TOMASEK, Václav Jan (1774-1850) - Symfonie D-Dur (1807)

Václav Jan Tomášek (1774-1850) - Symfonie D-Dur (1807)

Performers: Dvοřák Chamber Orchestra; Vladimir Válеk (1935-2025, conductor)

Painting: Borrosch & André, 1841 - Hradschin, Kleinseite. Altstädter Brückenthurm. Ansicht von Südost (Praga)

Further info: Vranicky - Tomasek: Symphonies

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Václav (Wenzel, Venceslav) Jan (Johann, Jean) (Křtitel) Tomášek [Tomascheck, Tomaschek]

(Skuteč, 17 April 1774 - Prague, 3 April 1850)

Bohemian composer and teacher. The thirteenth child in the family of a weaver and burgher, Jakub Tomášek, he acquired the rudiments of music (in violin and singing) under the local choirmaster in Chrudim. At the age of twelve he became a vocalist at the Minorite monastery in Jihlava, where he also studied music theory and organ. In 1790 he left for Prague, where he completed gymnasium and went on to earn a degree in law. At university he also studied mathematics, history, and aesthetics. While still at gymnasium he conscientiously studied music on his own. Obtaining both new and old books on piano and composition, he continued to work diligently at his music, so that by 1796 he was already famous in Prague as a virtuoso of the piano. In 1806, with a number of successful compositions behind him, he was taken on as a music teacher and composer by Count Georg Franz Buquoy. Tomášek was thus financially secure for the next sixteen years, and was able to concentrate on his music. The position, on the other hand, also had its disadvantages, for had he been forced to make a living as a touring virtuoso, say, he would undoubtedly have met with a number of inspirations. In 1824, he founded his own conservatory in Prague, and successfully competed in piano and composition instruction with the established Prague conservatories and organ schools. Among his important pupils were Jan Václav Hugo Voříšek, Josef Dessauer, and Alexander Dreyschock. As a composer, he wrote in all forms, from song to chamber and orchestral works, choral music, cantata, opera, and church music. He started from the Viennese Classicism, but was influenced by early Romanticism as well. This is most evident in his songs and in particular his piano compositions. He was the dominant musical figure in Prague during the first half of the 19th century. His influence was spread throughout Europe by his many students and through his many widely distributed songs and his piano music.

VOCET, Jan Nepomuk Václav (1777-1843) - Koncert pro klarinet

Jan Nepomuk Václav Vocet (1777-1843) - Koncert pro klarinet in Es-Dur

Performers: Emil Drápela (clarinet); Státní filharmonie Brno; Tomáš Hanus (conductor)

Painting: Johann Adam Klein (1792-1875) - Jahrmarkt in Berchtesgaden

Further info: Sólo pro klarinet: Emil Drápela - česká hudba 18. století

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Jan (Johann, Giovanni) Nepomuk Václav Vocet [Vozet, Wozet, Wocet, Wozetisso]

(Tetín, 14 April 1777 - České Budějovice, 28 January 1843)

Bohemian organist and composer. He emerged from a family steeped in musical tradition. In 1799 he married Veronika Hájková, with whom he had six children, in Mirotice, a city where he worked briefly as regens chori. In 1801 he was appointed as choir director at St. Nicholas Cathedral in České Budějovice in a post he held the rest of his life. He nurtured local musical talent by forming an amateur ensemble that would eventually become the city's premier musical group. This ensemble played a vital role in civic life, performing at important ceremonies, including those in the historic Good City. On 17 April 1819 he married for a second time Jana Nepomucena Laubová, with whom he had three children, and on 29 August 1837 he married for a third time Rosalia Zátková. As a composer, his huge output of over 1900 works, primarily sacred, includes twenty-four masses, numerous arias, litanies, and graduals, showcasing his mastery of liturgical music in the tradition of classical style. He also composed dance music.

BENNET, William Sterndale (1816-1875) - Symphony in g (1835)

William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875) - Symphony (No.5) in g (1835)

Performers: Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra; Hilary Davan Wetton (conductor)

Painting: James Webb (1825-1895) - St Paul's from the River Thames (1875)

Further info: Piano Concerto In F Minor - Symphony In G Minor

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William Sterndale Bennett [Bennet]

(Sheffield, 13 April 1816 - London, 1 February 1875)

English composer. His father, Robert Bennett (1788-1819), an organist, and his mother, Elizabeth Donn (1791-1818), died when he was a child, and he was then placed in the care of his grandfather, John Bennett (1754-1837), who was also a musician. At the age of eight he was admitted to the choir of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, and at ten he became a pupil at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he studied theory with Charles Lucas and piano with William Henry Holmes, and played violin in the academy orchestra under Cipriani Potter. He later studied music theory there with William Crotch. Soon he began to compose; he was 16 years old when he was the soloist in the first performance of his Piano Concerto No.1 in Cambridge on 28 November 1832. In 1836 he made an extensive visit to Leipzig, where he became a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann; also appeared as a pianist and conductor of his own works with the Gewandhaus Orchestra there. He continued to compose industriously, and played his Piano Concerto No.4 with the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig on 17 January 1839. He visited Germany again in 1841-42. From 1843 to 1856 he gave a series of chamber music concerts in London; in 1849 he founded the Bach Society. From 1856 to 1866 he conducted the Philharmonic Society of London; concurrently he held the post of professor of music at the University of Cambridge; in 1866 he assumed the position of principal of the Royal Academy of Music. His reputation as a composer grew. He amassed honors: in 1856 he received the honorary degree of D.Mus. from the University of Cambridge, which also conferred on him the degree of M.A. in 1867; he received the degree of D.C.L. from the University of Oxford in 1870; in a culmination of these honors, he was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1871. The final honor was his burial in Westminster Abbey. He ranks as the most distinguished English composer of the Romantic school. 

