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.
Austrian jurist and composer. Born into the administrative aristocracy
as the son of Andreas Adolph Freiherr von Krufft (1721-1793), a Minister
of State, he completed advanced studies in philosophy and jurisprudence
at the University of Vienna before joining the Imperial State
Chancellery (Hof- und Staatskanzlei) in 1801. Rising to the rank of
State Secretary, he became a trusted associate of Prince Metternich,
accompanying him on pivotal diplomatic missions across Europe; services
for which he was knighted by both Russian and Sicilian orders. Despite
his decorated political tenure, his intellectual legacy remains rooted
in his musical output; initially trained by his mother, Maria Anna von
Haan, and later by the theorist and composer Johann Georg
Albrechtsberger, he developed a compositional style that bridged the
formal rigor of Classicism with burgeoning Romantic sensibilities. His
oeuvre, notably his technically demanding works for bassoon and horn and
his proto-Schubertian Lieder, reflects the stylistic transition of the
Beethovenian generation. Ultimately, the taxing coexistence of his
rigorous governmental duties and his nocturnal creative pursuits led to a
severe nervous collapse and auditory hypersensitivity, culminating in
his untimely death in Vienna at the age of thirty-nine.
French composer. Little is known of his early musical life other than
that he was one of the boy pages of Louis XIV’s musical establishment.
There, directly under the influence of Pierre Robert and Henry Du Mont
at an important period in the development of the grand motet, he
probably also encountered Lully, who used the chapel pages to augment
his performances. In 1680 he was referred to as an ‘ordinaire de la
musique du Roy’. Titon du Tillet mentioned an idylle written by him for
the birth of the Duke of Burgundy in 1682; this was a form to which he
would regularly return. He was unsuccessful in a contest in 1683 for a
post as sous-maître at the royal chapel, but later got himself involved
in writing motets for one of the successful competitors, Goupillet, to
pass off as his own. The deception was not revealed until 1693 when
Desmarest, complaining that he had not been paid sufficiently, exposed
Goupillet. He gravitated increasingly towards secular forms of
composition. It seems that he wanted to study in Italy but this plan was
thwarted by Lully. Some measure of court favour can be inferred from
the private performance of his first opera, Endymion, which took place
over several days in the king’s apartments, one or two acts at a time,
in February 1686, and pleased the dauphine so much that she commanded
another performance a few days later. Writing for the stage of the
Académie was barred to Desmarest at the time since Lully enjoyed a
complete monopoly; the gap left by his untimely death in March 1687
began to be filled only tentatively by the next generation. Du Tralage
cynically declared that 'Didon' (1693), one of Desmarest’ earliest
surviving tragédies en musique, succeeded with the public because it was
copied from Lully, that 'Circé' (1694), less closely modelled on Lully,
was less successful, and that 'Théagène' (1695), in which the composer
went his own way, was not successful at all.
When he began work on another opera, 'Vénus et Adonis', in 1695, he was
apparently in dispute with Collasse over who should set Duché de Vancy's
'Iphigénie en Tauride'; this was to be left unfinished by Desmarest and
completed by André Campra in 1704. Within months of the death of his
first wife in August 1696, he had fallen in love with his pupil, the
18-year-old daughter of Jacques de Saint-Gobert, director of taxation
for Senlis. The upshot was a long legal battle, at the end of which in
August 1699 the couple fled the country, Desmarest being condemned to
death in his absence. The composer began his exile in Brussels. His
friend and fellow chapel page, the composer Jean-Baptiste Matho,
obtained a letter of recommendation for him from the Duke of Burgundy to
the new King of Spain, Philip V, and he moved to the Spanish court in
1701 and married Mlle de Saint-Gobert. Six years later, again with
support from connections in France, he secured an appointment as
surintendant de la musique at the court of Lorraine, which was closely
modelled on the court of Louis XIV, his duties encompassing both
religious and secular music. Although he mounted a production of his
own, Vénus et Adonis for the court at Lunéville in 1707, Desmarest’
operatic activities focussed chiefly on revivals of operas by Lully at
both Lunéville and Nancy. During this time he continued to write
occasional pieces and motets. However favourable the musical climate in
Lorraine, he hoped to be allowed to return to France. A petition to
Louis XIV on his behalf by Matho in 1712 was rejected, but he was
finally pardoned by the regent in 1720. When Michel-Richard de Lalande
died in 1726, he sought his post of sous-maître, but was unsuccessful.
His wife died in the following year and he ended his days in Lorraine.
