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.
Spanish composer and organist. Born to a family of musicians, he began
his musical training under his father José Antonio Nebra (1672-1748),
who had settled in Cuenca as cathedral organist and teacher of the
choirboys (1711-1729) and later became maestro de capilla (1729-1748).
In 1719 José de Nebra became organist at the convent of Descalzas. In
1722 he served in the Osuna household as a musician, and in 1724 he was
appointed as one of the organists of the royal chapel in Madrid. By 1751
he had become vice-maestro and a teacher at the Colegio de niños
cantores, later serving at the Jeronimos convent as organist. His
students include Antonio Soler. Nebra’s focus as a composer was on
native Spanish stage works, including the autos sacramentales,
zarzuelas, and comedias. His music includes 21 autos sacramentales, 51
theatre works, 40 villancicos, 10 versos, 16 keyboard sonatas, two
Masses, 18 Lamentations, four vespers, 16 Salve Reginas, a Requiem, 23
Psalms, 22 hymns, 21 responsories, toccatas, and a number of smaller
sacred works. His two brothers were also musicians: Francisco Javier
Nebra (1705-1741) was organist at La Seo, Zaragoza (1727-1729) and then
in Cuenca (1729-1741), and Joaquín Nebra (1709-1782) was organist at La
Seo, Zaragoza, from 1730 until his death. His nephew Manuel de Nebra
Blasco (1750-1784) was an organist and composer.
Spanish composer. He was a choirboy at Tarazona Cathedral, where he was
taught music by Francisco Javier Gibert and José Angel Martinchique. He
later moved to Zaragoza, where he studied the organ with Ramón Ferreñac.
From an early age he was organist and choirmaster in various collegiate
churches: Borja (1807), Tafalla (1809), Calatayud (where he is known to
have been about 1824) and finally Bilbao (1830), where he remained
until his death. He was a prolific composer of masses, Lamentations,
motets and villancicos. Although his music reflects the bombastic and
theatrical tendencies of his age, he had a sound technique and a certain
nobility of invention. He was also active with Hilarión Eslava in
efforts to renew and purify religious music.
German composer. As a small child he learnt to play the violin,
encouraged by his elder brother Johann Ludwig Anton, who was himself
considered an excellent violinist. He also learnt the piano, and
according to his own account in his autobiography (1775) could play the
first part of J.S. Bach’s Das wohltemperirte Clavier from memory when he
was 16. After his father’s death in 1751 he lived with his mother and
eldest brother in Gröbzig until 1755. A copy that he made of the trio
sonata from Bach’s Musical Offering dates from this period; it is now
considered lost. He then attended the Lutheran Gymnasium in Cöthen,
1755-58. From 1758 he studied law at Halle-Wittenberg University; he
also had lessons with W.F. Bach and in return deputized for him as a
church organist. Soon after Rust had completed his studies there, Prince
Leopold Friedrich Franz of Anhalt-Dessau sent him to Zerbst to study
with Carl Höckh, and then to Berlin and Potsdam (July 1763-April 1764)
to study the violin with Franz Benda and keyboard instruments with
C.P.E. Bach. In 1765-66 he visited Italy in the prince’s retinue, and
there completed his musical training. He then settled in Dessau, where a
lively court and civic musical life soon developed under his influence,
and he wrote most of his compositions for it. From 1769 he organized
regular subscription concerts, with music performed by both court
musicians and amateurs, and in 1775 a theatre was founded, a project for
which Rust was largely responsible. His achievements were recognized in
April 1775, when the prince made him court music director. He married
his former singing pupil Henriette Niedhardt in May; the couple had
eight children, two of whom became professional musicians. In his
lifetime Rust was honoured and esteemed as an instrumentalist and
composer; contemporary lexicons and his correspondence with colleagues
bear eloquent witness to this. He was also active as a teacher, and
trained a series of well-regarded instrumentalists and singers. The
surviving instrumental music includes works for clavichord, viola
d’amore, harp, lute, and nail violin, the sound of which appealed to his
introverted nature. In addition to large-scale vocal works and six
stage works he also wrote some 100 lieder, of which 70 have been made
usable for modern performance.
Charles d'Ambleville (1587-1637) - Missa Psallite Domino des 'Harmonia sacra, seu vesperae in dies
tum dominicos, tum festos totius anni, una cum missa ac litaniis beatae
virginis cum sex vocibus' (1636)
Performers: Ensemble Meihua Fleur de Prunus; Chœur du Centre Catholique
Chinois de Paris;
French composer. All that is known of his life is that in 1626 he was
procureur of the Compagnie de Jésus at Rouen. He left only musical
works, from which we may infer that he was director of music of one of
the colleges of his order. His Octonarium sacrum (1634) is a set of
five-part verses for the Magnificat, using all eight tones; they are
fugal and closely resemble similar pieces by Nicolas Formé. Two years
later he published his Harmonia sacra in two complementary volumes for
four and six voices respectively. It includes works for double choir in a
distinctly modern style originating in Italy that had already been
adopted in France by several composers. Each volume also contains
several masses and motets for a single choir. The double-choir works are
for liturgical use and comprise psalms, motets and hymns.
