Johann Baptist Gänsbacher (1778-1844)
- Lauretanische Litanei (1812)
Performers: Sabina von WaIthеr (soprano); Johanna Pradеr (alto); Otto
RastbichIеr (tenor); MichaеI GrossIеrcher (bass); TiroIеr vocalensemble
& Kammerorchester des Fеrdinandеums; Josеf Wеtzingеr (leitung)
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Austrian composer and conductor. He was the son of a choirmaster and
teacher, Johann Gänsbacher (1751-1806), and as a boy sang in church
choirs in Sterzing, Innsbruck, Hall and Bolzano; he also had lessons in
piano, organ, violin, cello and thoroughbass. In 1795 he went to the
university at Innsbruck and studied first philosophy, then law,
supporting himself by giving music lessons, playing the organ, singing
in church choirs and playing in the theatre orchestra. His first
compositions date from this period. While at university he took part in
four campaigns against Napoleon. In 1801 he went to Vienna to continue
his musical studies, and was relieved of financial worries when Count
Firmian, who further promoted his career as a musician, took him into
his family as a son in about 1803. In Vienna he had lessons from the
Abbé Vogler (1803-04) and from Albrechtsberger (1806). A Mass in C,
composed through the offices of Vogler for Nikolaus Esterhazy in 1806,
established his reputation as a composer. Nevertheless, he returned to
Vogler in Darmstadt for a short period in 1810, where his fellow-pupils
and friends included Weber and Meyerbeer, who admitted him as a
founder-member of the ‘Harmonische Verein’, for which he was active
until 1813. In January 1813 he met Weber in Prague and recommended him
for the post of Kapellmeister of the theatre. In the summer of the same
year Gänsbacher returned to the Tyrol to join the fighting to liberate
the province from the Bavarian occupation. After the end of the war he
did not return to the Firmian family but joined the army as a first
lieutenant (1814). He was stationed first in Italian garrisons, in
Trient, Mantua and Padua then at Innsbruck in 1815, where he again tried
to gain a foothold as a musician. He worked as a conductor and director
of a church choir, and helped to found the Musikverein, though he did
not gain the position of chief conductor. He did not accept the post of
director of music in Dresden, offered him at the instigation of Weber in
1823, since (after representations against the election of Joseph
Weigl), he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Stephansdom in Vienna as
successor to Josef Preindl in September 1824.
One of the choristers was his nephew Anton Mitterwurzer (1818-76), later
famous as an opera singer. From this time on Gänsbacher composed mainly
church music, and only a few homage cantatas. By the time of his death
he was one of the most famous musicians in Vienna. Some of Gänsbacher's
early instrumental compositions, such as the Clarinet Concertino and the
sonatas in F major (1803) and G minor (1810), are remarkable for the
individuality of their ideas and their unconventional structure, while
his Italian canzonettas and terzetti are effective for their reticent
simplicity. Yet the works he composed later for social performance
clearly show a deterioration of quality. Even before his 20 years at the
Stephansdom, sacred music was becoming central to his output. Starting
with the masses in C and B and the Requiem (1812), he wrote some
creditable and well-regarded works in this field. Although they do not
stand out from the manner of their time, and show little stylistic
innovation, they nonetheless show Gänsbacher's considerable skill as a
composer. His son Josef Gänsbacher (1829-1911) studied the piano, the
cello and singing, and went to university to read law, graduating in
1855. He practised law for a number of years, but concurrently gave
piano and singing lessons, and in 1868 devoted himself entirely to
teaching singing. From 1875 to 1904 he was a tutor at the conservatory
of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, becoming by the turn of the
century the most highly-regarded singing teacher in Vienna. Some of his
pupils achieved international recognition, including Maria Wilt, Milka
Ternina, Leopold Demuth and Julius Liban. Brahms dedicated his cello
sonata op.38 to him. He was a composer, chiefly of songs but also of
piano and choral pieces, and was a co-editor of the Schubert complete
edition.
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