DANZI, Franz Ignaz (1763-1826) - Lateinische Vesper-Psalmen

Franz Ignaz Danzi (1763-1826) - Lateinische | Vesper=Psalmen | für | Sopran, Alt, Tenor und Bass

| II Violinen, Viola und Orgel | II Trompetten u. Paucken ad Lib.

Performers: Erika Rüggeberg (1940-2018, soprano); Julia Falk (alto); Albert Gassner (tenor); Carlo Schmid (bass); Chor der Herz-Jesukirche München; Convivium Musicum München; Josef Schmidhuber (1924-1990, conductor)

Painting: Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) - Verkündigung an die Hirten

Further info: Johann Kaspar Aiblinger: Missa Advocata nostra

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Franz (Ignaz) Danzi

(Schwetzingen, bap. 15 June 1763 - Karlsruhe, 13 April 1826)

German composer and cellist. Son of Mannheim orchestra cellist Innocenz Danzi (c.1730-1798), he received his earliest musical education in Mannheim from members of the Kapelle, as well as Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler. At the age of 15 he was appointed to the orchestra, but a few years later he remained behind in Mannheim when the majority moved to Munich. His earliest successes as a composer of works for the stage occurred there, but in 1784 he was named his father’s successor as principal cellist in Munich. In 1791 he undertook tours throughout Germany as a conductor, including with the Guardasoni troupe. The death of Carl Theodor in 1799 had a greater impact on Danzi’s career: the new elector, Maximilian IV Joseph, was less sympathetic to German opera and imposed financial restrictions on the theatres. Further, Danzi faced opposition from rivals, including the new intendant Joseph Marius Babo and the Kapellmeister Peter Winter. When his serious German opera 'Iphigenie in Aulis' was finally given in 1807, it was poorly prepared and had only two performances; bitter and disappointed, Danzi left Munich for Stuttgart. In October 1807, the King of Württemberg offered Danzi the position of Kapellmeister at Stuttgart, where Zumsteeg had been active. There Danzi met Carl Maria von Weber and encouraged the younger composer as he completed his Singspiel 'Silvana'. Here he formed a fast friendship with Carl Maria von Weber. In 1812 he moved to Karlsruhe, where he spent the remainder of his life. An active composer, he wrote 16 operas; incidental music to 25 plays; eight Masses; 87 chamber works, among which several dozen woodwind quintets were popular throughout Europe; five symphonies; six sinfonia concertantes; concertos for the bassoon, horn, flute, and violoncello; as well as a large number of other sacred works, songs, and smaller instrumental pieces. He was also active as a librettist. His style, though conservative, is characterized by inventive use of orchestral color, particularly with respect to the wind and brass instruments.

CORRETTE, Michel (1707-1795) - Concerto per organo obligati

Michel Corrette (1707-1795) - Concerto des 'VI Concerti a sei strumenti, cimbalo o organo obligati,

tre violini, flauto, alto viola e violoncello ... opera XXVI'

Performers: Francois-Henri Houbart (organ); Orchestre Bernard Thomas; Bernard Thomas (conductor)

Drawing: Edward Francis Burney (1760-1848) - Heavenly Orchestra

Further info: Les Six Concertos Pour Orgue

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Michel Corrette [Corette]

(Rouen, 10 April 1707 - Paris, 21 January 1795)

French organist, teacher, and composer. Son of Gaspard Corrette (1671-1732), he probably received music lessons from his father. Though little is known of his early life. He was married on 8 January 1733 to Marie-Catherine Morize. They had a daughter Marie-Anne Corrette (1734-c.1822) and a son Pierre-Michel Corrette (1744-1801), who became an organist. Michel Corrette first established his reputation by becoming musical director of the Foire St Germain and the Foire St Laurent, where he arranged and composed vaudevilles and divertissements for the opéras comiques (1732-39). From 1737 until its closure in 1790 he was organist at Ste Marie within the temple of the grand prieur of France, thus serving the Chevalier d’Orléans, then the Prince de Conti (1749), and finally the Duke d’Angoulême (1776). About a year after beginning at the temple, he became organist at the Jesuit College in the rue St-Antoine, a position he retained until the Jesuits were expelled in 1762. In 1734 he was styled Grand maître des Chevaliers du Pivois, from 1750 Chevalier de l’Ordre de Christ. He was a prolific composer, producing concertos for harpsichord, organ, flute, and hurdy-gurdy, sonatas, organ works, and a large output of sacred music. He also prepared 17 methods on performing practice, 6 of which are lost.