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. He is believed to have received early musical training from the
Jesuits in Prague. In 1773 he left his native country and found
employment in the Hofkapelle of Prince Kraft Ernst of
Oettingen-Wallerstein whom he served for sixteen years, becoming
Kapellmeister in 1785. While there, he orchestrated two piano concerti
by Anna von Schaden. In July 1789 Rosetti left Wallerstein to accept the
post of Kapellmeister to the Duke Friedrich Franz I of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Ludwigslust where he died in service of the duke
on 30 June 1792 at the age of 42 years. In 1777, he married Rosina
Neher, with whom he had three daughters. In late 1781 he was granted
leave to spend 5 months in Paris. Many of the finest ensembles in the
city performed his works. Rosetti arranged for his music to be
published, including a set of six symphonies published in 1782. He
returned to his post, assured of recognition as an accomplished
composer. As a composer, he wrote over 400 compositions, primarily
instrumental music including many symphonies and concertos which were
widely published. Rosetti also composed a significant number of vocal
and choral works, particularly in the last few years of his life. Among
these are German oratorios including Der sterbende Jesu and Jesus in
Gethsemane (1790) and a German Hallelujah. The English music historian
Charles Burney included Rosetti among the most popular composers of the
period in his work A General History of Music. Rosetti is perhaps best
known today for his horn concertos, which Mozart scholar H. C. Robbins
Landon suggests (in The Mozart Companion) may have been a model for
Mozart's four horn concertos. Rosetti is also known for writing a
Requiem (1776) which was performed at a memorial for Mozart in December
1791. Attributing some music to Rosetti is difficult because several
other composers with similar names worked at the same time, including
Franciscus Xaverius Antonius Rössler.
Italian composer. He studied with Francesco Fortunati and Gaspare
Ghiretti in Parma, producing his first stage work, the prose opera
'Orphee et Euridice', there in 1791. On July 14, 1792, he was appointed
honorary maestro di cappella to the court of Parma, bringing out his
opera 'Le astuzie amorose' that same year at the Teatro Ducale there.
His finest work of the period was 'Griselda, ossia La virtu at cimento'
(Parma, 1798). In 1797 he was appointed music director ofthe
Karnthnertortheater in Vienna. While there, he made the acquaintance of
Beethoven, who expressed admiration for his work. It was in Vienna that
he composed one of his finest operas, 'Camilla, ossia II sotteraneo'
(1799). After a visit to Prague in 1801, he accepted the appointment of
court Kapellmeister in Dresden. Three of his most important operas were
premiered there: 'I Fuorusciti di Firenze' 1802), 'Sargino, ossia
L'Allievo del Vamore' (1803), and 'Leonora, ossia L'amore conjugate'
(1804), a work identical in subject with that of Beethoven's Fidelio
(1805). In 1806 he resigned his Dresden post and accepted an invitation
to visit Napoleon in Posen and Warsaw. In 1807 Napoleon appointed him
his maitre de chapelle in Paris, where he also became director of the
Opera-Comique. Following the dismissal of Spontini in 1812, he was
appointed director of the Theatre-Italien. One of his most successful
operas of the period, 'Le Maitre de chapelle' (Paris, 1821), remained in
the repertoire in its Italian version until the early years of the 20th
century. Paer's tenure at the Theatre-Italien continued through the
vicissitudes of Catalani's management (1814-17) and the troubled joint
directorship with Rossini (1824-27). After his dismissal in 1827, he was
awarded the cross of the Legion d'honneur in 1828 and he was elected a
member of the Institute of the Academie des Beaux Arts in 1831. He was
appointed director of music of Louis Philippe's private chapel in 1832.
As a composer, he was a prolific composer, producing at least 55 operas,
most of them during the 25-year span from 1791 to 1816. His vocal
writing was highly effective, as was his instrumentation. He was one of
the central figures in the development of opera semiseria during the
first decade of the 19th century. Nevertheless, his operas have
disappeared from the active repertoire.
Bohemian composer and violinist. Son of Jan Jiří Benda (1686-1757) and
brother of Franz Benda (1709-1786), Johann Georg Benda (1713-1752) and
of the soprano Anna Franziska Benda (1728-1781), he trained initially by
his father. He later was sent to a local school in Kosmonosy in 1735,
and in 1739 he attended the Jesuit Gymnasium in Jičín in music. In 1742
he joined family members in Berlin, where he functioned for a few years
as a violinist. In 1750 he was offered the position of Kapellmeister at
the court of Saxe-Gotha by Duke Friedrich III, where he composed mainly
church music. A journey to Italy in 1765 brought him into contact with
leading opera composers of the day, who influenced his compositional
style. In 1770 he was named kapelldirector, a largely symbolic post, but
his regular duties for Friedrich’s successor, Duke Ernst II, included
writing a new style of work that fused spoken drama with music, called
the duodrama. The first work, Ariadne auf Naxos, was performed in 1774
and soon began to be imitated throughout Germany. At the same time,
Benda gained a reputation as a composer of Singspiel, becoming the most
popular composer of the genre of the time. A dispute with rival Anton
Schweitzer led him to resign his post and leave Gotha for a year of
travel to Hamburg and Vienna. Increasing fame brought about by his
duodramas subsequently allowed him to tour various musical centers, such
as Paris in 1781 and Mannheim in 1787, although he was formally
retired. His last work, ironically, is a cantata titled Bendas Klagen
from 1792. As a composer, Benda was one of the most celebrated people of
the latter 18th century, known mainly for his sacred music and
innovations in theatre music. In his duodramas in particular, one can
note a carefully delineated harmonic and melodic sensitivity that
underscores the text. His Singspiels are noted for their more complex
musical settings and serious tone that is often far more progressive
than in similar works by Johann Adam Hiller. His instrumental music,
however, still maintains elements of the galant style, with sequenced
themes and short rhythmic motives. His works include 13 operas
(including incidental music and duodramas), 166 cantatas (mainly
Lutheran), two Masses, an oratorio, six secular cantatas, about 25
Lieder, 30 symphonies, 23 concertos (mostly violin and harpsichord), 54
keyboard sonatas, and several other sonatas for violin and flute, as
well as a large number of keyboard works. His son Friedrich Ludwig Benda
(1752-1792) was also a composer and violinist.
