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.
Spanish composer. Born in Catalonia, he was trained as a choirboy at the
Cathedral of Sigüenza before moving to Madrid, where by 1707 he worked
as a composer and instructor for the Royal Chapel. After briefly
returning to Sigüenza as maestro de capilla following a competitive
examination (oposición), he was appointed maestro de capilla at the
royal monastery of Las Descalzas Reales in Madrid in 1711, working
alongside organist José de Nebra. In the musicological field, he
participated in the 'Valls controversy', writing a text that defended
Francisco Valls's use of an unprepared dissonance in the Missa Scala
Aretina. His surviving works, which include masses, villancicos, and
pastorelas, are preserved in Spanish archives such as Montserrat, El
Escorial, and the Sanctuary of Arantzazu, with some manuscript copies
dating up to 1751.
Bohemian composer, violinist and teacher. He received his early
schooling in Německý Brod, though his first musical instruction
doubtless came from his father. From 1728 to 1734 he attended the Jesuit
Gymnasium in Jihlava; the Jesuits of Bohemia, whose pupils included the
foremost musicians in Europe, maintained high standards of musical
education during this period. Stamitz is known to have spent the
following academic year, 1734-35, at Prague University. His activities
during the next six years, however, remain a mystery. It seems logical
to assume that his decision to leave the university was prompted by a
desire to establish himself as a violin virtuoso, a goal that could be
pursued in Prague, Vienna or countless other centres. The precise
circumstances surrounding Stamitz’s engagement by the Mannheim court are
unclear. The date of his appointment was probably 1741, for he remarked
in a letter of 29 February 1748 to Baron von Wallbrunn in Stuttgart
that he was in his eighth year of service to the elector. The most
likely hypothesis is perhaps that Stamitz’s engagement resulted from
contacts made late in 1741 during the Bohemian campaign and coronation
in Prague of the Bavarian Elector Carl Albert (later Carl VII), one of
whose closest allies was the Elector Palatine. In January 1742 Stamitz
no doubt performed at Mannheim as part of the festivities surrounding
the marriage of Carl Theodor. At Mannheim Stamitz advanced rapidly: in
1743, when he was first violinist at the court, he was granted an
increase in salary of 200 gulden; in payment lists from 1744 and 1745
his salary is given as 900 gulden, the highest of any instrumentalist at
Mannheim; in 1745 or early 1746 he was awarded the title of
Konzertmeister; and in 1750 he was appointed to the newly created post
of director of instrumental music.
The latter promotion came almost two years after the offer of a position
at the court of Duke Carl Eugen in Stuttgart with an annual salary of
1500 gulden, an offer that the Elector Palatine probably saw fit to
match, as Stamitz remained in Mannheim. In court almanacs for 1751 and
1752 Stamitz is also listed as one of the two Kapellmeisters, but after
the arrival of Ignaz Holzbauer in 1753 he appears as director of
instrumental music alone. Stamitz’s principal responsibilities at court
were the composition and performance of orchestral and chamber music,
although he seems also to have composed some sacred music for the court
chapel. As leader of the band and conductor Stamitz developed the
Mannheim orchestra into the most renowned ensemble of the time, famous
for its precision and its ability to render novel dynamic effects.
Stamitz was also influential as a teacher; in addition to his sons Carl
and Anton, he taught such outstanding violinists and composers as
Christian Cannabich, the Toeschi brothers, Ignaz Fränzl and Wilhelm
Cramer. In 1744 Stamitz married Maria Antonia Lüneborn. They had five
children: the composers Carl and Anton, a daughter Maria Francisca
(1746-1799) and two children who died in infancy. In 1749 Stamitz and
his wife journeyed to Německý Brod to attend the installation of
Stamitz’s younger brother Antonín Tadeáš as dean of the Dean’s church.
