Un portal on escoltar i gaudir de l'art musical dels segles XVI, XVII, XVIII i XIX. Compartir la bellesa de la música és l'objectiu d'aquest espai i fer-ho donant a conèixer obres de compositors molt o poc coneguts és el mètode.
French guitarist and composer. His father, also named François de Fossa,
was one of the most important historians of the province of Roussillon.
His early life little is known, left his native Perpignan in 1793 and
emigrated to Spain where he became a professional soldier. After an
active and varied career he retired from military service in 1844, by
which time he had been made a Chavalier of the Légion d'Honneur. Despite
his military duties he remained active with the guitar, as a composer
of better quality than most of his contemporaries in that field, an
arranger, copyist and player (he is credited with the discovery of
'artificial' (octave) harmonies); he was also the into-French translator
of the guitar method written by his close friend, Dionysio Aguado. In
1826, the Paris firm of Richault published de Fossa's three guitar
quartets, opus 19, probably his most well-known works.
English composer, conductor, writer on music and organist. He was the
fifth of nine children born to Richard and Ann Avison. Since his father,
a Newcastle town wait, was a practising musician, his musical training
probably began at home. Later, while in the service of Ralph Jenison, a
patron of the arts and MP for Northumberland from 1724 to 1741, he had
opportunity for further study. He had additional support in his musical
development from Colonel John Blathwayt (or Blaithwaite), formerly a
director of the Royal Academy of Music, the operatic organization in
London. There is no evidence that, as has been claimed, Avison went to
Italy, but William Hayes and Charles Burney wrote that he studied with
Geminiani in London. The earliest known reference to Avison's musical
activities is an announcement of a benefit concert on 20 March 1734 in
Hickford's Room, London. On 13 October 1735 he was appointed organist of
St John's, Newcastle, an appointment that took effect only in June
1736, when a new organ had been installed. On 20 October, on the death
of Thomas Powell, he became organist at St Nicholas (now the cathedral).
In July 1738 Avison was formally appointed musical director, beginning
with the fourth season; he retained the directorship of the Newcastle
Musical Society, as well as the post at St Nicholas, until his death. He
took part in other musical activities in Newcastle, including concerts
at the pleasure gardens and benefit concerts.
He also collaborated with John Garth in promoting a series of
subscription concerts in Durham, which were held on Tuesdays; theatre
productions in Newcastle and Durham were on Wednesdays, the Newcastle
concerts on Thursdays, and on Sunday evenings from about 1761 informal
concerts were given in a room added for the purpose to the St Nicholas
vicarage. Mondays and Fridays were reserved for Avison's private pupils
on the harpsichord, violin and flute. Some of the performers in the
Avison-Garth concerts included Giardini, Herschel, Shield, and Avison's
sons Edward and Charles. Although Avison was criticized for the
anti-Handelian remarks in his writings, Handel's music was well
represented in the Newcastle and Durham concerts. Burney wrote that
Avison was ‘an ingenious and polished man, esteemed and respected by all
who knew him; and an elegant writer upon his art’. Avison married
Catherine Reynolds on 15 January 1737. Three of their nine children
lived to adulthood: Jane (1744-73), Edward (1747-76) and Charles
(1751-95). Edward succeeded his father as organist of St Nicholas and
musical director of the Newcastle Musical Society, and was a friend of
John Wesley; Charles, who held various appointments as organist in
Newcastle, including that at St Nicholas from 1789 (succeeding Mathias
Hawdon), composed several works and published a hymn collection. The
Avison family is buried in the churchyard of St Andrew's, Newgate
Street, Newcastle. He was the most important English concerto composer
of the 18th century and an original and influential writer on music.
Austrian composer, conductor, teacher and writer on music. His brother
Joseph (1780-1849) was a prolific dramatist, librettist and writer.
Ignaz von Seyfried is said to have studied keyboard with Mozart and
Kozeluch, and composition with Albrechtsberger and Winter. He studied
philosophy in Prague in 1792-93, intending to take up law, but he
eventually devoted himself entirely to music. From 1797 he was a
conductor in Schikaneder's Freihaus-Theater auf der Wiedon, furnishing
it and later the Theater an der Wien with innumerable scores: the first,
Der Friede, was given in May 1797, the last in 1827, the year after he
resigned as Kapellmeister – though he continued to supply occasional
works and arrangements for other theatres. It has been estimated that
his music was heard on 1700 evenings in the Theater an der Wien alone.
