Jan Zach (1713-1773)
- Missa ex D à 4 (c.1755)
Performers: Mаyа Bοοg (soprano); Grаhаm Pushее (alto); Stеvе Dаvislim (tenor); Wοlf Mаtthiаs Friеdrich (bass);
Kammerchor Collegium Vocale Innsbruck; Cappella Istrοpolitаnа; Bеrnhard Siеbеrеr (conductor)
Painting: Pier Leone Ghezzi (1674-1755) - Pope Benedict XIII Presiding over the Provincial Roman Synod
---
Bohemian composer and organist. The son of a wheelwright, he went to
Prague in 1724 and began his career as a violinist at St Gallus and at
St Martín. Later he became organist at St Martín and, by 1737, at the
monastic church of the Merciful Brethren and the Minorite chapel of St
Ann. According to Dlabač he was a pupil of B.M. Černohorský (who was in
Prague, 1720-27) in organ playing and composition. In 1737 Zach competed
unsuccessfully for the post of organist at St Vitus’s Cathedral. He is
reported to have left Bohemia, but was in Prague until 1740. About 1745
he was at Augsburg, and on 24 April 1745 he was appointed Kapellmeister
at the court of the Prince-Elector of Mainz, succeeding his countryman
Jan Ondráček. On 4 October of the same year a mass by Zach was given at
Frankfurt, at the coronation of Emperor Franz I. Zach visited Italy in
1746 and in autumn 1747 he spent about two months in Bohemia. At the
Mainz court he was involved in various disputes, probably caused by his
eccentricity. He was suspended in 1750, and in 1756 he was dismissed and
succeeded by another Bohemian musician, J.M. Schmid. He sought
appointments at the court of the Prince-Elector at Trier and later at
Cologne, and apparently spent the rest of his life travelling, visiting
various courts (Koblenz, Cologne, Darmstadt, Dillingen, Würzburg,
Werhammer, Wallerstein) and monasteries (Seligenstadt, Amorbach,
Eberbach, Stams). In 1767 and between 1771 and 1772 he again visited
Italy, staying for two months at Bressanone on his return journey. He
earned his living by selling and dedicating copies of his works and by
teaching; he also performed as a soloist on the harpsichord and the
violin and conducted performances of his compositions. He appears to
have had close contact with the Cistercian monastery at Stams, Tyrol,
where he stayed several times; at various times he was music teacher at
the Jesuit school in Munich and possibly choirmaster at the Pairis
monastery in Alsace.
In January 1773 he was at the Wallerstein court; four months later,
according to the Frankfurt Kayserliche Reichs-Ober-Post-Amts-Zeitung of 5
June, he died on a journey, at Ellwangen, and was buried in the local
monastic church of St Wolfgang. Zach seems to have been a complicated
personality both as man and as artist: his musical expression ranges
from introverted melancholy to robust verve, with an intense rhythmic
drive. A full chronology of his works has not been established. His
output includes both instrumental and sacred music; both genres reflect a
stylistic transition from the late Baroque to the pre-Classical. In his
church music, retrospective polyphony and Venetian ‘mixed style’ (for
example the Requiem in G minor k B18) co-exist with a more homophonic,
concertante idiom of Neapolitan orientation, often pervaded with Czech
dance rhythms. His best sacred works include the Requiem in C minor (k
B17), abounding in melodic chromaticism and striving for dramatic
expressiveness, the Stabat mater and the Missa solemnis. Zach’s
sinfonias and partitas are scored for strings, solo or orchestral, or
for strings and wind. Various types of pre-Classical formal organization
are represented, notably the three-movement Italian overture form
(sometimes expanded to four movements). Both the sinfonias and concertos
use many devices of the galant style, such as periodic two- or four-bar
structure, much passage-work and ornamentation, parallel 6ths and 3rds,
Alberti bass and so on. The national character of Zach’s music was
noted as early as 1774 by M. Gerbert: ‘qui praestantissimum suae gentis
characterem sine peregrini Italiae styli admixtione egregie expressit’
(De cantu et musica sacra, ii, 371). Komma has shown that many of Zach’s
engaging melodies and rhythms have their roots in Czech folksong and
dance.
Cap comentari:
Publica un comentari a l'entrada