German composer. Almost nothing is known about his life. He was
initially active as a composer in Salzburg from 1899 to 1909. Later he
settled in Innsbruck where he served as a choirmaster for the Servite
Order. Among his duties, he wrote several sacred works the most of which
were performed during the religious services there. Although he was
largely forgotten after his early death fighting as a soldier at
Folgoridapaß in Trentino, his music achieved success and was published
by Böhm Verlag in Augsburg.
Leopold Koželuh (1747-1818)
- Concerto (B-Dur) | per | Clavicembalo ô Forte-Piano | a quatro
mani | con l'accompagnamento di | 2 Violini | 2 Oboi | 2 Corni in B |
Viola e Violoncello (c.1786)
Performers: Elena Sorokina (piano); Alexander Bakhchiev (1930-2007,
piano); Symphony Orchestra Northern Crown; Yuri Nikolaevsky (1925-2003,
conductor)
Bohemian composer, pianist, music teacher and publisher. His earliest
musical education was under Antonín Kubík and his cousin Jan Antonín
Koželuh (1738-1814) in his hometown. By 1771 he had moved to Prague,
where he studied briefly under František Xaver Dusek and wrote ballets
for the National Theatre. By 1774 he had Germanized his name to prevent
confusion with his cousin Jan Antonín Koželuh, arriving in Vienna in
1778 to study under Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. In 1781 he was given
the post as teacher of Archduchess Elisabeth, Georg Christoph
Wagenseil’s old position. By 1781 he was so well established there that
he could refuse an offer to succeed Mozart as court organist to the
Archbishop of Salzburg. He remained active in Viennese musical and
social circles the remainder of his life. In 1792, he succeeded Mozart
as Kammermusicus to the Imperial Court in Vienna. Although he is best
known for his disparaging remarks on the music of Mozart, Joseph Haydn,
and Ludwig van Beethoven, as a composer he had a reputation for works
that demonstrated good orchestration and solid formal structures. His
400 or so compositions include six operas, 25 ballets, five Masses,
numerous smaller church works, two oratorios, 30 symphonies, 22 piano
concertos (plus others for clarinet and bassoon), two sinfonia
concertantes, 24 violin sonatas, six string quartets, 63 keyboard trios,
10 parthies, two serenades, eight divertimentos, 61 dances, 87 keyboard
sonatas, nine secular cantatas, and six vocal notturnos. His daughter
Katharina Koželuh-Cibbini (1785-1858) was a well-known pianist and
composer of piano music during the early 19th century in Vienna.
Spanish composer. Son Bartolomé González Gaitán and Ana Luisa de
Arteaga, both originally from Córdoba, he was the sixth of their seven
children. On May 14th of 1725, he appears as an aspiring choir boy, at
the age of 9. Before entering the choir, he complies with the 'estatuto
de limpieza de sangre', which was an essential requirement to enter to
serve at the Cathedral of Córdoba. Juan Manuel teachers’ of canto de
organo were Pedro Millán, Francisco del Rayo, violinist of the
Cathedral, and Pedro Corchado. On 1734, at the age of 18, he got
economical support from 'ayuda de costa' to go to Italy, in order to
better dedicate himself to music and composition. In Naples, he was
exposed to opera buffa and the use of turquerías, elements that would
later influence the style of his Spanish compositions. His earliest
known work, 'Misa a 8 Pangelingua', was composed in 1740. It is not
clear how many years he stayed in Italy, however, in 1748 he was already
maestro de capilla at the Cathedral of Segovia where he would stay
until 1752, when he moved to Córdoba being eligible as the same post.
During his time in Córdoba he was responsible for about 45 musicians in
the chapel. He remained in that post until 1779. It was then, when he
requested and was granted his retirement in 1780 because of his poor
health. Since his retirement, he did not loose contact with cathedral.
In 1785 he was appointed to the opposition tribunal for Chapel Master.
In June 1802 Franciscans welcomed him into their convent until his
death. As a composer, his extant output is around 77 works, mainly
preserved in the archive of the Cathedral of Córdoba. His compositions
include antiphons, canticles, hymns, invitatories, lamentations, masses,
motets, and other sacred pieces.
Italian cellist and composer. Almost nothing is known about his life.