He was on friendly terms with Beethoven, whose Fidelio he conducted at
its première in 1805, and his versatility won him a unique place in
Vienna's musical life; however, almost none of his music is marked by
real originality or distinction. Four of Seyfried's scores (including
his setting of Schikaneder’s Der Wundermann am Rheinfall, 1799, about
which Haydn wrote him a complimentary letter) were among the 12 most
often performed works in the Freihaus-Theater; many of his operas and
Singspiele for the Theater an der Wien also enjoyed frequent
performance. He was highly regarded not least for his biblical music
dramas, which include Saul (1810), Abraham (1817), Die Makabäer (1818)
and Noah (1819). Among his numerous arrangements were Ahasverus, der nie
Ruhende (1823) and Der hölzerne Säbel (1830), both based on melodies by
Mozart, and Rochus Pumpernickel (1809), a pasticcio by Stegmayer for
which the music was arranged by Seyfried and Jakob Haibel.
He also reorchestrated or composed numbers for many earlier works,
including La clemenza di Tito, Zémire et Azor, and C.P.E. Bach's
oratorio Die Israeliten in der Wüste (1817). Plays for which he wrote
incidental music include Schiller's Die Räuber (1808) and Die Jungfrau
von Orleans (1811), and Grillparzer's Die Ahnfrau (première, 1817).
Himself the author of music for several parodies, his opera Idas und
Marpissa (1807, text by Stegmayer) was parodied by Perinet and Tuczek
under the same title in 1808, both works proving highly popular. He also
wrote ballets, melodramas, cantatas, symphonies, songs, concertos,
marches, pieces for wind instruments and, especially after his
retirement from the post of musical director at the Theater an der Wien,
a quantity of chamber and church music, including nearly 20 masses,
countless smaller works and arrangements of sacred music (Palestrina,
Pergolesi, Handel, Mozart, the Haydns and Cherubini). Among his many
pupils, only the two later masters of the Viennese musical play and
operetta are remembered: Karl Binder (to whom he left his musical
collection) and Franz von Suppé. Connected with Seyfried's pedagogical
activities was his publication of Albrechtsberger's Sämmtliche Schriften
(1826), Preindl's Wiener Tonschule (1827) and Ludwig van Beethoven's
Studien im Generalbasse, Contrapuncte und in der Compositions-Lehre
(1832). A large number of Seyfried's works were published in Vienna, and
some in Germany; he also contributed articles and reports to the Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik, Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, Cäcilia, and
Schilling's Encyclopädie. His works, in manuscript and in print, are in
the important libraries in Vienna.
German composer. Fischer came from a family of craftsmen and attended
the Piarist grammar school, or at least its final class, at
Schlackenwerth in the Egerland, the residence of Duke Julius Franz of
Saxe-Lauenburg. He must also have received a good basic musical
education there, for the Piarist order performed contemporary music in
its schools and churches and expected active participation from its
members. He may have been first taught composition by the Kapellmeisters
and court musicians Johann Hönel and Augustin Pfleger, and by Georg
Bleyer. Since Duke Julius Franz sent gifted musicians to receive further
training elsewhere, and had connections with the Dresden court, Fischer
may have acquired his high degree of contrapuntal skill from Christoph
Bernhard in Dresden. There is no evidence that he ever studied with
Lully in Paris. Lully's works were known and performed in Bohemia
through printed scores and from Georg Muffat's visit to Prague in 1677.
Fischer could have made an intensive study of them during his journeys
to Prague and Schloss Raudnitz on the Elbe in the course of his
professional duties. In 1689 or earlier Duke Julius Franz appointed
Fischer to succeed Pfleger as Kapellmeister in Schlackenwerth; his name
appears with that title in financial statements relating to the weddings
of the two princesses in 1690. After the partition of the state at the
end of 1690 Fischer may have been appointed Hofkapellmeister to Margrave
Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden. The margrave had married the heiress of
Schlackenwerth, Princess Sibylla Augusta, and made his residence there
at the time of the war with France. There is clear evidence of Fischer's
position in the titles of his printed works from 1695 onwards. The
court moved to Rastatt in 1705, but because of reductions in the
personnel during the war years Fischer did not accompany it. It was not
until October 1715, after a Piarist foundation had been set up in the
city, that he was finally given a post there, which he held until his
death. Fischer's link with the Augsburg publishing firm of Lorenz
Kroninger and Gottlieb Göbel, which issued his opp.1, 2, 3 and 5, was
probably provided by the cathedral organist Johannes Speth, the son of a
schoolmaster from Speinshart where there was a Premonstratensian
monastery. Speth may have met Fischer through the Premonstratensian
monastery of Tepl near Marienbad, bordering on the Schlackenworth
estates. He presented Fischer's op.1 to the cathedral chapter of
Augsburg in 1694, and his op.3 in 1701, and in a letter he mentioned
making corrections to op.3. In 1691 Fischer married Maria Franziska
Macasin, daughter of the mayor of Joachimsthal. His young wife's
background, and the identity of his children's godparents, show that he
was highly regarded in the circles where he moved. After his first
wife's early death in 1698 Fischer re-married, probably at the beginning
of 1700, and this marriage lasted until 1732.
