VAN BLANKENBURG, Quirinus (1654-1739) - Duplicata Ratio Musices, ou La Double Harmonie (1733)

Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654-1739) - Duplicata Ratio Musices, ou La Double Harmonie (1733)

Performers: Gerard Dekker (1931-2010, clavecimbel)

Engraving: Ernst Ludwig Creite (fl. 1728-1765) - Portret van Quirinus van Blankenburg

Further info: Quirinus van Blankenburg (1654-1739)

---

Quirinus (Quirijn, Gideon) Gerbrandszoon van Blankenburg [Blanckenburg, Blanckenburgh]

(Gouda, 1654 - The Hague, 12 May 1739)

Dutch composer, organist, theorist and poet. He was the son of Gerbrant Quirijnszoon van Blankenburg (c.1620-1707), organist in Zevenbergen and Gouda. He probably received his first instruction in music from his father. He started his musical career at an early age, as an organist in Rotterdam (1670-75, at the Remonstrantse Kerk) and at Gorinchem (1675-79). For some years from 1679 he studied at the University of Leiden (he was registered under the name Gideon van Blankenburg). In the mid-1680s he settled at The Hague, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He was organist of the Walloon church from 1687 to 1702. In 1699 he was appointed to the Nieuwe Kerk but was active there only after the new organ had been completed in 1702. Because of his old age his pupil Frans Piton deputized for him from 1720. He was sought after as a music teacher by the nobility of The Hague: his pupils included Willem Bentinck, Ludwig Friedrich, Prince of Württemberg, and probably Count Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. Blankenburg was considered a proficient keyboard player and a first-class expert on carillon and organ building. His advice was requested as early as 1676 in connection with the carillon newly ordered from Pieter Hemony for the tower of the St Janskerk, Gouda, where his father was organist. He proposed the inclusion of C and D in the lowest octave but was strongly opposed by other advisers and by Hemony himself. He published a defence of his position (De nootsakelijkheid van Cis en Dis in de bassen der klokken, c.1677, now lost). Hemony replied with De onnoodsakelijkheid en ondienstigheid van Cis en Dis in de bassen der klokken (Delft, 1678/R1927), but Blankenburg's proposal eventually prevailed. Later on he was asked to try out newly built or restored organs and carillons in various towns and cities, but his judgments, which may have been influenced by financial interests, drew him into controversy several times. 

Blankenburg's printed music consists entirely of keyboard pieces. The Clavicimbel- en orgelboek der Gereformeerde Psalmen en kerkzangen comprises essentially homophonic settings for organ or harpsichord of all the psalms and hymns of the Dutch Protestant Church. The rhythm and harmony of the original 16th-century melodies are adapted to 18th-century taste, with many ornaments added. A few of the settings are preceded by a fugal prelude. De verdubbelde harmony is a little volume written in honour of the marriage of Prince Willem Carel Hendrik Friso and Princess Anna of Hanover. It contains a number of small, unpretentious pieces of various kinds. Some were printed on transparent silk and could be played when viewed from either side. A volume announced in 1739 as Fugues, allemande, courante, sarabande, bourée, gavotte, menuets, gigue et autre pièces de clavecin apparently never appeared, possibly because of Blankenburg's death. Three autograph manuscripts (D-ROu) include vocal and harpsichord pieces (see Praetorius). Some are by Blankenburg himself, others are arrangements by him of vocal extracts from operas by Handel and Destouches and from a cantata by J.G.C. Störl. The remainder of the pieces are anonymous or can be attributed to other composers. Blankenburg's curious treatise Elementa musica is principally a textbook on thoroughbass but also includes many autobiographical remarks. He accused François Campion and Handel of the unauthorized use of some of his musical ideas. One was the theme for a fugue, and he included in the book his own fuga obligata based on it. He dated his theme 1725, and accused Handel of using it in his Six fugues or voluntaries (1735). We now know, however, that Handel wrote these pieces around 1720.

CAPILLAS, Francisco López (1614-1674) - Missa 'Aufer a nobis'

Francisco López Capillas (1614-1674) - Missa 'Aufer a nobis'

Performers: Capella Prolationum; Ensemble La Danserye

Painting: Cornelis van Poelenburch (c.1594-1667) - Meeting Gods in the clouds

Further info: Francisco López Capillas (c.1605-1674) - Missa Re Sol

---

Francisco López y Capillas

(Mexico City, 1614 - Mexico City, 18 January 1674)

Mexican composer and organist. The son of Bartolomé López (who was possibly a royal notary) and María de la Trinidad, López was probably admitted to the choir of Mexico City Cathedral around 1625, he would have studied with its maestro de capilla Antonio Rodriguez Mata. A Francisco López, who may well be the composer, graduated in theology at the University of Mexico on 20 August 1626. Stevenson has suggested that López may have studied with Juan de Riscos during a visit to Jaén, where Riscos was maestro de capilla until 1643 (Stevenson: ‘Mexico City Cathedral Music’, 1987). On 17 December 1641 López was named assistant organist and dulcian player (bajonero) at Puebla Cathedral under Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla, who had facilitated his appointment. His duties as a dulcian player were replaced with singing duties on 13 September 1645. He probably received the degree of licenciado from the University of Mexico no earlier than autumn 1646. Between 1642 and 1647 he frequently substituted for the principal organist, Pedro Simón, and on 15 January 1647 López was promoted to the position. However, following the reappointment of Simón in January 1648 (and a subsequent lowering of his own salary), López left Puebla on 15 May 1648 in search of better opportunities. His whereabouts for the next six years are unclear. On 10 March 1654 López presented a book of his compositions to the authorities at Mexico City Cathedral. When the cathedral choirmaster Fabián Ximeno died a month later, López was appointed to the dual post of organist and maestro de capilla within four days of Ximeno's death, even though the chapter had announced a 40-day waiting period for the vacancy. From this time López signed himself ‘López Capillas’ (‘López of the Chapels’).

