Friedrich Wilhelm Rust (1739-1796) - Sinfonia (in D) à 17 vocibus (1773)
Performers: Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau
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Composer and musical organizer. As a small child he learnt to play the violin, encouraged by his elder brother Johann Ludwig Anton, who was himself considered an excellent violinist. He also learnt the piano, and according to his own account in his autobiography (1775) could play the first part of J.S. Bach’s Das wohltemperirte Clavier from memory when he was 16. After his father’s death in 1751 he lived with his mother and eldest brother in Gröbzig until 1755. A copy that he made of the trio sonata from Bach’s Musical Offering dates from this period; it is now considered lost. He then attended the Lutheran Gymnasium in Cöthen, 1755-58. From 1758 he studied law at Halle-Wittenberg University; he also had lessons with W.F. Bach and in return deputized for him as a church organist. Soon after Rust had completed his studies there, Prince Leopold Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau sent him to Zerbst to study with Carl Höckh, and then to Berlin and Potsdam (July 1763-April 1764) to study the violin with Franz Benda and keyboard instruments with C.P.E. Bach. In 1765-66 Rust visited Italy in the prince’s retinue, and there completed his musical training, coming into contact with Tartini, Pietro Nardini and G.B. Martini. Rust then settled in Dessau, where a lively court and civic musical life soon developed under his influence, and he wrote most of his compositions for it. From 1769 he organized regular subscription concerts, with music performed by both court musicians and amateurs, and in 1775 a theatre was founded, a project for which Rust was largely responsible. His achievements were recognized in April 1775, when the prince made him court music director. He married his former singing pupil Henriette Niedhardt in May; the couple had eight children, two of whom became professional musicians. In his lifetime Rust was honoured and esteemed as an instrumentalist and composer; contemporary lexicons and his correspondence with colleagues bear eloquent witness to this. He was also active as a teacher, and trained a series of well-regarded instrumentalists and singers. His compositions comprise all musical genres of the time except the symphony. The surviving instrumental music includes works for clavichord, viola d’amore, harp, lute, and nail violin, the sound of which appealed to his introverted nature. In addition to large-scale vocal works and six stage works he also wrote some 100 lieder, of which 70 have been made usable for modern performance (see Buchmann, 1987). His output is representative of the transition to Classicism, and certain elements, particularly in his lieder and keyboard works, anticipate developments by later composers; his keyboard music is especially individual. Many of Rust’s compositions still await rediscovery.
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