Only the work 'VI Concertino A Violoncello Solo E Cembalo', published
around 1740, is extant. Although the sheet music incorrectly attributes
its printing to Amsterdam publisher Michel-Charles Le Cène, the actual
publisher remains unknown. The cover of this publication identifies
Zocarini as an 'amatore della musica'. Given his focus on the cello in
his compositions, it's believed Zocarini was a skilled cellist. He may
also have performed in Paris in 1737 under the name Zuccharini.
German composer and organist. He received his earliest musical education
at the Jesuit Gymnasium in Augsburg in 1712, where he was a pupil of
Georg Egger and Balthasar Siberer. He moved to Salzburg in 1721 to
attend university, and in 1727 he was named organist in the main
cathedral. By 1749 he had attained the position of Kapellmeister for
Archbishop Schrattenbach, which he held until his death. In 1752
Eberlin’s daughter Maria Josefa Katharina Eberlin (1730-1755) married
Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, who two years later became cathedral organist.
Eberlin received the honorary appointment of Titular-Truchsess, or
princely steward, in 1754 and was widely honoured and respected at the
time of his death. Leopold Mozart, in his description of the Salzburg
musical establishment (published in F.W. Marpurg’s 'Historisch-kritische
Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik', 1757), called Eberlin ‘a thorough and
accomplished master of the art of composing … He is entirely in command
of the notes, and he composes easily and rapidly … One can compare him
to the two famous and industrious composers, [Alessandro] Scarlatti and
Telemann’. As a composer, he was known mainly for his sacred music,
which was written for both the main cathedral, the Benedictine-run
university, and the St. Peter’s monastery church. These include over 95
plays and other didactic music such as the monodrama 'Sigismundus'
(1763), 11 oratorios, three operas, 58 Masses, 160 settings of the Mass
Proper, numerous hymns, litanies, Psalms, and responsories as well as 21
German sacred arias, nine Requiems, three symphonies, nine toccata and
fugues, 65 preludes and versetti, and other smaller keyboard works.
Eberlin influenced composers of the next generation chiefly through his
sacred vocal music, among them Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and
Johann Michael Haydn. His daughter, Maria Caecilia Barbara Eberlin
(1728-1806), also became a composer and was married to composer Joseph
Meissner.
German composer, choir director and organist. He was a choirboy at the
chapel of the royal convent in Hall, and sang in school comedies at the
Jesuit Gymnasium there (1743-45); he continued his studies at the
monastery of Polling, Bavaria, and at Freising. In 1749 he entered the
Benedictine monastery at Andechs and in 1754 was ordained priest.
According to his foreword to the Offertories, Op.1, he studied at
Andechs with the music director Gregor Schreyer, was the monastery's
assistant director of music (1755), organist and director of the
Tafelmusik (1757), leader of the Figuralchor (1760) and singing master
(1761-62). In 1763, to encourage his compositional activity, Abbot
Meinrad Moosmüller sent him to visit the Italian Opera in Munich. In
1767 he became the music director and leader of the boys’ classes at the
Andechs monastery. In 1772-74 and 1791-94 he was a priest at the
convent of Lilienberg, Munich. Madlseder was considered an outstanding
theoretician and contrapuntist and was highly regarded as a
Kapellmeister and organist. His symphony shows Mannheim and Viennese
Classical influences. The sacred vocal works, with their coloratura solo
parts and fugal sections, are frequently demanding for the singer. His
brother Josef Madlseder (1740-1806) was a bass singer and Kammervirtuos
at Passau, and from 1803 a member of the choir at Salzburg Cathedral.
German composer. Since his father, who died in 1645, had held an
important administrative post at the court of the Margrave of
Brandenburg-Ansbach, and his mother’s family were natives of Ansbach, it
is likely that he had a superior education at a Latin school there. He
served there as court musician from 1665 until 1679. He composed three
operas for the Ansbach court: 'Die unvergleichliche Andromeda' (1675),
'Der verliebte Föbus' (1678), and 'Die drei Tochier Cecrops' (1679). On
January 17, 1679, in a fit of jealousy, he allegedly killed the court
musician 'Ulbrecht', and was forced to flee. He found refuge in Hamburg
with his wife, Anna Susanna Wilbel (whom he had married in 1666), and
gained a prominent position at the Hamburg Opera. Between 1679 and 1686
he wrote and produced 17 operas, the most important of which was
'Diokletian' (1682). His private life continued to be stormy; he
deserted his wife and their 10 children, and went to London, where he
remained from 1690 to about 1702. In London he organized, with Robert
King, a series of Concerts of Vocal and Instrumental Music. The exact
date and place of his death are unknown, but a report in Johannes
Moller’s 'Cimbria litterata' (Copenhagen, 1744) makes the intriguing
suggestion that he may have been murdered in Spain. As a composer, he
published 'Geistliche Lieder' (Hamburg, 1681, 1685, 1687, 1700),
'Remedium melancholiae' (London, 1690), arias, and sacred music.
