Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755)
- Concerto (D-Dur) à piu strumenti (c.1740)
Performers: Petra Mullejans (violin); Baroque Orchestra of Freiburg
Painting: Edwaert Collier (1640-1707) - A Vanitas Still Life with a Violin, a Recorder and a Score of Music
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German violinist and composer. His family came from Markneukirchen, but
in 1680 Pisendel's father settled in Cadolzburg as a Kantor. Pisendel
entered the Ansbach court chapel as a chorister in 1697, and six years
later became a violinist in the court orchestra. While at Ansbach he
studied singing with Pistocchi and the violin with Torelli. In 1709 he
travelled to Leipzig, breaking the journey at Weimar where he met Bach.
Pisendel studied at Leipzig University for some time and was soon
accepted in musical circles there. In 1709 he performed a concerto by
Albinoni (not Torelli) with the collegium musicum, and when Melchior
Hoffmann embarked on a concert tour in 1710, Pisendel deputized for him
both in the collegium and in the opera orchestra. The following year
Pisendel visited Darmstadt; there he took part in a performance of
Graupner's opera Telemach, but declined the offer of a permanent post at
court. From January 1712, Pisendel was employed as a violinist with the
Dresden court orchestra. He took over the Konzertmeister's duties when
Volumier died in 1728, the official title being conferred upon him in
1730. During the early years of his employment Pisendel made several
tours in the entourage of the electoral prince, visiting France (1714),
Berlin (1715) and Italy (1716-17). The Italian visit influenced Pisendel
profoundly: a nine-month stay in Venice (from April 1716) enabled him
to study with Vivaldi and a close friendship developed between the two
musicians.
In 1717 Pisendel moved on to Rome (where he took lessons from
Montanari), Naples and other Italian cities before returning to Dresden
that autumn. After a visit to Vienna in 1718 his tours became less
frequent, but he accompanied his royal patron to Berlin (1728, 1744) and
Warsaw (1734). Pisendel was the foremost German violinist of his day.
Quantz praised his interpretation of adagio movements and Hasse
commented on his assured grasp of tempo. Several leading composers
(Vivaldi, Albinoni and Telemann) dedicated works to him. Pisendel was
also admired for his success as an orchestral director, in which his
precision and thoroughness played a major part. It was said that, before
the performance of a new work, he would go through every orchestral
part adding detailed bowing and expression marks. Although Pisendel's
duties left little time for composition his small output of instrumental
music is of the highest quality. A pupil of Heinichen in composition,
he also came, through his travels, into direct contact with the French
and Italian styles. Italian influence predominates in the violin
concertos, which are written in Vivaldian manner but with occasional
traces of a more overtly galant idiom. The solo violin sonata (dated
?1716 by Jung), is a fine work in the German tradition and may have
influenced Bach's music for unaccompanied violin. Manuscript collections
in Dresden show Pisendel to have been among the most important
collectors of music in central Germany; many of the scores he owned were
later added to those of the Dresden Kapelle and catalogued along with
them. The most famous of Pisendel's pupils were J.G. Graun and Franz
Benda.
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