In January 1656 he was asked by the viceroy, the Duke of Alburquerque, to compose a mass for the investiture of four bishops on the feast of St James; the result may have been the four-choir mass received with amazement by Gregorio Martín de Guijo and noted in his Diario, 1648-64 (ed. M. Romero de Terreros, Mexico, 1952). During the following years López supervised the two brilliant dedications of the new cathedral and strengthened his reputation for outstanding ability and conscientious service, but his pleas that the posts of organist and maestro de capilla be separated were refused until 1668, when the cathedral engaged Joseph Ydiáquez as principal organist. A beautifully illustrated choirbook of compositions by López, which was presented to Madrid (it is now in E-Mn M2428), may have played a part in securing a full prebend for López which was granted by a royal decree dated 23 March 1673. At the time of his death López was earning 1000 pesos, one of the largest salaries ever received by a church musician in Mexico during the colonial period. A will made on 13 January 1674 reveals that as well as valuable silver objects and a number of paintings he owned three violones and an organ. López was the first maestro de capilla of Mexico City Cathedral to be born in the city. His numerous compositions, among the finest produced in New Spain, are written exclusively according to the prima pratica but with notable skill and fluency. Their smooth polyphony masks a learned and greatly varied use of canon (e.g. the second Agnus Dei of the Missa Quam pulchri), parody techniques and complex mensural practices. In a ‘Declaracíon de la Missa’, a preface to his hexachord mass, he cites three chapters of Guevara's lost Compendio de musica to validate his mensural practice; he also cites Cerone's El melopeo y maestro. As influences on his musical style he mentions Hellinck, Richafort, Morales and Palestrina. 

LIDARTI, Christian Joseph (1730-1795) - Overture 'Ester' (1774)

Christian Joseph Lidarti (1730-1795) - Overture 'Ester' (1774)

Performers: Orchestre National de Montpellier; Friedemann Layer (1941-2019, conductor)

Drawing: James Gillray (1757-1815) - Dilettanti-Theatricals; of a Peep at the Green Room, February 18, 1803

Further info: Cristiano Giuseppe Lidarti (1730-1795) - Concerto per cembalo con violini e basso

---

Christian Joseph (Cristiano Giuseppe) Lidarti

(Vienna, 23 February 1730 - Pisa, 1795)

Austrian composer of Italian descent. He studied at a Cistercian monastery in Klagenfurt and afterwards at the Jesuit seminary in Leoben. While enrolled in philosophy and law courses at the University of Vienna, he studied the harpsichord and harp and began to teach himself composition. In Vienna the Kapellmeister Giuseppe Bonno, his uncle, reproached him for his dilettantism and directed him to study the classic theorists. In 1751 he went to Italy to complete his musical education. After short stays in Venice and Florence, he spent five years in Cortona as a music teacher and composer and studied with Jommelli in Rome in 1757. From then until at least 1784 he was a player in the chapel of the Cavalieri di S Stefano in Pisa. In 1761 he became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna and later in Modena. His last dated composition is from 1793. Lidarti's regular association and correspondence with his colleagues such as Martini, Jommelli and Burney indicates that they held him in high esteem. Five letters to Martini spanning the years 1762-84 are in the Bologna Conservatory library. Lidarti's instrumental works (of which there are nearly 200) are bipartite in structure and show a preference for forms such as the minuet, even in sonata finales. They are lightly ornamented and often approach near-equality in voicing. Van der Straeten depicts Lidarti as a cellist, a fact omitted from his autobiography but borne out by the unusual technical demands placed on the cello in much of his chamber music, especially the quartets, in which the cello is more prominent than in the majority of quartets of that time. His compositions maintain a serene songlike quality, interrupted only by occasional fugal or canonic passages. 

DE SOUSA CARVALHO, João (1745-1798) - Laudate pueri Dominum

João de Sousa Carvalho (1745-1798) - Laudate pueri Dominum

Performers: Kumi Arata (soprano); Maitrise du Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles;

Les pages et les chantres de la Chapelle; Olivier Schneebeli (conductor)

Painting: Ecole française du XVIIIe siècle - Allégorie de la Science

Further info: João de Sousa Carvalho (1745-1798) - Te Deum (1792)

---

João de Sousa Carvalho

(Estremoz, 22 February 1745 - Alentejo, 1799)

Portuguese composer and teacher. On 28 October 1753 he began music studies at the Colégio dos Santos Reis in Vila Viçosa. A royal grant enabled him to enrol on 15 January 1761 at the Conservatorio di S Onofrio in Naples, where he studied with Cotumacci. In 1766 his setting of Metastasio’s La Nitteti was performed in Rome. On returning to Portugal he joined the Irmandade de S Cecília at Lisbon on 22 November 1767. In the same year he was appointed professor of counterpoint in the Seminário da Patriarcal, where he later served as mestre (1769-73) and as mestre de capela (1773-98) and taught such noted musicians as António Leal Moreira, Marcos António Portugal and João José Baldi. In 1778 he succeeded David Perez as music teacher to the royal family. Upon retirement from the Seminário da Patriarcal he owned extensive properties in both the Algarve and Alentejo. Carvalho was the foremost Portuguese composer of his generation, and one of the finest in the country’s history. His numerous elaborate church works in the style of Jommelli display a thorough control of counterpoint and structure, with keen, assertive melodic writing in the fast movements. He is equally distinguished as a composer of opere serie and serenatas, of which 14 by him were performed at the royal palaces of Ajuda and Queluz. Two of his operas have enjoyed modern revivals: L’amore industrioso (1943, 1967) and Testoride (1987). 

CHEDEVILLE, Nicolas (1705-1782) - Sonate (V) en do majeur (1737)

Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782) - Sonate (V) en do majeur, opera XIII (1737)

Performers: The Suffolk Consort

Painting: Govert Flinck (1615-1660) - Rembrandt as a Shepherd with a Staff and Flute (1636)

Further info: Nicolas Chédeville (1705-1782) - Il pastor fido, Op.13

---

Nicolas Chédeville

(Sérez, Eure, 20 February 1705 - Paris, 6 August 1782)

French composer, arranger, musette maker, player and teacher, brother of Pierre Chédeville (1694-1725) and Esprit Philippe Chédeville (1696-1762). His great uncle Louis Hotteterre was one of his godfathers and may have taught him music and the art of turning instruments. In the early 1720s he entered the opera orchestra as oboe and musette player, and on 1 November 1725 he took over the reversion of Jean Hotteterre's post in the Grands Hautbois from Esprit Philippe. After Jean's death in 1732, he acquired the title to this post. On 2 December 1729 he took out his first privilege to publish his own compositions. At first he called himself ‘Chedeville le jeune’ on the title-pages of these works; from op.3 he listed himself as ‘Chedeville le cadet’. The dedications of many of his works show that he was much sought after as a musette teacher by members of the most highly-placed families in France. He taught Princess Victoire from about 1750, which led to his appointment as maître de musette de Mesdames de France. In his musette making he seems to have added to the instrument's lower compass, building musettes going down to c' (according to the Mercure de France, November 1733). The Mercure also reported that he had rearranged the keys on the little chanter, making it easier to play. On 1 July 1748 he retired from the opera, although he agreed to return to play the musette there whenever he was needed, according to La Borde. Although he retained his post in the Grands Hautbois until his death, he must have dropped out of sight by 1780, because in that year La Borde, who claimed that he was the most celebrated musette player France had ever had, said that he was dead; in fact he lived for two more years. Nicolas's first two collections of pieces for musette or hurdy-gurdy, entitled Amusements champêtres (opp.1 and 2), are similar to his elder brother's early Simphonies; his op.3 works with the same title are more substantial and technically difficult. His op.6, inspired by a campaign on which he accompanied the Prince of Conti, contains movements with titles of battles, some of which express the ‘war-like images’ he referred to in his dedication. 