Italian violinist, teacher and composer. He received a formal music
education at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto in 1657. When
his teacher, the violinist Carlo de Vincentiis, died in 1677, he took
over as principal violinist of the royal chapel in Naples, remaining in
the post for more than 50 years. He also took the role of first violin
in the orchestra of the Teatro San Bartolomeo. He was a close friend of
Alessandro Scarlatti during his career, and held in high esteem by his
contemporaries. Marchitelli died of old age and was buried at the Chiesa
di San Nicola alla Carità in Naples, in 1729. As a teacher, his pupils
included his nephews Michele Mascitti and Giovanni Sebastiano Sabatino.
As a composer, almost his whole output is lost, but he wrote several
sonatas and concertos which closely follow the model established by
Arcangelo Corelli in both form and pattern of movements.
German composer, teacher and writer on music. The second child of Josef
Mayr, a schoolteacher and organist, and Maria Anna Prantmayer, a
brewer’s daughter from Augsburg, he received his early musical education
from his father. In 1774 he entered the Jesuit college in Ingolstadt,
and in 1781 he began to study law and theology at the University of
Ingolstadt, where he taught himself various orchestral instruments and
supported himself by playing the organ. In 1787 a Swiss Freiherr, Thomas
von Bassus, took him to Italy to further his musical education; in 1789
he commenced studies with Carlo Lenzi in Bergamo; he then was sent to
Ferdinando Bertoni in Venice. He began his career as a composer of
sacred music; his oratorios were performed in Venice. After the death of
his patron in 1793, he was encouraged by Niccolò Piccinni and Peter von
Winter to compose operas. His first opera, 'Saffo o sia I riti d'Apollo
Leucadio', was performed in Venice in 1794. He gained renown with his
opera 'Ginevra di Scozia' (Trieste, 1801), and it remained a favorite
with audiences; also successful were his operas 'La rosa bianca e la
rosa rossa' (Genoa, 1813) and 'Medea in Corinto' (Naples, 1813). In 1802
he became maestro di cappella at Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo, and
in 1805 he reorganized the choir school of the Cathedral as the Lezioni
Caritatevoli di Musica and assumed its directorship. Intractable
cataracts, which led to total blindness in 1826, forced him to limit his
activities to organ playing. In 1822 he founded the Societa Filarmonica
of Bergamo. As a composer, his operas, while reflecting the late
Neapolitan school, are noteworthy for their harmonization and
orchestration, which are derived from the German tradition. After 1815
he devoted most of his time to composing sacred music, which totals some
600 works in all. He was also an eminent pedagogue and Gaetano
Donizetti was among his pupils. Johann Simon Mayr was a leading figure
in the development of opera seria in the last decade of the 18th Century
and the first two decades of the 19th Century.
Moravian composer, violinist and music teacher. He attended the grammar
school at the Premonstratensian monastery in Nová Ríše and later studied
philosophy and law at a Jesuit seminary in Brno. His earliest musical
training included violin lessons from his brother Pavel Vranický
(1756-1808); he was also known for his beautiful voice. Before December
1783 he became choirmaster to the chapel of the Theresianisch-Savoyische
Akademie in Vienna (until the abolition of church music there with the
reforms of Joseph II). In Vienna he studied composition with Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, and
became renowned as a violin teacher and virtuoso. By 1790 he had entered
the services of Prince J.F. Maximilian Lobkowitz as a composer, music
teacher, Konzertmeister and (from 1797) Kapellmeister of the prince’s
private orchestra; in these duties he was active at Vienna, Prague and
the prince’s country seats in Bohemia (at Roudnice, Jezerí and Bílina).
After the prince took charge of the Vienna court theatres (1807) and
later sole direction of the opera, he appointed him orchestra director
of the court theatre, according to the obituary register, a post he held
until his death. From 1 August 1814 he was also the orchestra director
of the Theater an der Wien. He assisted the prince in leading the
Hoftheater-Musik-Verlag from 1812 to 1816 (see Weinmann). After the
prince’s death he remained in the service of his successor. As a
composer, his output almost entirely consists of instrumental
compositions. Chamber music prevails, which is connected with his
position of the chief conductor of the chateau music, but his legacy
also comprises at least 14 symphonies and the same number of violin
concertos, concertos for other string instruments, a number of minuets,
hunting marches and many other compositions.
Italian composer. Son of Stefano Giuseppe Giay, in 1700 he entered the
Collegio degli Innocenti at the Turin Cathedral where he studied music
with Francesco Fasoli. He probably then went to Rome to complete his
studies. On his return to Turin he wrote 'Il trionfo d’Amore ossia La
fillide', in collaboration with Andrea Stefano Fiorè, which was
premiered at the Teatro Carignano in 1715. His own operas were performed
over the next 35 years in Turin, Venice, Milan and Rome. After Fiorè
died in 1732, he assumed the duties of maestro di cappella and was
confirmed in the position by Carlo Emanuele III in a patent of 24
October 1738. In this capacity he directed the instrumental and vocal
forces of the court and composed a large amount of church music. He held
this position until his death and was succeeded by his son, Francesco
Saverio Giay (1729-1801).