Portuguese organist and composer. Almost nothing is known about his life
and career. He was active as organist and composer of Patriarcal de
Lisboa a post he held, at least, until 1831. As a composer, he mainly
wrote sacred music, among them, a Missa a 4 concertada e breve (1790),
several psalms, responsorios and motets. His music was appreciated since
the manuscripts are preserved in Lisbon, Evora, Ajuda and Sao Paulo
(Brazil).
Dutch composer and theorist of German birth, brother of Friedrich Christian Ruppe. His father, a carpenter, built instruments and was the organist at Wildprechtroda. In 1773 Ruppe enrolled at the University of Leiden. By 1784 he was active as a merchant, and in his publications opp.4 and 5 he described himself as an ‘Amateur de musique’. After a period in Germany, in 1787 Ruppe again enrolled at the university, this time as a music student. He became organist of the Lutheran congregation in Leiden in 1788. Ruppe’s own edition of his Sonatas op.8 includes a privilege of 29 July 1790 entitling him to publish his compositions for 15 years; it lists many works that are now lost, including keyboard concertos, French and Italian arias, and quartets. On 18 October 1790 he was appointed kapelmeester of the University of Leiden. He founded a religious choral society, Tot Meerder Oefening, in Leiden in 1800. Although he began to teach courses on music in 1802 and wrote a book on the theory of ‘modern’ music (1809-10), it was not until 14 May 1816 that King Willem I appointed him lecturer in music, with the stipulation that he continue his activities as music director of the university. Ruppe was well known in the Netherlands during his lifetime for his theoretical treatise and voluminous compositions. Much of his surviving work is chamber music, written in a clear Viennese Classical style that is simple but expressive; the later compositions show a more Romantic attitude. He also wrote keyboard sonatinas (perhaps written for private students), cantatas performed in churches in Leiden and The Hague, children’s songs, keyboard character studies inspired by current political events and odes for the university, all reflecting his various activities. His brother Friedrich Christian Ruppe (1771-1834) was a violinist and composer and his compositions, which were not well known outside Meiningen, include Leiden und Tod Jesu and Der verlorene Sohn (oratorios), Der Sieg der Tugend (unfinished opera), Friedenscantate (1814), a keyboard concerto with choir and various chamber works, of which a trio for piano, clarinet and bassoon (Offenbach, c.1821) and a sonata for piano, violin and cello ad lib (Kassel, n.d.) were published.
Italian composer. The absence of birth and baptismal records leaves the
year of Caldara's birth open to debate but his death certificate, which
suggests he died ‘in his 66th year’, points to 1671. He was the son of
Giuseppe Caldara (?-c.1711) a rank-and-file violinist from whom he may
have received his earliest instruction in music. It is assumed that he
studied with Giovanni Legrenzi, maestro di cappella at S Marco from
1681, and possibly with the cello virtuoso Domenico Gabrielli. In 1693
Caldara styled himself ‘musico di violoncello’. He received a permanent
appointment to San Marco as cellist and alto singer in 1695. By that
time, he had already seen his opera L’Argene produced in 1689 and his
trio sonatas da chiesa published as Opus 1 in 1693. Two mass movements
date from 1696, and at least two oratorios were performed between 1697
and 1699, the year of publication for 12 cantatas for solo voice. In
that year also, Duke Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga of Mantua made Caldara his
maestro di cappella da chiesa e del teatro. The composer traveled with
his patron to Casale, Genoa, and Venice while composing operas for him
during the disruptions caused by the War of the Spanish Succession.