In 1737 he made a secret agreement with Jean-Noël Marchand for the latter to obtain a privilege to engrave, print and sell a work as Vivaldi's Il pastor fido, op.13, but in a notarial act dated 17 September 1749 Marchand declared that Chédeville was the composer, also revealing that Chédeville had provided the money for the publication and was receiving the emoluments. It is not certain why Chédeville chose to have his own work attributed to Vivaldi and issued under the privilege of Marchand, but perhaps, as Lescat has suggested, he was trying to give the musette, his favourite instrument, the endorsement of a great composer that it had lacked up until then. His interest in Italian music was strong around this time. On 7 August 1739 he was granted a privilege to print, engrave and issue to the public his own arrangements of concertos and sonatas by Italian composers for the musette, hurdy-gurdy or flute. The names of ten Italian composers are mentioned in the privilege, along with those of Quantz and Mahaut. Le printems, ou Les saisons amusantes (1739) features arrangements of Vivaldi's ‘La primavera’, op.8 no.1, along with other concerto movements by Vivaldi. His op.7 is his only collection specifically for the transverse flute, oboe or violin. The pieces have Italian tempo markings, a greater variety of keys than the musette works and more pronounced features of Italian style. In his op.9, dedicated to the ‘illustrious virtuosos’, both ladies and gentlemen, who were his students, he turned again to the rustic, pseudo-countrified style so fashionable at the time. Not arranged into sonatas or suites, the pieces appear to reflect the skill of the pupil to whom each is dedicated; some are quite simple, while others, such as ‘The Virtuoso’, use many ‘double stops’ and have rapid, difficult passage-work. Op.14, dedicated to Princess Victoire, features variations, incuding 12 based on ‘Les folies d'Espagne’. Though Nicolas's works are on the whole more substantial and glittering than those of Esprit Philippe, both were basically intended for the same purpose – that of the amusement of wealthy amateurs who played for their own pleasure – and both served that purpose well.

BOCCHERINI, Luigi (1743-1805) - Kyrie e Gloria à 4 voci

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) - Kyrie e Gloria à 4 voci

Performers: Svetla Krasteva (soprano); Fernanda Piccini (contralto); Manuel Beltrand Gil (tenor); Duccio Dal Monte (bass); Capella 'S. Cecilia'; Orchestra da Camera del Teatro del Giglio di Lucca; Gianfranco Cosmi (conductor)

Painting: Pompeo Batoni (1708-1787) - Luigi Boccherini playing the violoncello

Further info: Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) - Six Sonates pour le Clavecin

---

(Ridolfo) Luigi Boccherini

(Lucca, 19 February 1743 - Madrid, 28 May 1805)

Italian composer and cellist. He was the third child of the musician Leopoldo Boccherini (1712-1766) and his wife Maria Santa, née Prosperi (?-1776). Leopoldo's activities as a singer, and from 1747 as a second double bass player in the Cappella Palatina, allowed the family only a modest standard of living in their home town of Lucca. Thanks to intensive parental encouragement, the Boccherini children developed their considerable artistic talents early: Luigi's elder brother Giovanni Gastone (1742-c.1800) began a career as a ballet dancer in 1756 and from 1773 was ‘dramatic poet’ (Theatraldichter) at the Burgtheater in Vienna, where he worked with Calzabigi and made a name as librettist for comic operas (including works by Antonio Salieri and Florian Gassmann) and for Joseph Haydn's oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia of 1775. Luigi's elder sister Maria Ester (1740-c.1800) became a popular and successful solo dancer while she was still very young at the Burgtheater, where she worked with Gluck. Luigi's sister Anna Matilde (1744-?) was a ballet dancer in Vienna and his sister Riccarda (1747-?) an opera singer, appearing in Florence in 1777. He probably had his first musical education from his father, as was usual in musicians' families. He attended the archiepiscopal Seminario di S Martino in Lucca as a day pupil from about 1751 to 1753 and received a comprehensive musical training from the maestro di cappella and cellist Domenico Francesco Vannucci, including tuition in singing and cello playing. In 1753 he went to study in Rome, where G.B. Costanzi is said to have been his teacher. It is not known exactly how long he remained there, but he was back in Lucca by the summer of 1756, making his début on 4 August 1756 with a cello concerto. Through the sympathetic support of Giacomo Puccini, maestro di cappella of the Cappella Palatina and organist at S Martino, he made a number of further appearances on local occasions involving sacred music and at other festivities.

Judging by the fees he commanded, the young Boccherini must already have been regarded as one of the city's outstanding musicians. By 1761 he set off on a tour of Europe as a virtuoso. By 1768 he intended to make his reputation in London but was diverted to Madrid on the invitation of the Spanish ambassador, where he was employed as musical director for the Infante Don Luís Antonio de Borbón. In 1770 he was named as compositor y virtuoso da camera, and for the next 15 years he followed his patron to various country estates and homes in Boudilla del monte, Olias- Velada-Cadalso, and Arenas de San Pedro, where he composed the greater portion of his chamber music. Returning to Madrid in 1785 he conducted the private orchestra of the Duke of Ossuna, as well as the Real Capilla until 1799, when Spain was occupied during the Napoleonic wars. In 1786 he was appointed as chamber composer to Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, who bestowed upon him an annual pension, even though there is no evidence that Boccherini ever traveled to Potsdam in person. By 1802 he obtained the patronage of Lucien Bonaparte, which allowed him to continue his duties, although economic circumstances appear to have been difficult. Boccherini, whose music was published in Paris and elsewhere and widely distributed throughout the world, can be seen as one of the most popular composers of the last half of the 18th century. His style was known for its fluid melodic lines, advanced sense of harmony, innovative forms and structure, and rhythmic drive. He often used Spanish rhythms and dances in his music, and he was often compared with Joseph Haydn as one of the most progressive composers of the period. He left over 500 compositions.

