WITT, Christian Friedrich (1665-1717) - Sonates a piu stromenti (c.1695)

Christian Friedrich Witt (1665-1717) - Sonates a piu stromenti (c.1695)

Performers: Kentucky Baroque Trumpets

Painting: Alessandro Albini (1568-1646) - Putti musicanti

Further info: Music for Trumpets

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Christian Friedrich (Wilhelm) Witt [Witte]

(Altenburg, c.1660 - Gotha, 3 April 1717)

German composer, organist and teacher. Son of the court organist Johann Ernst Witt, he received music lessons from his father. After receiveng a scholarship, he went to Vienna and Salzburg, and then from 1685-1686 he studied composition and counterpoint with Georg Caspar Wecker in Nuremberg. On 1 June 1686 he was appointed chamber organist at the Gotha court. In 1688 he was again sent to study with Wecker. In 1694 he was appointed substitute for the Kapellmeister, Wolfgang Michael Mylius, and he succeeded him after his death, in 1713. He was well thought of as a teacher, not only within the Dukedom of Gotha; the future Duke Friedrich II was among his pupils. He was also admired as an able keyboard player and Kapellmeister. He enjoyed good relations with neighbouring courts, including those of Ansbach-Bayreuth, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Saxe-Weissenfels, and several works by him are listed in inventories from there. He was a versatile composer of both vocal and instrumental music. His vocal music consists largely of church cantatas, among them his 'Psalmodia sacra' praised as one of the most important hymnals of the early 18th Century. His instrumental music includes both ‘ouvertures’ (or suites) in the French style and italianate, concerto-like sonatas, and varied keyboard works, many of them now lost.

CERVERA, Francisco Vicente (c.1690-1749) - Lamentación sola con violines

Francisco Vicente Cervera (c.1690-1749) - Lamentación sola con violines

Performers: Capella de Ministrеrs; Carles Mаgrаner (conductor)

Painting: Giuseppe Vermiglio (1585-1635) - The Entombment of Christ

Further info: Musica barroca Valenciana

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Francisco Vicente Cervera

(Mora de Rubielos, c.1690 - Valencia, 30 May 1749)

Spanish presbyter, organist, and composer. Likely educated at the Collegiate Church of Mora de Rubielos and the Cathedral of Tortosa, he began his professional career as the organist of Huesca Cathedral after winning a competitive examination. In 1712, he secured the position of organist at the Real Colegio del Corpus Christi in Valencia, succeeding Juan Bautista Cabanilles after a formal competition against Francisco Sarrió and Melchor Martínez. He held this post until his death in 1749, also serving as interim maestro de capilla between 1743 and 1744. Cervera was instrumental in the pedagogical training of his successor, Miguel Narro. His compositional output includes polyphonic masses for 8 and 12 voices, psalms, and various sacred works in both Latin and the vernacular. These manuscripts are preserved in several Spanish and South American cathedrals, most notably an oratorio dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima held at Sucre Cathedral (Bolivia), which serves as a significant primary source for the study of Spanish liturgical music dissemination in colonial territories. 

BRIOSCHI, Antonio (c.1690-c.1750) - Sinfonia a 3

Antonio Brioschi (c.1690-c.1750) - Sinfonia (Ouvertura) a 3

Performers: Capella Sаvаria; Avner Itаi (conductor)

Drawing: Unknown artist (18th Century) - Pastoral dance

Further info: Antonio Brioschi (c.1690-c.1750)

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Antonio Brioschi [Briochi, Briuschi, Prioschi et al.]

