BYSTROM, Thomas (1772-1839) - Sonate pour le Pianoforte et Violon obligé

Thomas Byström (1772-1839) - Sonate (B-Dur) des 'Trois sonates pour le clavecin ou pianoforte

avec accompagnement d'un violon obligé composées par ... Oeuvre. 1 (1801)

Performers: Izumi Tateno (piano); Yoshiko Arai (violin)

Drawing: James Gillray (1757-1815) - Playing in Parts

Further info: Musica Fennica 1772-1843

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Thomas Byström

(Helsinki, 28 August 1772 - Stockholm, 2 October 1839)

Finnish-Swedish music teacher, composer and military officer. The son of a successful statesman in the province of Finland (then part of Sweden), he was encouraged to study violin and piano at an early age by his father. In 1787 he enrolled at a military academy in St. Petersburg, later joining the Swedish army in 1792 as an adjutant and subsequently aide-de-camp to Gustav IV Adolph. He was mostly stationed in Stockholm beginning with his Swedish army career and was thus able to participate in musical social circles. He was elected in 1794 to the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and in 1801 he published a set of violin sonatas, as well as a series of strophic Lieder. As a government military official, however, his compositional career was limited. He taught music for a period (1813-1825) at the Royal Academy. He was elected an honorary member of the Harmoniska Sällskapet in 1832. As a composer, his works, dated from the period 1794 to 1805, include the three violin sonatas, nine songs, and a set of variations on a Russian theme, as well as several smaller keyboard works. His style has been likened to early Ludwig van Beethoven in its use of motives and sequencing, as well as bold harmonic modulations.

DE FESCH, Willem (1687-1761) - Concerto Grosso (1741)

Willem de Fesch (1687-1761) - Concerto Grosso (D-Dur) des

'VIII Concerto's in seven parts' ... Opera the Tenth (1741)

Performers: La Sfera Armoniosa; Mike Fentross (conductor)

Painting: Jan Josef Horemans (1714-1792) - A music party on a terrace

Further info: Willem de Fesch - Concerti Grossi and Violin Concerto

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Willem (William, Guillaume, Guglielmus) de Fesch [Defesch, de Veg, de Feghg, du Feche]

(Alkmaar, bap. 26 August 1687 - London, 3 January 1761)

Dutch composer and violinist. He was the son of Louis de Fesch and Johanna Maasbragt. Despite his parents’ marriage in Amsterdam (1685) and his brother’s birth in Alkmaar, the family orginated from the Pays de Liège and returned to Liège before 1690. De Fesch may have been a choirboy or even a singer in Liège during the 1690s. By about 1710 both he and his elder brother Pieter (1685-?) had settled in Amsterdam: Pieter had stayed some years in Leiden, where he was registered as a musician at the University on 6 June 1706. In Amsterdam De Fesch married Anna Maria Rosier, daughter of the composer Carl Rosier, who was active in Bonn, Amsterdam and Cologne. The names Willem, Pieter and Anna Maria de Fesch occur in the accounts of the City Theatre for dancing, singing and playing during the years 1708-21. De Fesch remained in Amsterdam until 1725. During this period he made several appearances as a concert violinist, including three at Antwerp in 1718, 1719 and 1722. In 1725 he was appointed kapelmeester at Antwerp Cathedral in succession to Alphonse d’Eve, a post he held until 1731, when he resigned because of repeated quarrels with the chapter and the chapel – quarrels for which his temperamental, mean and slovenly character was apparently to blame. A few years later De Fesch was with his family in London, where he remained for the rest of his life. In London, De Fesch was able to develop his activity as a concert violinist and virtuoso to the full. He seems to have been organist of the Venetian Chapel in London during the first years of his stay in England. He also appeared frequently as a concert violinist, often performing his own compositions. In 1748 and 1749 De Fesch directed the orchestra at Marylebone Gardens. After 1750 he seems to have withdrawn from public life.