Caldara left Mantua in 1707, sojourned in Rome, where he met Arcangelo
Corelli, the Scarlattis, and George Frideric Handel, among other
luminaries, and then spent time performing operas in Barcelona before
returning to Rome in March 1709. On 1 July, he was appointed maestro di
cappella to Prince Ruspoli, whose spectacular tastes allowed Caldara’s
fluency in composition to flourish: by 1715, he had composed about 180
cantatas, the 12 motets Opus 4, and many oratorios for the Lenten
season. Caldara married Caterina Petrolli, a contralto attached to the
Ruspoli household, on 7 May 1711.
After much waiting and politicking, Caldara won the position of
vice-Kapellmeister at the imperial court in Vienna, over the opposition
of Kapellmeister Johann Joseph Fux, and began work probably in May or
June 1716. His duties included the composition of at least one opera per
year for occasional celebrations, at least one oratorio for Lent,
working with librettist Apostolo Zeno for 11 of them, and a great
variety of sacred music. In addition, he supplied music for patrons
outside Vienna. Caldara, who as a composer of sacred music was as
comfortable with the stile antico as with operatic styles, became a
founding member of the Cecilian Society, an organization founded in
Vienna in 1725 for the revival of the Roman Catholic traditions of
sacred music, which spawned influential chapters all over Europe during
the 18th and 19th centuries. In the last six months of his life, Caldara
completed two operas and a complete polyphonic vespers service. The
recorded cause of death, Gelbsucht und inner Brand (“jaundice and
fever”), may not be unrelated to sheer exhaustion. An immensely prolific
composer of remarkable range, Caldara figured prominently in the
musical life of both Rome and Vienna during the high Baroque. He
composed at least 78 operas, 44 Italian oratorios, 12 other dramatic
works, 13 madrigals, 250 Italian cantatas, 110 masses and mass
fragments, 12 motets, many other assorted sacred works, 12 trio sonatas
da camera, 12 trio sonatas da chiesa, 55 other sonatas for various
instruments and combinations, 12 sinfonie, 500 canons, and 44 lezioni
(“lessons”) for cello, his own principal instrument. Most of his vocal
music is lost, and so despite prominence in his own time, he remains an
obscure figure today. Sometimes criticized for formulaic writing,
Caldara was nevertheless exceptional among his colleagues because he
neither borrowed material from other composers nor parodied his own
works.
Bohemian composer and double bass player. The precise date and location
of his birth remain uncertain. When he died in 1792, the death register
in Ludwigslust recorded his age as 42, placing his birth in the year
1750. In documenting his marriage in 1777, the Wallerstein parish
records identified him as a court musician from Leitmeritz, Bohemia, but
the parish registers there record no birth of an Anton Rösler in 1750,
leading some scholars to suggest that the composer was a Franciscus
Xaverius Antonius Rössler born on 25 October 1746 in Niemes (now Mimoň),
Bohemia. This Rössler, however, was throughout his life a shoemaker in
Niemes, where he died on 11 June 1779. Some time before 1773 Rosetti
adopted the Italian form of his name, and he thereafter consistently
referred to himself as Antonio Rosetti. The existence during this period
of several musicians who shared one or the other of the composer’s
surnames has led to considerable confusion in the identification of his
music. Rosetti received his early education and musical training from
the Jesuits in Bohemia. After the abolition of the Jesuit order in
Bohemia, he moved away and in September 1773 joined the Hofkapelle of
Kraft Ernst, Prince (Fürst) von Oettingen-Wallerstein, near Augsburg, as
a livery servant and double bass player; in July 1774 he was promoted
to the official position of Hofmusikus. Following the death of Kraft
Ernst’s wife, Maria Theresa (born Princess of Thurn und Taxis), on 9
March 1776, as a result of complications following childbirth, Rosetti
rapidly composed a Requiem in E flat major which was first performed on
26 March 1776.
A turning-point in Rosetti’s career occurred in 1781, when he was
granted a leave of absence to visit Paris. During his five-month stay
there, he actively promoted his music, and his works were performed by
the best ensembles of the city, including the orchestra of the Concert
Spirituel, for which he composed several new symphonies. When Rosetti
returned to Wallerstein about 20 May 1782, his recognition as a composer
was assured. In 1785 Rosetti assumed the duties of Kapellmeister. One
of his first priorities was to improve Wallerstein church music.
Rosetti’s life at Wallerstein was plagued with financial difficulties.