In February 1750, while the family was still in Bohemia, Stamitz’s
brother Václav Jan or Wenzel Johann (1724-after 1771), also a musician,
was in Mannheim. Johann Stamitz returned to Mannheim in March 1750, but
his wife remained temporarily in Německý Brod, where Anton Stamitz was
born on 27 November 1750. Probably in late summer 1754 Stamitz undertook
a year-long journey to Paris, appearing there for the first time at the
Concert Spirituel on 8 September 1754. He presumably returned to
Mannheim in autumn 1755, dying there less than two years later at the
age of 39.
German organist and composer. He first learnt music with his grandfather
Johann Michael Agthe, Kantor at the Rathsschule, and his great-uncle
Andreas Agthe, a local organist; he later continued his musical studies
as a choirboy and as a member of the local Stadtpfeiferei. From 1776 to
1782 he was director of music with the Hündelberg theatrical company in
Reval (now Tallinn), where he composed his first Singspiele 'Martin
Velten' (1778). He then moved to Ballenstedt to join the court orchestra
of Prince Friedrich Albrecht of Anhalt-Bernburg as an organist and
harpsichordist. There he became known as one of the best organists of
his time and, after further studies with Friedrich Wilhelm Rust, as an
active composer of Singspiele, songs and instrumental pieces. His
best-known work is a setting of August Friedrich Ferdinand von
Kotzebue’s 'Der Spiegelritter' (1795), which was first performed by an
amateur society in Ballenstedt and several times revived. He also left
11 symphonies, two concertos, and 14 Dances. His son Albrecht Wilhelm
Johann Agthe (1790-1873) was a pianist, teacher and composer.
Italian composer. He was taken by his father at an early age to Naples,
where he studied violin under Nicola Fiorenza and composition under
Francesco Durante at the Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto. In 1756 he
composed his first opera, Fra Donato, which launched his career as a
composer of opera in Italy. Although he served for several years as an
assistant maestro di cappella at the conservatory, he abandoned his
teaching profession by 1763 to concentrate on commissions from
throughout the country, eventually establishing a reputation as a
dramatic and talented composer. In 1768 while in Venice he became
director of the Conservatorio dell’Ospedaletto, teaching singing to
students such as Nancy Storace. In 1772 he moved to London, where he
obtained a great success with his operas but was known for a dissolute
lifestyle. This forced Sacchini to travel to Paris in 1781, where he was
caught in the middle of the feud between Niccolò Piccinni and Christoph
Willibald von Gluck, both of whose partisans condemned him as a member
of the other’s faction. In 1786 he produced his most enduring work,
Oedip à Colonne, at the request of Marie Antoinette, but his early death
from his lifestyle and acute gout prevented him from realizing its
success. As a composer, Sacchini was known for his dramatic musical
style, particularly in serious opera. He was able to move fluidly
between both the Italian and French styles, often using varied forms and
progressive harmonic structures. His works include 47 operas, seven
oratorios, two symphonies, six string quartets, six trio sonatas, and 12
violin sonatas or lessons, in addition to numerous insertion arias,
Masses, motets, Psalms, and other sacred works.
Spanish teacher and composer. The eldest son of Francesc Viola's third
marriage, his mother's name was Maria Rosa Valentí. He trained at the
Escolania de Montserrat under Benet Julià and Josep Antoni Martí. On 20
March 1756, he began his novitiate at the Monastery of Montserrat, where
he took his vows in 1757. He then moved to Madrid, where he completed
his ecclesiastical and musical studies at the Church of Nuestra Señora
de Montserrat, coming under the influence of José de Nebra. He also
premiered many of his works there, achieving great success at the royal
chapel. Upon returning to Montserrat in 1768, he was appointed master of
the Escolania, teaching renowned students such as Fernando Sor, who
wrote memoirs detailing the life of his master Anselm Viola, and master
of the music chapel, positions he held until his death. As a composer,
he wrote instrumental works, sonatas, and other pieces for keyboard
instruments, as well as a classical-style concerto for bassoon and
orchestra. He composed two masses for voices and orchestra, two
Magnificats for six and seven voices (the second with basso continuo),
'Tèrcia i Completes' (both for seven voices with accompaniment), and a
Lamentation for alto and orchestra.