CORELLI, Arcangelo (1653-1713) - Sonata 'La Folia' a violino e basso (1700)

Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) - Sonata 'La Folia' (in re minore) a violino e basso, Opera Quinta (1700) 

Performers: Ulrich Grehling (1917-1977, violin); August Wenzinger (1905-1996, violoncello);

Fritz Neumeyer (1900-1983, cembalo)

Painting: Hugh Howard (1675-1737) - Arcangelo Corelli (c.1699)

Further info: Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) - Il Bolognese

---

Arcangelo Corelli "Il Bolognese" [Arcangelo del violino]

(Fusignano, 17 February 1653 - Rome, 8 January 1713)

Italian composer. Corelli, the last of five children, was named for his father, a prosperous landowner, who had died one month before he was born, and was raised by his mother Santa Raffini Corelli. He is reported to have studied with a priest in Faenza but received his principal training in Bologna, beginning in 1666. There, he could learn from a number of established players and composers associated with the great church of San Petronio. In 1670, he entered the Accademia Filarmonica. The next documented appearance of Corelli comes from Rome in 1675, when he is listed as a member of an orchestra playing oratorios for Lent. Similar engagements follow through 1679, when Corelli himself mentions in a letter that he has entered the service of Queen Christina of Sweden, who had taken up residence in Rome following her conversion to Catholicism. She is the dedicatee of his first publication, the trio sonatas Opus 1 of 1681. Its success was unparalleled at the time and would see 39 reprints before the end of the 18th century. By this point, Corelli was one of the leading musicians in Rome. In February 1687, he is documented leading a tremendous ensemble of 150 string players and 100 singers for an accademia di musica of Bernardo Pasquini at Queen Christina’s Palazzo Riario. On 9 July of that year, he was hired by Cardinal Pamphili as maestro di musica and went to live in his palace. In 1690, he transferred to the household of Cardinal Ottoboni, where accademie di musica were regularly held on Monday evenings. Corelli dedicated his Opus 4 to Ottoboni. He acquired wealth and honors. In 1684, he was admitted to the Congregazione di Santa Cecilia, along with Alessandro Scarlatti, and on 26 April 1706, along with Scarlatti and Pasquini, to the Arcadian Academy of Rome. In May 1707 and April 1708, he worked with the young George Frideric Handel, performing two of his early oratorios. By 1708, Corelli’s health was no longer good, and he retired later that year, possibly to devote himself to composition. In 1712, he concluded an agreement with Estienne Roger of Amsterdam for the publication of his concertos Opus 6. But he died before the publication appeared, and he was buried in the church of Santa Maria della Rotonda (Pantheon) in Rome. Aside from a few other instrumental compositions, Corelli’s legacy comes down in his six publications, containing 48 trio sonatas, 12 sonatas for solo violin, and 12 concerti grossi. Indeed, he is one of the first composers who owe their international fame to the medium of publication rather than manuscript. He became a legend throughout Europe in his own lifetime through his violin playing and pedagogy and his six publications of instrumental music for strings. The set of violin sonatas Opus 5 and concerti grossi Opus 6, which contains the famous Christmas Concerto, have been studied and played more or less continuously since their first appearance, thus ranking as two of the earliest classics in the Western tradition. 

EICHNER, Ernst (1740-1777) - Concerto per l'harpa (1771)

Ernst Eichner (1740-1777) - Concerto (C-Dur) per l'harpa (1771)

Performers: Annie Challan (harp); Antiqua Musica Chamber Orchestra; Marcel Couraud (1912-1986, conductor)

Painting: Michel Dorigny (1617-1665) - Erato, muse de la Poésie lyrique

Further info: Ernst Eichner (1740-1777) - Klarinettenkonzert Es-Dur

---

Ernst (Dieterich Adolph) Eichner

(Arolsen, bap. 15 February 1740 - Potsdam, early 1777)

German bassoonist and composer, father of Adelheid Maria Eichner (1762-1787). As a son of the Waldeck court musician and bassoonist Johann Andreas Eichner (1694-1768), he must have learnt the violin and bassoon, and been introduced to the rules of counterpoint and composition (the basis of his lauded prowess later in ‘strict writing’), from musicians at the court. On 5 August 1753 he was confirmed. His marriage to Maria Magdelena Ritter (probably of the Mannheim family of musicians) undoubtedly took place before 1760, and their first daughter Adelheid was probably born between 1760 and 1762; a second daughter, Maria Catherina Elisabeth, was born on 14 August 1764 but died four days later. On 1 September 1762 Eichner entered the court orchestra of Duke Christian IV of Zweibrücken (the brother of Waldeck’s Princess Christiane), where he served primarily as a violinist and later (1769) was appointed Konzertmeister. He toured as a virtuoso bassoonist from 1767, establishing a considerable fame. In 1770 he travelled in the prince’s entourage to Paris, where his earliest symphonies – among other works – appeared in print and where he was placed second to Cannabich in the Foire Germain symphony contest in 1772. He left the Zweibrücken court on 18 November 1772 and travelled via Paris to London. There he appeared as a bassoonist in 12 of J.C. Bach’s subscription concerts (March–May 1773). In August of that year he was a bassoonist in the service of the Prussian crown prince, later Friedrich Wilhelm II, in Potsdam. He interrupted his service there only once, to visit Arolsen and Leipzig (1775). His early death passed unnoticed by the musical public. 

Although active as a composer only from 1763 to 1776, Eichner left a noteworthy corpus of symphonies, solo concertos, chamber music and vocal works. His early style is typified in the solo concertos which were written before 1769 for the court at Zweibrücken; the chamber and symphonic works, on the other hand, date from his years as Konzertmeister or from his tenure in Potsdam. The last solo concertos seem untouched by his symphonic style; they strongly follow the so-called ‘sonata-concerto’ in their rounded, cantabile melodies and noticeably more adventurous harmonies. The sequence of themes is reduced to a first and second group (not always contrasting), and certain details depart from contemporary convention in this regard. The 12 two-movement keyboard trios and 24 three-movement symphonies (nos.1–24), which were two parallel series from the Zweibrücken years, resemble one another in the treatment of forms and themes, and reveal the application of Eichner’s symphonic style to his chamber works – a novelty not universally accepted by his contemporaries. As was the custom at the time, the keyboard part is predominant in the trios, with violin accompanying and a cello part merely doubling the keyboard bass line. The remaining chamber works are all more or less isolated or occasional pieces, if not arrangements from contemporary operas. The core of Eichner’s output is his symphonies. Within the relatively brief span of seven years he composed 31 orchestral works (24 of them between 1769 and 1772) whose progress outlines a remarkable maturing of style. Eichner fits into none of the important 18th-century ‘schools’, but was a solitary figure who, like so many of his contemporaries, aimed to give structure and substance to the new genre of the ‘concert symphony’.