Georg Christoph Wagenseil (1715-1777)
- Sinfonia (D-Dur) | a | Corno Primo | Corno Secondo | Oboe Primo |
Oboe Secondo | Violino Primo | Violino Secondo | Viola | et | Basso,
MicWka 374
Performers: Camerata Bern; Thomas Fսri (conductor)
Austrian composer, keyboard player and teacher. Born into a prominent
Viennese family, he studied under Johann Joseph Fux and Mattheo Palotta
beginning around 1735. Fux was so impressed by his student that he
recommended him in 1739 for the post of court composer, which was
followed the next year by an appointment as organist for Dowager Empress
Elisabeth. By 1749 he had become hofklaviermeister with the
responsibility of instructing the royal family on the keyboard. Four
years earlier, in 1745, his opera 'Ariodante' launched a career in the
royal theatres, and by 1751 he had published a treatise 'Rudimenta
panduristae oder Geig- Fundamenta', which was a forerunner of Leopold
Mozart’s work. By 1765, however, he began to be afflicted with gout,
resulting in a diminishing of his capacity and confinement to his home
the final years of his life. Wagenseil was a much-appreciated teacher,
whose students included Frantisek Xaver Dusek, Leopold Hofmann, and
Johann Baptist Schenk. As a composer, he wrote 16 operas; three
oratorios; 17 Masses and a Requiem; over 90 other sacred works
(including canticles, Psalms, hymns, etc.); nine secular cantatas; 30
concert arias; 77 symphonies; 81 concertos for keyboard (most with
string accompaniment); other concertos for flute, violin, cello,
bassoon, and trombone; seven violin sonatas; seven divertimentos; four
flute quartets; 60 trio sonatas; and a large number of smaller works for
keyboard. Although his early Masses display a Baroque style, his
symphonies and concertos, of which he was one of the most prolific
composers of the period, were much more advanced, while his penchant for
solid, colorful orchestration, interesting harmony, and attention to
dramatic detail presage the opera reforms of Christoph Willibald von
Gluck in his opera serias. Georg Christoph Wagenseil can be considered
one of the pivotal figures in the development of the Classical style in
Vienna with a compositional career that spanned a period from Fux, his
teacher, to Haydn brothers and W.A. Mozart, for whom he served as a
precursor.
Performers: Angelika Czabán (soprano); Anita Huszár (mezzosoprano);
Károly Komódi (tenor); Gábor Kari (baritone); Sol Oriens Kórus És
Kamarazenekar; Deményi Sarolta (conductor)
Austrian (?) composer. The name Deppisch is of Bavarian origin, derived
from the Middle High German terms 'täppisch' or 'tölpatschig', meaning
unskilled or clumsy. While his arrival in Pécs may have been part of the
broader 18th-century German emigration, it is more likely he originated
from Austria, as the name remains extant in Vienna and the Styrian town
of Fürstenfeld near the Hungarian border. Valentin Deppisch arrived in
Pécs in 1769 at the age of 23 and began working as a second organist at
the cathedral. In 1772, he purchased a house in Obere Franciscaner Gasse
for 230 Rhine forints, though he moved to Caposvarer Gasse in 1774 due
to the construction of a girls' institute. On 1 January 1778, he was
promoted to first organist following the death of Joseph Fuckinger,
which increased his salary by 25 forints. His professional duties
included maintaining the parish church organ and providing accommodation
and tuition for choirboys. He was married to Magdalena Dorn, a choir
singer, with whom he had five children. Valentin Deppisch died on 14
March 1782, at the age of 36, after which his widow petitioned the
Chapter for financial aid in exchange for her continued service in the
church choir. As a composer, he received an annual payment of 75 forints
from 1779 until his death, though archival dates on his Lauda Sion and
Mass in C major indicate he was active as early as 1775. His extant
output includes 4 Masses, a Requiem, two set of Vesperae, one
Magnificat, and other sacred works as well as a symphony and one organ
work.
English composer, organist and singer. He showed an early talent for
music. He trained at Gloucester Cathedral where the cathedral account
books record his name amongst the choristers from 1717. He spent the
early part of his working life as organist of St Mary's, Shrewsbury
(1729) and Worcester Cathedral (1731). The majority of his career was
spent at the University of Oxford where he was appointed organist of
Magdalen College in 1734, and established his credentials with the
degrees of B.Mus in 1735 and D.Mus in 1749. (He was painted by John
Cornish in his doctoral robes around 1749.) In 1741 he was unanimously
elected Heather Professor of Music and organist of the University Church
of St Mary the Virgin. He presided over Oxford's concert life for the
next 30 years, and was instrumental in the building of the Holywell
Music Room in 1748, the oldest purpose-built music room in Europe. He
was one of the earliest members of the Royal Society of Musicians, and
in 1765 was elected a "privileged member" of the Noblemen and
Gentlemen's Catch Club. He died in Oxford, aged 69. His sons Philip
Hayes (1738-1797) and William Hayes (1741-1790) were also singers and
composers.