Francisco Manalt (c.1710-1759)
- Sonata (VI, Re menor) de la Obra harmonica en seis sonatas de
camara de violin y bajo solo, parte primera / dedicadas al Excmo. Señor
D. Pedro Téllez Girón, Duque de Osuna,
por D. Francisco Manalt, musico
de la Rl. Capilla de S.M.C. (1757)
Performers: Emilio Moreno (violin); José Manuel Hernández (cello);
Eduard Martínez (harpsichord)
Spanish composer. He began his career at the Palau barcelonés before
moving to Madrid in 1755. Two years later, he was welcomed as a
violinist into the Royal Chapel. His probable cousin, Gabriel Terrí
Manalt, also a violinist, had been serving in the Palace since 1724. In
1757, he published his 'Obra harmónica en seis sonatas de cámara de
violín y bajo solo', dedicated to the Duke of Osuna. This dedication
sheds light on the connection between the musicians from the Palau
barcelonés and Madrid. These sonatas were not simple pieces; they
displayed imagination, fluidity, and a refined galant style with
harmonious proportions. Furthermore, their slow movements hinted at an
expressiveness aligned with Empfindsamkeit, a new sentimentalist
movement popular in Europe at the time, which some of his Madrid
colleagues also embraced. During the 1750s, he also collaborated with
José Herrando in musical festivities at the court. Francisco Manalt life
ended tragically. On January 14, 1759, the very day he was to be
married, he suffered a sudden 'attack of epilepsy' hours before the
ceremony, leading to his death two days later. Following the accident,
the bride's uncle immediately summoned a notary and a priest. Manalt was
married and made his will in 'articulo mortis' (at the point of death)
in the presence of his cousin Terrí and other witnesses who confirmed he
could still understand and speak, though not sign. This ensured that
his sister in Barcelona and his fiancée in Madrid could inherit from
him, and his fiancée was also able to claim a modest widow's pension
from the Royal Chapel.
German composer. He studied with Giovanni Legrenzi in Venice and by 1692
was court organist at the St. Andreas church in Dusseldorf. By 1696 he
was vice-Kapellmeister at the court there, being elevated to
Kapellmeister in 1703. He married Maria Lambertina Dahmen on 11 March
1698, and she bore him nine children. In 1716 the Elector Johann Wilhelm
died and was succeeded by his brother Karl Philipp, who had maintained a
court at Innsbruck. Subsequently he joined together the Innsbruck and
Düsseldorf musical establishments, first in Heidelberg and in 1720 in
Mannheim, where he undertook the building of a new palace. These
combined groups, under the joint directorship of Wilderer and Jakob
Greber from Innsbruck, later became the basis for the famous orchestra
of the ‘Mannheim School’, supported generously by the Elector Carl
Theodor. Wilderer remained active in the dual capacity of Kapellmeister
and composer until his death. His final major work was the sacred opera
'Esther', performed as an oratorio at Heidelberg in 1723 and as an opera
at Mannheim, 17 March 1724. As a composer, he wrote 11 operas, mainly
composed for the Düsseldorf court between 1695 and 1713, 2 oratorios, 4
cantatas, and some sacred works, among them, a Missa brevis extant in a
remarkable copy in the hand of Johann Sebastian Bach. Wilderer
importance rests upon his role in fostering the development of German
opera and of what became known as the Mannheim school of composition.
Italian teacher and composer. At the age of nine he began to study music
in Bologna with his uncle Lorenzo Perti and with Rocco Laurenti, from
whom he learnt the rudiments of organ playing. As early as 1678 he had a
Mass performed at the church of San Tomaso al Mercato. In 1679 he
collaborated on the opera 'Atide', to which he contributed the score for
the third act. In 1681 he was elected a member of the Accademia
Filarmonica, of which he was five times the principe (in 1719 was named
censor). He then went to Parma, where he continued his studies with
Giuseppe Corso. In 1689 he had his opera 'Dionisio Siracusano' performed
in Parma, and another opera, 'La Rosaura', in Venice. In 1690 he
succeeded his uncle as maestro di cappella at the Cathedral of San
Pietro in Bologna. In 1696 he became maestro di cappella of San
Petronio, a position he held until his death. He also held similar
positions at San Domenico (1704-55; deputized for Giuseppe Matteo
Alberti from 1734) and at Sancta Maria in Galliera (1706-50). Emperor
Charles VI made him a royal councillor in 1740. His correspondence
reveals a long-standing rapport with the Duchess Aurora Sanseverino of
Piedimonte d’Alife, who was a member of a Bolognese family; he regularly
sent compositions to her for use at her court. His correspondence also
indicates that he was held in high regard by Johann Joseph Fux, Antonio
Caldara, Bernardo Pasquini, Arcangelo Corelli and other influential
musicians. Padre Martini held him in the highest esteem and included six
examples of his contrapuntal music in his 'Esemplare ossia Saggio
fondamentale pratico di contrappunto' (1774-75). As a composer, he wrote
several operas and oratorios as well as 120 Psalms, 54 motets, 28
masses, and about 150 secular cantatas.