CAMBINI, Giuseppe Maria (1746-1825) - Simphonie Concertante

Giuseppe Maria Cambini (1746-1825) - Simphonie Concertante [C] à plusieurs instruments

Performers: Robert Cole (1927-1964, bassoon); Laila Storch (1921-2022, oboè);

Orchestra Accademia dell'Orso; Newell Jenkins (1915-1996, conductor)

Drawing: John Emes (1762-1810) - Meeting of the The Society of British Archers in Gwersyllt Park, Denbighshire

Further info: Giuseppe Maria Cambini (1746-1825) - Pianoforte Concerto No.1, Op.15 (1780)

---

Giuseppe Maria (Gioacchino) Cambini

(Livorno?, 13 February 1746 - Paris?, 1825)

Italian composer and violinist. His birthdate was supplied by Fétis, who mistakenly gave Cambini's forenames as Giovanni Giuseppe (Jean-Joseph). Fétis also stated that he studied with Polli, who is otherwise unknown. Cambini's own account of his playing quartets as a young man with Manfredi, Nardini and Boccherini contains errors that raise questions about its validity, but it is likely that he worked with Manfredi. The tradition of his study with Padre Martini is doubtful, as is that of his personal contact with Haydn. Cambini may have been active in Naples in the mid-1760s. Fétis related the story, based on an ironic anecdote in Grimm's Correspondance littéraire, that Cambini, having produced an unsuccessful opera in Naples in 1766, started home with his fiancée and was captured by Barbary pirates. After lurid hardships on the voyage, his freedom was finally bought by a wealthy Venetian. But the authenticity of this romantic adventure is also open to serious doubt. The first certain fact of Cambini's career is his arrival in Paris in the early 1770s. He performed one of his symphonies concertantes at the Concert Spirituel on 20 May 1773, and the following December his op.1, a set of string quartets, was issued by Vernier. Thereafter his works appeared with remarkable rapidity, and by 1800 close to 600 instrumental works had been published under his name. He was hardly less active in other areas. He composed, or contributed significantly to, at least 14 operas, of which a dozen were produced in Paris. The number of his vocal works, some performed at the Concert Spirituel, was substantial, and he evidently had some connnection with Gossec's Concerts des Amateurs. From about 1788 he led the orchestra and performed other influential duties at the Théâtre des Beaujolais; after the theatre closed in 1794 he held a similar post at the Théâtre Louvois. Unlike many foreign musicians in Paris, Cambini seems to have adapted well to the Revolution. 

He wrote a number of popular revolutionary hymns and odes, and twice he was awarded 2000 livres by the Committee of Public Instruction. Cambini's works appeared less frequently after 1795, at which time his interest turned to writing about music. In about 1795 his Nouvelle méthode théorique et pratique pour le violon was published by Gaveaux, and in 1799 Naderman et Lobry issued his Méthode pour la flûte traversière. In 1804 he wrote an article about string quartet performance for the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung (perhaps a few others also), and he collaborated with Alexis de Garaudé briefly as the anonymous editor of Tablettes de Polymnie. His career was evidently in decline, however, and almost nothing is known of him after 1810. Fétis's report that he died in the Hôpital Bicêtre in 1825 has been widely accepted. Trimpert's research has indicated that Cambini did not die in Paris, however, and Michaud's account that he retired to Holland and died before 1818 must be considered possible. Cambini's name is best known today through a brief encounter with Mozart, who blamed him, with only circumstantial evidence, for Legros' cancellation of the performance of his Symphonie concertante (the lost k297b) at the Concert Spirituel. The envy and intrigue that Mozart suspected is not reported elsewhere, and Gluck knew Cambini's personal reputation well enough to recommend him as an honest man. During the time that he was active in Paris, the most popular type of orchestral music was the symphonie concertante, and Cambini's orchestral output reflects this preference. While he composed only nine symphonies and 17 concertos, he wrote 82 symphonies concertantes, far more than any of his French contemporaries. Most of these were published during his lifetime by several Parisian firms. Cambini's symphonies concertantes, like those of his Parisian contemporaries, are typically structured in two fast movements. The melodic material is pleasant and appealing and the harmonic vocabulary simple and predictable. 

DUNI, Egidio Romualdo (1708-1775) - Les moissonneurs (1768)

Egidio Romualdo Duni (1708-1775) - Les moissonneurs (1768)

Performers: Anna Mikołajczyk-Niewiedział (soprano); Patryk Rymanowski (baryton); Lukasz Wilda (tenor); Anna Podgórska (soprano); Eryk Rymanowski (baryton); Accademia dell'Arcadia; Bartlomiej Stankowiak (conductor)

Painting: Jacopo Amigoni (c.1685-1752) - The singer Farinelli and friends

Further info: Duni - Les moissonneurs

---

Egidio (Egide Romualdo) Duni [Duny]

(Matera, Basilicata, bap. 11 February 1708 - Paris, 11 June 1775)

Italian composer. Duni was the fourth son of Francesco Duni, maestro di cappella in Matera, and the younger brother of Antonio Duni (c.1700-1766). Little is known of his early training, which took place in Naples, though probably not with Durante as has previously been supposed. Nerone, his first opera, was staged during the Rome spring season of 1735, and after composing works for Rome and Milan in Carnival 1736 Duni went to London, where his Demofoonte was performed in an English version in May 1737. He matriculated at Leiden University on 22 October 1738 and went on to write further operas for Milan in 1739 and for Florence in 1740 and 1743. On 16 December 1743 Duni was appointed maestro di cappella of S Nicola in Bari. With Ipermestra and Ciro riconosciuto (both 1748, Genoa), he came to the attention of the Duke of Richelieu and Philip, Duke of Parma. Soon after, he became court maestro di cappella in Parma and music teacher to the duke’s daughter Isabella (who later married Archduke Joseph of Austria). With Olimpiade (Parma, 1755) Duni’s career as an opera seria composer came to an end, while Goldoni’s arrival in Parma in May 1756 led to his collaboration on Duni’s last Italian opera, La buona figliuola, better known through Piccinni’s later setting. The French atmosphere of the Parma court turned Duni’s attention to the opéra comique, and he is often said to have written, during his stay there, the music for two Favart librettos in that genre, La chercheuse d’esprit and Ninette à la cour. This is highly doubtful in both cases (nor has it been proved that any of Duni’s music was used in the pastiche Ninette à la cour, 1755). However, Jean Monnet, director of the Paris Opéra-Comique, reported in his memoirs that in autumn 1756 he received a request from Parma for a French libretto for Duni, who wished to write an opera for Paris. The result, after hesitation on Monnet’s part, was Louis Anseaume’s Le peintre amoureux de son modèle, for the first performance of which on 26 July 1757 Duni went to Paris. 