(Briosco?, c.1690 - c.1750)

Italian composer. Although a popular composer whose works were performed throughout Europe, virtually nothing is known about his life, save that he worked alongside Giovanni Battista Sammartini in Milan around 1734. His name suggests that he may have come from Briosco. He is identified as a Milanese composer on some symphony manuscripts, and should be considered representative of the Milanese symphonic school. Ten symphonies are ascribed to both Brioschi and Sammartini, and Brioschi evidently knew Sammartini’s music. He was a popular and prolific early symphonist. Of the extant symphonies attributed to him, the authorship of at least 51 appears to be certain; 22 of these can be dated to about 1741 or earlier, and three are among the earliest of all known dated symphonies. These three works have connections with Casale Monferrato, south-west of Milan. His music was especially popular in Paris, Prague, Stockholm and Darmstadt. 29 works are listed in the Breitkopf catalogues of 1762, 1763 and 1766.

ROSENGART, Aemilian (1757-1810) - Te Deum laudamus (1798)

Aemilian Rosengart (1757-1810) - Te Deum laudamus | a | C. A. T. B. | Violino 1.|m|o | Violino 2.|d|o |

Alto Viola oblig. | Due Clarino. | Tÿmpano. | Organo | et | Violone oblig. (1798)

Performers: GaIina Dzеba (soprano); Ruth Sаndhοff (alto); Anatolij Lοmunοv (tenor); Kirill Zukοv (bass);

Camerata Vocalis; SWR Sinfonieorchester; Alexander Sumski (conductor)

Drawing: Johann Ludwig Ernst Morgenstern (1738-1819) - Church Interior (1791)

Further info: Aemilian Rosengart (1757-1810) - Missa in B-Dur (1796)

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Aemilian (Joseph) Rosengart

(Kirchheim, 29 March 1757 - Tannheim, 29 May 1810)

German theologian, philosopher and composer. He was educated at the Benedictine seminary in Ulm where he was ordained a priest in 1781. Shortly afterwards he moved to the Benedictine abbey of Ochsenhausen where he devoted himself to teaching theology and philosophy. In 1795 the abbot Romuald Weltin promoted him as a musical director in a position he held until 1803. A versatile scholar and practitioner, in 1802 he contributed as a violinist to the performance of Joseph Haydn's The Creation in Biberach under the conduction of Justin Heinrich Knecht. During the period of secularization, he briefly served as deputy abbot starting in 1803, later concluding his career as a parish priest in Tannheim until his death. As a composer he wrote nearly one hundred works, mainly religious music and most of them for choir with instrumental accompaniment.

MAXIMILIAN III, Joseph (1727-1777) - Sinfonia Ex D (c.1770)

Joseph Maximilian III, Kurfürst von Bayern (1727-1777) - Sinfonia Ex D (c.1770)

Performers: Lautten Compagney Berlin; Wolfgang Katschner (conductor)

Painting: Circle of Georg Desmarées (1697-1776) - Kurfürst Maximilian III. Joseph von Bayern in Jagdkleidung

Further info: Joseph Maximilian III (1727-1777)

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Joseph Maximilian III, Kurfürst von Bayern

(Munich, 28 March 1727 - Munich, 30 December 1777)

German composer. The eldest son of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII (1697-1745) and his wife, Maria Amalia of Austria (1701-1756), he was a pupil of Francesco Peli. He played many instruments, and was a composition pupil of Andrea Bernasconi from 1753. He was a patron of chamber music and opera at the Munich court, and during his reign (begun in 1747) Mozart's 'La finta giardiniera' received its première on 13 January 1775. Besides Andrea Bernasconi, Joseph Willibald Michl, Antonio Sacchini, Pietro Pompeo Sales and Tommaso Traetta wrote carnival operas for his court. His 'Concerti a più istromenti', performed at the Accademia Filarmonica in Verona, and his finest composition, a Stabat mater, were published at Verona at the instigation of Joseph-Marie-Clément dall'Abaco in 1765-66. His works, mostly in manuscript, include several symphonies and 12 trios for two violins and bass. A Litany and three 'Sonate per il gallichona' were destroyed in World War II; single parts only exist of a second Litany. A Missa pastoralis and a Regina coeli are lost. His sister, the Princess Maria Antonia Walpurgis (1724-1780), was also a composer.