Francesco Molino (1768-1847)
- Grand Concerto (mi mineur) pour la Guitare avec accompagnement de
deux Violons, deux Clarinettes, deux Cors & Alto et Basse, Op.56
(c.1830)
Performers: Pepe Romero (guitar); Academy of St. Martin in the Fields;
Iona Brown (1941-2004, conductor)
Italian guitarist and composer. His musical career, who was a descendant
of a well-known family of musicians from Piedmont, began in the decade
from 1783 to 1793, when he was a regular officer in the Piedmont
Regiment of the Sardinian Army, as an oboist and occasionally also as a
viola player in the orchestra of the Teatro Regio of Turin. After he was
discharged, during the period of the Napoleonic unrest in most of
Europe, he lived for several years in Genoa, where he met some important
French cultural and artistic personalities such as the famous violinist
Rodolphe Kreutzer. He returned to Turin after the fall of Napoleon and
the restoration of the Savoy family, and was appointed as a violinist in
the re-established Chapel of the King of Sardinia, from 1814 to 1818.
Here his two cousins Luigi Molino (1762-1846) and Valentino Molino
(1766-1824), who were slightly older than him and already fairly
well-known, were already employed. Only after he moved to Paris, in 1818
or at the beginning of 1819, did he start being successful as a guitar
composer, performer and teacher, although he never neglected the violin,
and went on playing it for the rest of his life. The signers and
dedicatees of many of his compositions suggest that he had relationships
or contacts in Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, England
and Germany. In Paris, where he had already published a Concerto per
violino e orchestra for the publisher Pleyel in 1803, he benefitted from
the support and patronage of the Duchess of Berry and of other members
of the aristocracy, and was placed at the centre of the great popularity
enjoyed at that time by the guitar. His success in Paris was due to the
importance of his teaching, the originality of his solo pieces, the
great number of simple pieces he composed for amateurs, and the quality
of his chamber music. The fact that he was famous is testified also by
some well-known contemporary reports about an extremely heated dispute
between his supporters and Carulli’s; the exact substance of this
dispute, however, is unknown. Although most of Molino’s works are for
solo guitar his best-known are his Grand Concerto Op.56, the two Grand
trio concertant Op.30 and Op.45, and the Notturni Opp.37, 38, 39.
Dutch composer and viol player of German descent. Although the details
of his musical education are unknown, in 1680 he married his compatriot
Geertuyd Hamen van Vianen and in 1687 published in Amsterdam his first
work for the theatre, 'Bacchus, Ceres en Venus', which is considered the
first example of singspiel in the history of his country. In those last
years, he alternated between works on religious themes and profane
works. His first publications, most of them printed at Estienne Roger’s
workshop, were financially supported by influential businessmen and
nobles who made possible the distribution of his work, thus becoming
known to the public, and which consolidated his reputation as, perhaps,
the greatest composer of his country in the second half of the 17th
century. In about 1696 his fame secured him a post at the Düsseldorf
court of the Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm II, himself an amateur viol
player. Schenck's career developed there as a court official too,
culminating in 1710 in an appointment as 'chamber councillor'. He was
thus present at the coronation in 1711 of Emperor Charles VI at
Frankfurt. After 1712, his trace was lost. As a composer, his viol music
constitutes one of the most important repertories composed for the
instrument. It faithfully reflects the important stylistic changes
taking place in northern Europe at the time, which may not always have
worked to Schenck's advantage as a composer. Schenck's viol music
culminated in 'Le nymphe di Rheno' and 'L'echo du Danube'. The former
consists of duets for two equal viols, in which the relatively modest
technical demands may reflect the level of the dedicatee, Schenck's
employer Johann Wilhelm. In the six ambitious sonatas of 'L'echo du
Danube' the influence of modern Italian string sonatas is prominent.
Józef Elsner (1769-1854)
- Missa (solemnis) in B-Dur, Op.3 (1799)
Performers: Agnieszka Grаlа (soprano); Justynа Ołów (alto); Jacek Szponаrski (tenor); Paweł Michаlczuk (bass);
Choir of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw; Capella Clаromontana; Michał Słаwecki (conductor)
Polish composer and pedagogue of German origin. Born to a maker of
musical instruments, he was initially intended for a career in medicine;
however, he later became a choirboy, followed by a violinist and singer
at the Breslau theatre. His instruction in harmony was received from
Emanuel Aloys Förster in Breslau. Through the perusal of scores and
association with musicians in Vienna, he subsequently held the position
of first violin at the Brünn theatre in 1791 and musical director of the
theatre in Lemberg in 1792. In 1799, he established himself in Warsaw,
where he served as director of both German and Polish theatrical
institutions. Subsequently, in 1813, in collaboration with Princess
Zamoyska, he founded a musical society, which was later reconstituted as
the "Warsaw Conservatory" in 1821. At this juncture, he relinquished
his theatrical engagements to assume the roles of first director and
professor of composition at the newly established institution. His
retirement occurred in 1830, coinciding with the closure of the
Conservatory due to prevailing political exigencies, though he continued
his compositional pursuits. During a sojourn in Paris, select examples
of his oeuvre were performed at the Tuileries and Saint-Cloud. As a
composer, his output includes the opera 'Osoblievi Bracia' and
approximately thirty other minor dramatic works in Polish. Additionally,
he composed masses, motets, requiems, offertories, cantatas, and
numerous sacred songs, alongside symphonies, quartets, concertos, and a
substantial body of piano and instrumental music. He is regarded as a
precursor of the Polish national musical style, his compositions
synthesizing elements of the Viennese Classical tradition with aspects
of Polish folk music. He frequently incorporated Polish songs and dances
into his operas, secular vocal works, and instrumental compositions, as
well as Polish religious melodies into his sacred works, transforming
this source material in accordance with Romantic principles.