This was a brilliant success and refuted Rousseau’s claim that the French language was unsuitable for music: with its blend of vaudeville tunes and natural French expressive declamation within an Italian musical idiom, Le peintre served for several years as a model opéra comique. Released with a pension from his post in Parma, Duni settled in Paris, married and, during 1758-60, strengthened his reputation with several successful opéras comiques. In 1761 he was appointed music director of the Comédie-Italienne but, ironically, a number of his new works for that theatre were not well received. In August 1761 he indignantly replied in the Mercure de France to hostile criticism of his La bonne fille, and a private letter dated January 1762, published by Tiersot, reveals that he was also in conflict with Favart at this time. However, his collaborations with Anseaume – Mazet (1761), Le milicien (1762) and Les deux chasseurs et la laitière (1763) – were extremely successful. These works, as well as two ambitious collaborations with Favart, La fée Urgèle (1765) and Les moissonneurs (1768), were published in Paris and adapted, translated and imitated all over Europe. They held the stage in France until nearly the end of the century. During the 18 months between the première of La clochette in July 1766 and that of Les moissonneurs in January 1768, Duni apparently made a visit to Italy. On his return to Paris he met with Grimm’s harsh and unjust suggestion that he ‘would do well to give up composition since his trip to Italy had not refreshed his head’. Despite similar but milder criticism, Duni’s next work, Les sabots (1768) – the first of two collaborations with Sedaine – had a modest success, and on 26 November 1768 both he and Favart were given pensions by the Comédie-Italienne. After Thémire (1770) he retired, continuing to teach and occasionally to judge musical competitions. Duni’s son, Jean Pierre Duni (1759-?), was the composer of a set of three keyboard sonatas with violin accompaniment (Paris, 1778).

KOPRIVA, Karel Blažej (1756-1785) - Concerto (Es-Dur) für Orgel

Karel Blažej Kopřiva (1756-1785) - Concerto (Es-Dur) für Orgel

Performers: Joseph Krajs (organ); Orchestre du Conservatorie de Prague; Frantisek Hertl (1906-1973, conductor)

Painting: Giovanni Pietro Gnocchi (16th Century) - Santa Cecilia

Further info: Karel Blažej Kopriva (1756-1785) - Requiem (1774)

---

Karel Blažej Kopřiva

(Cítoliby, 9 February 1756 - Cítoliby, 15 May 1785)

Bohemian composer and organist, son of Václav Jan Kopřiva (1708-1789) and brother of Jan Jáchym Kopřiva (1754-1792). After studying the organ and composition, first with his father and later in Prague with J.F.N. Seger, he became organist in the church of St Jacob in Citoliby. He also taught keyboard instruments and composition. His first known work, a Requiem in C minor, was performed at Klatovy on 22 May 1774. He suffered from tuberculosis and died at the age of 29. His reputation of organ virtuoso soon spread over the country. He composed in the style of transition from baroque to classicism, influenced by harpsichord sonatas of J.C.Bach (son of J.S.Bach), J.Haydn as well as his czech fellow composers. The three Kopřivas were the outstanding members of a ramified bohemian musical family. Thanks to their activity, and in accordance with the artistic interests of Count Ernest Karl Pachta (who had an orchestra of his own), the little village of Cítoliby became a unique centre of musical life in northern Bohemia at that period. Whereas Václav Jan and Jan Jáchym adhered to the traditional type of Czech village music of the late Baroque and pre-Classical period, Karel Blažej used an advanced Classical idiom of Mozartian character. His style is markedly individual and very expressive, with abundant chromaticism. He was also well schooled in counterpoint and his fugues are among the most remarkable of their kind in Czech organ music of the second half of the 18th century. A virtuoso organist himself, he usually treated the organ part of his church compositions in concertante manner. The demanding, florid solo parts in his vocal works are evidence of the high quality of provincial performers in Bohemia at the time.

GRETRY, André Ernest Modeste (1741-1813) - Panurge dans l'île des lanternes (1785)

André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) - Panurge dans l'île des lanternes (1785)

Performers: Jacqueline Sternotte (soprano); Blanche Gerard (soprano); Marie Laurence (soprano); Jean-Jacques Schreurs (ténor); Jean Segani (basse); Ensemble vocal et Orchestre de Chambre de la RTB; 

Jacques Houtmann (conductor)

Painting: Cornelis von Cuylenburg (1758-1827) - Andrè-Ernest-Modeste Grètry (c.1785)

Further info: André Ernest Modeste Grétry (1741-1813) - Sonate a due Cembali

---

André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry

(Liège, 8 February 1741 - Montmorency, Seine-et-Oise, 24 September 1813)

French composer of Walloon descent. Grétry was the second of six children, the son of a musician and violinist at the collegiate church of St Denis in Liège. As a boy he entered the choir school of St Denis, where he later learnt the violin. He was sent to H.J. Renkin and Henri Moreau for counterpoint and composition lessons. But a crucial experience was the visit of Crosa and Resta’s Italian comic-opera troupe (1753-1755). After producing a Mass, given at St Denis, and a set of six symphonies given at the house of its provost, he was awarded a place at the Collège Darchis in Rome. He departed in spring 1760. In Rome he studied mainly with Giovanni Casali. He moved to Geneva in 1766, wrote concertos for Lord Abingdon, and got to know Voltaire and his circle at Ferney. In Geneva Grétry first heard and saw opéra comique performed by a troupe for whom he provided a score in December 1766: Isabelle et Gertrude. The path to success in Paris, where Grétry arrived the following year, was not smooth, but the young composer had the manners and personality to win necessary patronage and support. Backed by the Swedish Count of Creutz, Grétry established a partnership with the well-known writer and critic Jean François Marmontel, who had collaborated with Rameau (1751-53) and Josef Kohaut. Their sequence of six opéras comiques was exceedingly successful, and work together stopped only when Marmontel’s projects failed to pass the reading-committees of the Comédie-Italienne. The impact of these works and Le tableau parlant (1769) made Grétry a popular figure, and he became ultimately a quite wealthy and influential man. In 1771 he married Jeanne-Marie Grandon (1746-1807), daughter of a painter, who bore him three daughters; all died young. Lucile Grétry (1772-1790), the second child, wrote two operas, which her father orchestrated and revised.