His debts continued to mount, and in 1789, after numerous financial
setbacks, he requested release from the prince’s service in order to
accept the position of Kapellmeister to Friedrich Franz I (1756-1837),
Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Reluctantly, on 9 July 1789 Kraft Ernst
agreed, and later that month Rosetti moved to Ludwigslust. His years at
Ludwigslust were less frustrating than those in Wallerstein. Thanks to a
generous salary, he was for the first time financially secure, and his
growing reputation as a composer brought him a number of important
commissions. Unlike that at Wallerstein, the Ludwigslust Kapelle
included several talented singers, and during his years there Rosetti
composed a number of large-scale works for soloists, chorus and
orchestra, including a chamber opera, an oratorio and a cantata. His
Requiem of 1776 was used at a memorial ceremony for Mozart in Prague in
1791. In the spring of 1792, Rosetti, who had suffered from poor health
for most of his life, became seriously ill, and he died on 30 June; he
was buried at Ludwigslust three days later.
Italian composer and singer. Born as 'Anna Ioanna Lucia, filia Hieronymus Boni et Rosa Ruinetti', she was the daughter of the (?Venetian) scenographer and librettist Girolamo Bon [Boni, Bonno, Bono, Bonn, Le Bon, Buon, Bunon] and the Bolognese singer Rosa Ruvinetti Bon. In 1743, at the age of four, she entered the Ospedale della Pietà in Venice as a pupil. She probably rejoined her parents at some time during their engagements at St Petersburg, Dresden, Potsdam and Regensburg between 1743 and late 1754. By 1755 she and her family were in Bayreuth in the service of Margrave Friedrich of Brandenburg Culmbach and his wife Wilhelmine, sister of Frederick the Great. After Wilhelmine’s death in 1758 music at Bayreuth declined. In 1759-60 the Bon family all sang in opera performances directed by Girolamo in Pressburg. On 1 July 1762 the three Bons were contracted to serve the Esterházy court of Prince Nicolaus at Eisenstadt, where Anna remained until at least 25 April 1765 (Haydn wrote several roles for her mother). By 1767 she was resident in Hildburghausen, married to the singer Mongeri. No more traces about her after 1767.
French harpist and composer. His father, Charles Bochsa (?-1821), a
Czech oboist and composer, settled first in Lyons, and from about 1806
was established as a music seller in Paris. Nicholas studied music with
his father, and was remarkably precocious as a performer on many
instruments, and as a composer. At the age of 16 he composed an opera,
Trajan, in honour of Napoleon's visit to Lyons. When his family moved to
Bordeaux soon afterwards, he began to study composition formally with
Franz Beck, under whom he wrote a ballet and an oratorio, Le déluge
universel. In 1806 he entered the Paris Conservatoire to study harmony
under Catel. He studied the harp under Naderman and Marin, and finally
decided to make this his principal instrument, though throughout his
life he was a skilful player of almost every known instrument. His
reputation as a harpist owed much to his compositions for the harp,
which immensely expanded its technical and expressive range; he was
constantly discovering new effects, exploiting the full possibilities of
Erard's new double action. In 1813 Bochsa was appointed harpist to the
emperor, and in 1816 to Louis XVIII. During this period he composed
seven operas for the Opéra-Comique, one of which, La lettre de change
(1815), had a long run and became known outside France. In 1816 he was
commissioned to compose a requiem for Louis XVI, to be used at the
ceremony of reinterment of the beheaded king's remains. It was an
immense work in 15 movements, with accompaniments for wind band and
percussion (since the music was to be used in procession); Whitwell has
pointed out remarkable anticipations of Berlioz's Symphonie funèbre et
triomphale, even to the title of the last movement, ‘Récitative et
apothéose’. Meanwhile Bochsa had been developing a lucrative business in
forged documents of various kinds, and in 1817 he was compelled to
leave the country.
