofen and at the main residence in Regensburg. He continued to develop the ensemble, which had been founded for diplomatic reasons by his father, Alexander Ferdinand, one of the Emperor’s leading representatives. He engaged numerous virtuoso musicians, including the French violinist Joseph Touchemoulin, the Bohemian composer Franz Xaver Pokorný, the oboe player Giovanni Palestrini and flautist Fiorante Augustinelli. Together with the famous Mannheim orchestra and the Esterhazy family’s orchestra in Eisenstadt, the Thurn and Taxis orchestra at Regensburg was among the best of its era. Henri Joseph de Croes married the opera singer Maria Augusta Houdière (?-1806). They had two children, both of whom died in their youth. As a composer, he wrote an opera, seven partias for clarinets and strings, several concertos, two symphonies, and chamber music.

NICHELMANN, Christoph (1717-1762) - Ouverture a 4 (1737)

Christoph Nichelmann (1717-1762) - Ouverture B dur | per | due Violini | due Oboi | Viola | Basso continuo (1737)

Performers: Orkiestra Kore

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) - Widok kosciola Bernardynek i kolumny Zygmunta III od strony zjazdu do Wisly

Further info: Christoph Nichelmann (1717-1762) - Concerto per il Cembalo (c.1750)

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Christoph Nichelmann

(Treuenbrietzen, 13 August 1717 - Berlin, 1762)

German composer. His earliest musical education came when he enrolled in the Thomasschule in Leipzig in 1730, studying under Johann Sebastian Bach and Bach’s son Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. In 1733 he moved to Hamburg to seek work as an opera composer, but in 1739 he went to Berlin, where he became part of the Berlin School, studying under Johann Joachim Quantz and Carl Heinrich Graun. He obtained the position as harpsichordist at the Prussian court, and in 1755 he published his treatise 'Die Melodie, nach ihrem Wesen'. A controversy with this work and its successor caused him to request release from the court, and he served the rest of his life as an independent teacher and composer. Among his works were 3 sinfonias, an Ouverture, a Concerto for Violin and Strings, 16 concertos for harpsichord and strings (1740-59), various keyboard pieces, 'Il sogno di Scipione' (serenata, 1745), a Requiem, and 22 Lieder. Although known for his theoretical treatise, Nichelmann was an innovative composer of keyboard works whose style is firmly implanted in 'Empfindsamkeit'.