Gregor Joseph Werner (1693-1766)
- Concerto per la camera à 4
Performers: Michael Stahel (cello); Solamente Naturali
Painting: Unknown artist - Concert (c.1700)
Further info: Gregor Joseph Werner (1693-1766)
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Austrian composer. From 1715 to 1716 (or possibly 1721) he was organist
at Melk Abbey. He married in Vienna (where he may have been a pupil of
J.J. Fux) on 27 January 1727, and moved from Vienna to Eisenstadt to
take up an appointment as Kapellmeister at the Esterházy court on 10 May
1728. As successor to the post of Wenzel Zivilhofer he received a
salary of 400 gulden in addition to 28 gulden lodging money per year,
increased in 1738 and, on his son’s joining the establishment as alto
singer, in 1740. Werner also taught some musicians in Eisenstadt,
including Johann Novotný and S.T. Kolbel. According to a decree issued
by 1 May 1761, Haydn took over the princely musical establishment which
Werner had brought to a high standard. However, Werner remained as
Oberhofkapellmeister and was entrusted with the sacred music, which had
always been of primary interest to him. Predictably, strained relations
arose between Werner and the much younger Haydn. In a petition of
October 1765 to Prince Nikolaus von Esterházy, Werner complained of
negligence in the castle Kapelle and the decayed state of the once
strong musical establishment, blaming this on Haydn’s indolence; Werner
made known that because of his great age he was unable to take matters
into his own hands but had to rely on the intervention of others. He
also pleaded for additional supplies of wood to enable him to survive
the winter. Clearly he thought his death was imminent, and in fact he
died at the end of that winter. This bitter letter shows the depth of
his resentment towards Haydn, whom he is said to have called a
Gsanglmacher (‘little song-maker’). Haydn was called to order by the
princely administrator; the accusations of laziness caused him to keep
his own thematic catalogue from then on. In his old age Haydn left a
memorial to his former Oberhofkapellmeister with his edition (1804) of
six introductions and fugues for string quartet, taken from Werner’s
oratorios. Werner’s music reflects several different tendencies. In
church music, which occupied him until his last years, he composed a
cappella masses in a strict contrapuntal style but also works with
string and wind accompaniments markedly influenced by the Neapolitan
tradition. He was, however, a capable contrapuntist and a composer who
thought naturally in contrapuntal terms. Although his melodic style was
sometimes angular, in a manner reminiscent of Zelenka’s, he could also
produce, as in his secular cantatas and his Christmas pieces (which
include pastorals for organ with strings and oboes), themes of a simple,
folksong-like character. His symphonies and trio sonatas follow the
conventional three- and four-movement patterns of his time; but he also
composed works, notably the Musicalischer Instrumental-Calender, using
representational effects.
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