On 17 February 1818 the Paris Court of Assize condemned him, in his
absence, to 12 years' imprisonment with a fine of 4000 francs, and to be
branded with the letters ‘T.F.’ (‘travaux forcés’, or forced labour –
the standard penalty for forgers). He took refuge in London, where he
soon achieved a prominent position in the musical world as a harpist and
conductor. On the founding of the RAM he was appointed professor of
harp and general secretary. In the next few years he had to face
mounting attacks on his character; his forgeries became known, it was
rumoured that he had contracted a bigamous marriage with Amy Wilson
(having a wife still living in France) and on 4 May 1824 he was declared
bankrupt, his creditors receiving only 7d. in the pound. Accordingly on
26 April 1827 he was dismissed. In 1826, however, through the influence
of the king, he had been appointed musical director at the King's
Theatre, and he retained that post until 1830. There was serious trouble
in 1829 when he reduced the salaries of the orchestral players and
when, the principal players having resigned, he replaced them with
inferior musicians. During this time Bochsa composed three ballets for
the King's Theatre, and gave annual concerts which were exceedingly
popular, both for his own brilliance as a harpist and for the curious
novelties he introduced. In the 1830s he played in London and the
provinces with consistent success, often touring with Henry and Anna
Bishop. In August 1839 he eloped with Anna Bishop, following her around
Europe and the world on her various tours; at Naples he was appointed
musical director of the Teatro S Carlo for two years. He arrived at
Sydney from San Francisco late in 1855, became ill and died there. Many
accounts state that he wrote a requiem for himself while on his
deathbed, but a contemporary source states that he merely wrote down a
‘mournful refrain’ on a scrap of paper, which was used as the basis for a
requiem at his funeral. Bochsa was one of the most prolific of all
composers for the harp: his music is not profound, but it is often
adventurous and sometimes brilliant. His harp method was long regarded
as a classic.
Austrian composer. He was the son of the organist Stefan Angerer
(1711-after 1777), who gave him his early musical instruction. As a boy
he attended the Gymnasium of Hall in Tyrol; he was a chorister at the
Königliches Damenstift there, which had an excellent Kapelle, 1754-57,
and in 1759 studied composition with Vigilio Blasio Faitello. In 1758
Angerer entered the Benedictine abbey of Fiecht, then famous for its
music. He was ordained priest in 1764, and was a choirmaster of the
abbey and a music teacher at the abbey school until he fell ill in 1793.
He had close links with the Cistercian abbey of Stams, which he visited
several times, sometimes performing his own compositions there. Many of
Angerer’s compositions were lost in fires at the Fiecht abbey, and few
of those surviving in collections elsewhere are dated. In 1996 he was
identified as the composer of the famous Kindersinfonie (‘Toy
Symphony’), previously attributed variously to Joseph Haydn, Michael
Haydn and Leopold Mozart. His works are melodious and attractive in
style, and make use of tone-painting and material reminiscent of
folksong, with such features as alphorn glissandos and unusual
instruments such as the conch trumpet, goat horn and glockenspiel. Many
of his settings of Mass Propers are set in a cantata manner, with free
texts in German.
Bohemian composer. Born in Tetschen (now Děčín), almost nothing is known
about his life. He was a bassoon virtuoso but overshadowed by Karl
Ditters von Dittersdorf, composer and musician of the Johannisberg (now
Jánský) Castle orchestra. They both spent about twenty years there
(Schimke until his death) and both played managerial roles in the
orchestra. As a composer, he wrote eleven symphonies, around twenty
concertos (including five for viola and four for bassoon) and numerous
pieces of chamber music (mainly for wind instruments). Although
Schimpke's compositions were highly praised during his lifetime, just
recently are receiving some attention.
Was a German prince and composer. Despite his early death he is
remembered as a collector and commissioner of music and as a composer,
some of whose concertos were arranged for harpsichord or organ by Johann
Sebastian Bach, who was court organist in Weimar at the time. Johann
Ernst was born in Weimar, the fourth son and sixth child of Johann Ernst
III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar, and second child of the Duke's second wife,
Charlotte Dorothea Sophia of Hesse-Homburg. As a young child the prince
took violin lessons from G.C. Eilenstein, who was a court musician. He
studied at the University of Utrecht between February 1711 and July
1713. It is thought that Johann Ernst furthered his understanding of
music at this time. From Utrecht, he could visit such centres as
Amsterdam and Düsseldorf and it is known that he had copies of Italian
music sent back to Weimar. In particular, it is thought that he might
have encountered Vivaldi's opus 3 set of violin concertos. The prince's
interest in collecting music was sufficiently well known that P. D.
Kräuter, when requesting leave of absence to study with Bach in Weimar,
mentioned the French and Italian music that the prince was expected to
introduce there. Kräuter also praised Johann Ernst's virtuosity as a
violinist. On his return from university, Johann Ernst took lessons in
composition with a focus on concertos from the local church organist
Johann Gottfried Walther, a cousin of Bach. Walther had previously given
the prince keyboard lessons and had given him his Praecepta der
musikalischen Composition. As well as influencing Bach, Johann Ernst
completed at least nineteen instrumental works of his own before his
death at age eighteen. These works show the influence of Italian music
more than that of German models such as Bach. Johann Ernst died in
Frankfurt after a long illness. Following his death, six of the prince's
concertos were sent to Telemann, who edited and published them in 1718.