ROSENMULLER, Johann (1619-1684) - Sinfonie con cinque stromenti (1660)

Johann Rosenmüller (1619-1684) - Sinfonie con cinque stromenti aus 'Sonate da camera cioè sinfonie, alemande, correnti, balletti, sarabande, da suonare con cinque stromenti da arco, et altri' (1660)

Performers: Gradus ad Parnassum Wien; Ton Kοοpman (conductor)

Painting: Follower of Pier Francesco Mola (1612-1666) - Homer playing the violin, in the company of a pupil

Further info: Sonate da camera

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Johann (Giovanni) Rosenmüller [Rosenmiller]

(Oelsnitz nr Zwickau, 24 August 1619 - Wolfenbüttel, bur. 12 September 1684)

German composer, trombonist, organist and teacher. He studied music at the Olsnitz Lateinschule and theology at the University of Leipzig (1640). There he most likely continued his musical studies with Tobias Michael, cantor of the Thomasschule, and he is listed as an assistant there in 1642, being made first assistant in 1650. He was also named organist of the Nicolaikirche in 1651 and music director in absentia of the Altenburg court in 1654. However, he lost these posts when he and several of the schoolboys were arrested and incarcerated as homosexuals in 1655. He escaped and eventually made his way to Venice, where he became a trombonist at San Marco in 1658. He secured a position as a composer there by 1660, and later was composer at the Ospedale della Pieta (1678-1682). He then returned to Germany to serve as Kapellmeister at the Wolfenbuttel court. He was a distinguished composer of both sacred vocal works and instrumental music. His compositions were well known in Germany and helped to advance the acceptance of the northern Italian styles.

GORCZYCKI, Grzegorz Gerwazy (c.1665-1734) - Missa Rorate Coeli

Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki (c.1665-1734) - Missa Rorate Coeli

Performers: Aldona Bartnik (soprano); Matthew Venner (alto); Maciej Gocman (tenor); Tomáš Král (bass);

Andrzej Kosendiak (conductor)

Painting: Marcin Zaleski (1796-1877) - Wnetrze kosciola OO.Dominikanów w Krakowie (1849)

Further info: Gorczycki - Sacred music

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Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki [Gorczyca, Gorczyce, Gorzzyski]

(Rozbark, c.1665 - Kraków, 30 April 1734)

Polish composer. He studied philosophy at Prague University from about 1678 to 1683, and then theology at Vienna University until 1689. At the beginning of 1690 at the latest, he moved to Kraków, where he was ordained in spring 1692. Soon afterwards he was appointed professor at the Congregatio Missionis at Chełmno, Pomerania; one of his duties there was to direct the music in the chapel. In 1694 he returned to Kraków and became a curate and from 1696 the penitentiary of Wawel Cathedral. He was composing by this time, since one of his works, 'Tota pulchra es, Maria', is dated 1694. In 1698 he was made director of music at Wawel Cathedral, a position that he retained until his death. From 1702 he was also a senior member of the chapel of the Angelists at the cathedral. In 1705 he became canon of the collegiate church of Skalbmierz and from about 1720 parish priest of one of the Kraków churches. He conducted the Wawel chapel at the coronation of the Elector August III of Saxony at Kraków on 17 January 1734, and died shortly afterwards. He was mainly a composer of liturgical music to Latin texts. He was long remembered, particularly in Kraków.

SALULINI, Paolo (1709-1780) - Concerto con Saltero (1751)

Paolo Salulini (1709-1780) - Concerto (Sol maggiore) con Saltero e VV. (1751)

Performers: Karl-Heinz Schickhaus (1938-2007, dulcimer); Münchener Kammerorchester;

Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, conductor)

Painting: Carlo Lodi (1701-1765) & Antonio Rossi (1700-1753) - Telemaco vede mentore trasformarsi in Minerva

Further info: Concerto Con Salterio

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Paolo Salulini

(Siena, 1709 - Siena, 1780)

Italian composer. He received his initial musical training in Siena under 'Il Cavaliere de la Cioja' before undertaking advanced studies with Padre Giovanni Battista Martini at the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna. Following his education, he returned to Siena, serving for several years as principal violinist of the opera orchestra. On 5 May 1765, he was appointed maestro di cappella at Siena Cathedral, a position he held until his death. During his fifteen-year tenure at the cathedral, he produced an extensive body of sacred music, including a complete annual cycle of modern-style orchestral services for Sundays and feast days. Among his liturgical works, his Requiem Mass for Emperor Francis I (1765) is particularly noted for its structural and counterpuntal merit. Although his sacred output remains largely unstudied, he is occasionally remembered for his secular instrumental output, notably a 'Concerto con Saltero' (1751).