Family life was central to Grétry’s existence: his mother came to live with him, and in 1796 he took responsibility for the children of his recently deceased brother. His homespun sense of probity did not hinder a great sense of pride in his own achievements. Grétry’s Mémoires are essential reading for the detailed account of his operas, his musical and dramatic theories and his unabashed self-projection. In his text De la vérité (Paris, 1801) he makes himself into a born republican, though in reality he had been on close terms with the French royal family, as well as other grandees. Les deux avares and L’amitié à l’épreuve were first given in 1770 during court celebrations of the wedding of the Dauphin and Marie Antoinette; the latter work was dedicated to her. L’ami de la maison and Zémire et Azor were first given the following year at court, and the latter was dedicated to the king’s mistress, Mme du Barry. Marie Antoinette showed a marked liking for Grétry’s music and appointed him as her personal director of music once she had acceded as queen in 1774. Grétry’s fame spread throughout Europe. The Grand Théâtre in Brussels obtained the rights to new, unpublished works and Grétry made triumphal trips to Liège in 1776 and 1782 to receive official honours. He was made an inspector of the Comédie-Italienne in 1787, and was pensioned by the Opéra and made Royal Censor for Music. Grétry was honoured under the Revolution and the Empire, but declined to contribute to the basic work of the Paris Conservatoire. He had few pupils; Dalayrac was admitted to his study informally. As a composer, he made decisive contributions to the scope and style of the 18th-century opéra comique, and to technical aspects such as musical ‘local colour’ and the design of overtures. His opéras comiques and recitative comedies for the Paris Opéra enjoyed unparalleled success in the 20 years up to the French Revolution.

LEFFLOTH, Johann Matthias (1705-1731) - Sonata a Viola di Gamba et Cembalo Concertata

Johann Matthias Leffloth (1705-1731) - Sonata (C-Dur) a Viola di Gamba et Cembalo Concertata

Performers: José Vázquez (1951-2021, viola da gamba); Lucia Krommer (viola da gamba); Andrej Harinek (organ)

Painting: Jean Valentin de Boulogne (1591-1632) - Cheerful  company with Fortune-Teller

Further info: Johann Matthias Leffloth (1705-1731)

---

Johann Matthias (Matthäus) Leffloth [Löffeloth, Löffelloth, Löffloth]

(Nuremberg, bap. 6 February 1705 - Nuremberg, bur. 2 November 1731)

German organist and composer. Leffloth was the son of Johann Matthias Leffloth, organist at St Margaretha in Nuremberg, from whom he received his first musical training; he probably also received some instruction from W.H. Pachelbel. Some time after 1722 he became organist at St Leonhard. Schubart presents the only noteworthy biographical sketch, an extravagant account which lauds Leffloth as a genius of marked musical individuality, particularly in the Adagio, who might have changed the course of music but for his early death. Leffloth’s tonal and thematic materials are firmly rooted in Baroque tradition, but his keyboard style frequently calls for hand crossing and a degree of dexterity unusual for this period. Although he is often mentioned as a composer of keyboard concertos, only two of his works designated concerto remain, both written for solo violin and obbligato keyboard. They are more properly considered as early duo sonatas rather than as keyboard concertos in the usual sense. A sonata for viola da gamba and obbligato keyboard published in Handel’s collected works, vol.xlviii, has often been attributed to Leffloth (also ed. in HM, cxii, 1953). The title-page of the manuscript (in D-Bsb) indicates Leffloth as composer; Handel’s name has been added in pencil and then crossed out by a different hand. Einstein (‘Zum 48. Bande der Handel-Ausgabe’, SIMG, iv (1902-3), 170-72) described another manuscript in Darmstadt to which Leffloth’s name has been added below Handel’s, but he stated that this is a copy by Christoph Graupner of an original Handel sonata. 

BACH, Johann Ludwig (1677-1731) - Mache dich auf, werde Licht (c.1726)

Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731) - Mache dich auf, werde Licht à 4 Voci (c.1726)

Performers: Barbara Schlіck (soprano); Wilfried Jochеns (tenor); Mary Nіchols (alto); Stеphеn Varcoе (bass) Jugеndkantorеi Dormagеn; Das Klеіne Konzеrt; Hermаnn Mаx (conductor)

Painting: Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665) - The Abduction of the Sabine Women (c.1633)

Further info: Johann Ludwig Bach (1677-1731) - Missa sopra 'Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr'

---

Johann Ludwig Bach

(Thal, nr Eisenach, 4 February 1677 - Meiningen, bur. 1 May 1731)

German composer, son of Johann Jacob Bach (1655-1718). Nothing is known of his musical training, but he probably received some early instruction from his father before attending the Gotha Gymnasium in 1688-93. From 1699 he was a court musician at Meiningen, from 1703 Kantor and from 1711 court Kapellmeister. In 1706 he had unsuccessfully applied to succeed A.C. Dedekind as Kantor of St Georg, Eisenach, although he had been interested only in the musical and not the teaching duties of the post. His patron of many years, Duke Ernst Ludwig, died in 1724 and Johann Ludwig wrote the music for his funeral. Johann Ludwig wrote an imposing number of vocal works. Although orchestral music was probably his principal activity from 1711 onwards, hardly any music at that type is extant. The preservation of the cantatas is due primarily to Johann Sebastian Bach, who performed 18 of them, as well as the two masses, in Leipzig in 1726; some were given again between 1735 and 1750. Denn du wirst meine Seele was long considered an early work by Johann Sebastian (bwv15). The cantatas constitute the most important part of Johann Ludwig’s work; in contrast with the main corpus of Johann Sebastian’s cantatas, they represent the older type of mixed cantata, consisting essentially of biblical text and chorale in the following scheme: text from the Old Testament; recitative; aria; text from the New Testament; aria; recitative; chorus; chorale. The standard scoring is for four-part choir, strings and (usually) two oboes; in one cantata two horns are required, but there are no solo woodwind. These works had at least some small influence on Johann Sebastian Bach, for example in his use of a string ensemble to accompany the words of Jesus.

