BOLOGNE, Joseph (1744-1799) - Symphonie concertante (1777)

Joseph Bologne de Saint-George (1744-1799) - Symphonie concertante des 'Second œuvre de | deux | symphonies | concertantes | Pour deux Violons principaux, | deux Violons ripieno, Alto et Basse, | deux Hautbois et deux Cors, | ad Libitum ... Oeuvre IX' (1777)

Performers: Miroslav Vilimec (violin); Radio Symphony Orchestra Pilsen; Frantisek Preisler (conductor)

Drawing: Pierre-Adrien Pâris (1745-1819) - Architectural Fantasy Ruins of a Circular Temple Seen through a Natural Arch (c.1785)

Further info: Symphonies and Violin Concertos

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Joseph Bologne [Boulogne, 'Chevalier de Saint-Georges']

(Baillif, 25 December 1745 - Paris, 9 June 1799)

Caribbean composer, violinist, swordsman, equestrian and military commander. Son of a manumitted African mother and French plantation owner (his last name was apparently taken from one of the plantations his father owned), he grew up in the vicinity of Basse-Terre. His family went to France in 1747 to escape difficulties with the law but returned to Guadeloupe a few years later. In 1753 they moved permanently, first to Bordeaux then to Paris, where he underwent his earliest musical education, probably under Antonio Lolli and a few years later François-Joseph Gossec. In 1769 he became a violinist in the Concerts des amateurs, later becoming its director. During this time, beginning with his debut as a soloist in 1772, he became famous for his technical proficiency on his instruments, earning the epithet as the finest violinist of the age. A proposal to make him musical director of the Opéra in 1776 was blocked by four singers who refused to work with a “mulatto.” In 1781 he founded the Loge Olympique orchestra sponsored by one of Paris’s largest masonic lodges; he conducted the premieres of Haydn’s so-called Paris symphonies, which he had helped commission. In 1787 he traveled to London, where his prowess as a violinist and swordsman were thought legendary. A supporter of the Revolution, he was given command of troops from France’s colonial domains in 1792, but a year later he was denounced and spent 18 months in prison. Disillusioned, he sailed to Hispanola to participate in the newly independent Haiti of Toussant l’Ouverture. There the corruption and poor living standards further eroded his health and state of mind. He returned to Paris to conduct the Cercle d’harmonie orchestra, but was unable to escape poverty. During his lifetime, Saint-Georges was a remarkable bon vivant who freely interacted in the upper circles of Parisian society. His music was known for its tunefulness and technical brilliance, using devices such as bariolage that were extremely uncommon. His 1778 opera 'Le partie du chasse' was well received. In all he wrote six operas, 13 violin concertos, 10 sinfonia concertantes, a bassoon concerto, two symphonies, nine violin sonatas, 18 string quartets, and several other smaller pieces. His multifaceted personality has been the subject of both literature (six novels) and a motion picture. He is reckoned as one of the greatest Afro-Caribbean musicians of the period.

NICOLAI, Carl Otto (1810-1849) - Weihnachts-Ouverture (1833)

Carl Otto Nicolai (1810-1849) - Weihnachts-Ouverture (D-Dur) | (über den Choral "Vom Himmel hoch") (1833)

Performers: Bamberger Symphoniker; Karl Anton Rickenbacher (1940-2014, conductor)

Painting: August von Kreling (1819-1876) - The First Harvest After the Thirty Years’ War (1849)

Further info: Nicolai - Overtures & Symphony

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(Carl) Otto (Ottone, Othon) (Ehrenfried) Nicolai [Niccolai, Nicolaj]

(Königsberg [now Kaliningrad], 9 June 1810 - Berlin, 11 May 1849)

German composer and conductor. He was the first child of the composer Carl Ernst Daniel Nicolai (1785-1854) and his wife Christiane Lauber. Because of his mother’s physical and mental illness, the marriage was dissolved a few months after Nicolai’s birth. He grew up in the care of foster-parents until 1820, when his father took on responsibility for his education. He studied piano at home, and in 1827 went to Berlin, where he took lessons in theory with Carl Friedrich Zelter. He also took courses with Bernhard Klein at the Royal Institute for Church Music. On 13 April 1833, he made his concert debut in Berlin as a pianist, singer, and composer. He then was engaged as organist to the embassy chapel in Rome by the Prussian ambassador, Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen. While in Italy, he also studied counterpoint with Giuseppe Baini. In 1837 he proceeded to Vienna, where he became a singing teacher and Kapellmeister at the Karnthnertortheater. In 1838 he returned to Italy where he presented in Trieste his first opera, 'Rosmonda d'Inghilterra'. In late summer 1841 he was appointed principal conductor of the Hofoper at the Kärntnertor, and was able to concentrate on the operas of Mozart and Beethoven, which he particularly admired. Required by contract to compose German operas, he provided his first original German opera, 'Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor'. In summer 1844 he undertook a long journey via Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin to Königsberg, where he performed the 'Kirchliche Fest-Ouvertüre' which he had dedicated to his native town, as part of the festival to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the university. King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia was so impressed that he tried to tempt him to Berlin; Nicolai, however, did not at first respond to the offer. October 1847 saw him installed as Kapellmeister at the Königliches Opernhaus in Berlin and, as Mendelssohn’s successor, artistic director of the cathedral choir. Wishing to reform Prussian church services, he immediately began to compose a series of large-scale religious works. Soon afterwards he joined the Tonkünstlerverband, a society concerned with the reorganization of Prussian musical life; 'Die lustigen Weiber' eventually received its première, without huge success, on 9 March 1849. Two months later, Nicolai died. On the same day he was elected a member of the Akademie der Künste, but too late to receive the news.