NAUDOT, Jacques-Christophe (1690-1762) - Concerto pour flûte-traversière

Jacques-Christophe Naudot (1690-1762) - Concerto (I, en ré majeur) pour flûte-traversière, XIe Oeuvre (1735)

Performers: Neil McLaren (flute); Cambridge Baroque Camerata

Painting: Follower of Valentin de Boulogne - Musicians and drinkers in an interior

Further info: Jacques-Christophe Naudot (1690-1762) - Six Flute Concertos, Op. 11

---

Jacques-Christophe Naudot

(c.1690 - Paris, 26 November 1762)

French composer, flautist and teacher. He is sometimes erroneously referred to as Jean-Jacques. First heard of in 1719, when he was identified as a ‘master of music’ in a marriage document, Naudot published his first compositions in 1726. According to Quantz’s autobiography, Naudot was among the flautists then active in Paris. He was described by Walther (1732) as a ‘flourishing’ French flautist, and in 1739 was one of three flautists (with Lucas and Michel Blavet) whose ‘rare talent’ for the flute caused the poet Denesle to dedicate his poem Syrinx, ou L’origine de la flûte to them. Although it seems clear that Naudot was well known in Paris as a player, it is not known where he played; perhaps it was mainly in private salons, for the dedications to many of his works show that he had a number of aristocratic and bourgeois pupils and patrons. He may have taught the hurdy-gurdy and musette as well as the flute. Naudot was a freemason, and on 7 May 1737 was elected ‘superintendent of music’ for the Coustos-Villeroy lodge; in the same year he brought out the earliest collection of masonic songs to appear in France. Between 1726 and 1742 he published a long line of compositions, principally for the flute; thereafter they appeared less regularly, and after 1752 he published no more. When he died in 1762, an official document described him as a ‘master of flute and of music’. Among Naudot’s compositions, of special importance are the flute concertos of op.11, probably published between 1735 and 1737, which were the second printed set of flute concertos to appear in all Europe (preceded only by Vivaldi’s VI Concerti a flauto traverso, op.10). In these concertos Naudot showed himself to be a master of the Italian concerto and of a technically advanced flute style full of rapid scalic runs and broken-chord figuration.

Naudot’s early solo sonatas for flute and continuo, generally in four movements, already showed a leaning towards this style. By op.9 he had developed a new type of moderate-tempo third movement, called ‘Aria’, which was adopted by his contemporaries Boismortier and Blavet. In his later flute works Naudot occasionally approached the galant style in his slow movements, and his fast movements became more clearly phrased, concise and lightly flowing. Most of his duet and trio sonatas are lighter in vein than the solo works, except for the last trios (op.15), three-movement works which contain elements of the Italian symphonic style (just beginning to be heard in Paris) as well as skilfully worked out fugues. Apart from his flute works, Naudot produced a set of difficult sonatas for hurdy-gurdy and continuo (op.14) of which three exploit double stops more thoroughly than any other composer’s works for the instrument, a set of concertos designed principally for a solo hurdy-gurdy or musette (op.17), dedicated to the hurdy-gurdy virtuoso Danguy l’aîné, and a number of lightweight pieces for hurdy-gurdies or musettes. He also published two books of simple pieces for two hunting horns or trumpets and, in his collection of masonic songs, two marches for hunting horns, flutes, oboes and continuo and his only known vocal work, a ‘Duo pour les Francs-maçons’. Though Naudot wrote much music that was frivolous, his best works were important in contributing to the greater virtuosity the flute was gaining in French music in the 1730s and in helping to strengthen the role of the Italian style and of the solo concerto in French woodwind literature. They also comprise some of the most rewarding pieces produced by the French flute school. His works were reprinted many times and must have been well liked by the amateur players of his day.

SCHUBERT, Franz (1797-1828) - Deutsche Messe (1827)

Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Deutsche Messe (1827), D.872

Performers: Regensburger Domspatzen; Georg Ratzinger (1924-2020, conductor)

Painting: Unbekannt - Franz Schubert

Further info: Franz Schubert (1797-1828) - Geistliche Musik

---

Franz (Peter) Schubert

(Vienna, 31 January 1797 - Vienna, 19 November 1828)

Austrian composer. Son of the local school master Franz Theodor Florian (1763-1830) and Elisabeth Vietz (1756-1812) and brother of the composer Ferdinand Schubert (1794-1859), his musical talent emerged early. At the age of eleven, he won a scholarship that earned him a position in the Vienna court chapel choir and an education at the Vienna Stadtkonvikt, the imperial municipal Catholic boarding school. Here, in addition to schooling, Schubert received above all a comprehensive and thorough musical education, for which the court conductor Antonio Salieri was primarily responsible. Salieri instructed Schubert in a broad range of topics, albeit with an overall focus on opera, and Schubert composed a whole series of singspiels and dramatic scenes during his youth. At the age of seventeen, Schubert initially followed the path mapped out for him by his father and worked as an assistant teacher at his father's school from 1814, while continuing his musical studies for about two years. The year 1817 brought a turning point in Schubert's life. He received an attractive offer from Count Esterházy to give music lessons to his two daughters, and so he spent the summer holidays at his summer residence. This sojourn must have revealed a whole new world to Schubert. He did not return to school, which caused a temporary break with his father, and decided to live in Vienna as a musician and composer. For financial reasons, he shared an apartment with a poet friend, Johann Mayrhofer. Thus, Schubert had found the way of life that suited him and, until his untimely death in November 1828, he lived in various partnerships of convenience. Exchanging ideas with friends was important to Schubert. 

He met regularly with a circle of like-minded people which changed over the years and also included musicians, but which was dominated by literary figures and painters. After moving to Vienna, Schubert sought and quickly found his way into the musical public sphere. As early as November 1818, he received a commission to write the music for a stage play, and in the following years Schubert continued to occupy himself with various opera and stage projects with varying degrees of success. In 1820, he then began to publish his songs – with resounding success. Although he earned good money from the self-published songbooks, he soon preferred to collaborate with commercial publishers in order to avoid having to deal with marketing and sales. Around the turn of the year 1822-23, Schubert apparently became infected with syphilis. The disease became apparent in the middle of the year, and it is likely that from then on Schubert repeatedly underwent mercury cures, which had severe side effects. By the end of the 1820s, publishers based outside of Vienna began to take an interest in Schubert's work, especially his instrumental works. The composer had entered into serious negotiations when he suddenly fell seriously ill in early November 1828. Possibly weakened by the mercury treatments by then, he did not recover. Schubert died on 19 November 1828. The only canonic Viennese composer native to Vienna, he made seminal contributions in the areas of orchestral music, chamber music, piano music and, most especially, the German lied. The richness and subtlety of his melodic and harmonic language, the originality of his accompaniments, his elevation of marginal genres and the enigmatic nature of his uneventful life have invited a wide range of readings of both man and music that remain among the most hotly debated in musical circles.