ZECHNER, Johann Georg (1716-1778) - Dixit Dominus

Johann Georg Zechner (1716-1778) - Dixit Dominus aus 'Vesperae solemnes ex C de Beata'

Performers: Solisten, Chor und ensemble Gleisdorf

Painting: Simon Vouet (1590-1649) - Assembly of the Gods

Further info: Johann Georg Zechner - der Mensch und Musiker

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Johann Georg Zechner [Cehner, Zehetner]

(Gleisdorf, 9 April 1716 - Stein an der Donau, 7 June 1778)

Austrian composer and organist. Almost nothing is known about his youth until he was documented as organist at the Benedictine abbey of Göttweig in 1736, a post he held until 1746. That year he was appointed choral director of St Veit, Krems an der Donau (1746-1753) while he was studying philosophy and theology. In 1752 he was ordained priest and a year later he was appointed to the charge of the Chapel of All Saints at Stein an der Donau, in a post he held the rest of his life. As a composer, he show the influence of his fellows Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldara, both active in Vienna, but evolving to early Classical style in his later works. Despite he focused on sacred music, among them, masses (the foremost was his Große Orgelmesse in C, 1761), requiems, and many liturgical pieces, he also wrote instrumental music very close to Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Georg Matthias Monn on style terms. 

CIURANA ARDIOL, Tomás (1762-1829) - Sonata en Do major

Tomás Ciurana Ardiol (1762-1829) - Sonata en Do major

Performers: Miguel Álvarez-Argudo (piano)

Drawing: R. Haes (19th Century) - Design for a Bourgeois Biedermeier Interior

Further info: Obras para tecla

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Tomás Ciurana Ardiol

(Peníscola, 1761 - Xàtiva, 4 June 1829)

Spanish composer, organist, and cleric. Born in Peníscola, he belonged to a family of musicians, including his brother Manuel Ciurana Ardiol (fl. 1800-1842), who served as organist at Sant Nicolau in Valencia and known for his 'Gran Salmodia de Misas' (1842). Tomás Ciurana Ardiol was organist at the church of Morella before moving to the Collegiate church of Xàtiva to occupy the same position. His tenure in Xàtiva included the professional formation of successors such as Joaquin Aparicio Ibáñez, who resided in Ciurana’s household on Sant Domènec Street. As a composer, his output consists of works for keyboard instruments, ranging from liturgical pieces like 'pasos y fugas' to sonatas influenced by the European Galant style. Historical records in Xàtiva, including his testamentary documents, provide evidence of his role in the city's religious institutions and the continuation of local organ traditions.

HOOK, James (1746-1827) - Great Britain Triumphant (1794)

James Hook (1746-1827) - Great Britain Triumphant (1794)

Performers: Caroline Schiller (soprano); Stefanie True (soprano); Mária Zádori (soprano); Zoltán Megyesi (tenor);

Reid Spencer (baritone); Capella Savaria; Mary Térey-Smith (conductor)

Drawing: James Gray Mayhew (1771-1845) - A project for a Triumphal Archway with classical figures in foreground

Further info: Great Britain Triumphant

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James Hook

(Norwich, 3 June 1746 - Boulogne, 1827)

English composer and organist. Born with a club foot (later corrected somewhat by surgery), he showed remarkable musical talent at an early age, being able to play the harpsichord at the age of four and performing concertos in public at six. For a time he was taught by Thomas Garland, the Cathedral organist, and before he was eight he had composed songs and his first opera. This was considered by connoisseurs as an ‘extraordinary instance of infantine genius’, but the music is lost. From 13 November 1756 fairly regular advertisments appeared in the Norwich Mercury for concerts at which Hook performed concertos, many of which were benefit concerts. Hook employed his talents in various ways at this time, including teaching, composing, transcribing music and tuning keyboard instruments. By 1763 he had moved to London, where his prowess on the instrument led to employment as a soloist in the Marylebone Gardens public concerts. On 29 May 1766 he married Elizabeth Jane Madden (?-1805) at St Pancras Old Church. In May 1767 he had applied unsuccessfully for the post of organist for the united parishes of St Matthew Friday Street and St Peter Westcheap, but before 6 September 1772 he had been appointed organist of St Johns Horselydown, Bermondsey. In 1768 he was appointed organist and composer to Marylebone Gardens. From 1774 to 1806 he also performed regularly at the Vauxhall Gardens and participated in the English opera at Covent Garden. On 18 October 1805 Hook’s wife died, and a year later, on 4 November 1806, he married his second wife, Harriet Horncastle James (?-1873). It is not known why he suddenly left his position at Vauxhall after almost a half century of service there. As a composer, he wrote over 2000 songs (including catches and glees), as well as 52 operas-stage works, 21 concertos, 40 odes (and an oratorio), and a large number of sonatas. His musical style was at once progressive and reflective of European continental trends. His son Theodore Edward Hook (1788-1841) was a writer, intellectual, prankster and civil servant, mainly known for his practical jokes, particularly the Berners Street hoax in 1810.