Furthermore, he demonstrated an interest in the metrical and
intonational characteristics of the Polish language. The influence of
the Viennese school is most discernible in his early instrumental works,
although his compositional focus shifted relatively early towards vocal
and stage works, many of which drew upon Polish historical sources and
illustrate the evolution of his musical idiom. His solo vocal works
initially employed Rococo and galant styles but subsequently adopted
Romantic characteristics, exhibiting heightened expressivity and
replacing strophic forms with through-composed settings.
Vojtěch Nudera (1748-1811)
- Parthia (Es-Dur) in Dis | a | Clarinetto Primo | Clarinetto
Secundo | Cornu Primo | Cornu Secundo | con | Fagotto | pro me |
Augustin Erasmus Hübner | beym Schulfach Anno 1806.
Bohemian composer. Very little is known about his life. He received
violin and clarinet training before being appointed Kantor at a school
in Vyšehrad. Shortly thereafter, it is believed he settled in Prague,
where he worked as a chamber musician. Around 1796, he was documented as
a violinist at Prague Cathedral. As a composer, only a few works are
extant, among them divertimentos, orchestral variations, and partitas,
mostly for wind instruments. His style was inherited from the classical
Viennese tradition, though with incorporations more typical of Bohemia.
Austrian composer and music theorist. His exact date of birth is
unknown. According to his death certificate he was 81 when he died. His
father, Andreas Fux (c.1618-1708), married twice, and Johann Fux may
have been his eldest child. Although a peasant, Andreas Fux was a parish
official attached to the church at St Marein and came into contact with
a number of musicians, among them the Graz organist Johann Hartmann
Peintinger and the Kantor Joseph Keller, who probably influenced his
son's early musical development. In 1680 he enrolled as a ‘grammatista’
at Graz University, and in 1681 he entered the Jesuit Ferdinandeum as a
student of grammar and music. By August 1685 he had taken a position as
organist at St Moritz in Ingolstadt. Fux's movements between the
beginning of 1689, when a new organist was appointed at St Moritz, and
his marriage in 1696 remain uncertain. Although Fux's employment as
court composer in Vienna dates officially from April 1698, he himself
was ambiguous about his length of service in this capacity. In various
documents, he implied that he began to work for the imperial household
in 1695, or even 1693. Together with the recently appointed composers
Carlo Badia, Giovanni Bononcini and Marc’Antonio Ziani, Fux effectively
began to introduce elements of late Baroque style into the sacred and
secular genres cultivated at court. After the death of Leopold I in 1705
and the accession of his son Joseph I, he retained the office of court
composer. In the same year he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister at the
Stephansdom, where in 1712 he succeeded Johann Michael Zacher as first
Kapellmeister. He retained this office until the end of 1714, and during
the same period he also directed services at the Salvatorkirche. His
duties as deputy Kapellmeister at the Stephansdom centred on the music
performed before the statue of Our Lady of Pötsch, which the emperor had
had placed on the high altar of the cathedral in 1697. After the
unexpected death of Joseph I on 17 April 1711, the empress-regent
Eleonora dissolved the Hofmusikkapelle, and many of its personnel.
By October 1711 he had been appointed deputy Kapellmeister to the court.
In January 1715 Charles VI appointed him as Hofkapellmeister, a
position he held for the rest of his life. As a composer who served
three emperors, he undertook an especially taxing combination of duties.
His coronation opera, 'Costanza e Fortezza', nominally in celebration
of the Empress Elisabeth Christine's birthday but effectively written to
mark the coronation of Charles VI as King of Bohemia, represents the
peak of his public office. The publication of the 'Gradus ad Parnassum'
in 1725 has been compared in importance with the publication of Fischer
von Erlach's 'Entwurf einer Historischen Architektur' (1721). Both works
embody the concept of Habsburg style selfconsciously, and persuasively
relate their author's achievements to a coherent past. On 8 June 1731
Fux's wife died, and some seven months later the composer drew up his
will (5 January 1732). His activities at court notably decreased, with
many of his responsibilities being assigned to Antonio Caldara and
others. He had complained of serious illness at the close of the Gradus,
and by the late 1720s his rate of composition had sharply declined. His
last testimonial is dated 10 March 1740. On 13 February 1741 he
developed a ‘raging fever’ and died. He was much mourned at court. The
most outstanding of his many students were Gottlieb Muffat, Georg
Christoph Wagenseil and Jan Dismas Zelenka. According to Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach, Johann Sebastian Bach placed him first among those
contemporary composers whom he most admired. Fux represents the
culmination of the Austro-Italian Baroque in music. His compositions
reflect the imperial and Catholic preoccupations of the Habsburg
monarchy no less than does the architecture of Fischer von Erlach or the
scenic designs of the Galli-Bibiena family. His 'Gradus ad Parnassum'
(1725) has been the most influential composition treatise in European
music from the 18th century onwards.
English organist and composer. Son of John Camidge (1734-1803), at an
early age he became a chorister of the Chapel Royal under his father’s
old master, James Nares. On his return to York he became assistant to
his father. He is said to have been the first to teach the cathedral
choristers to sing from notes; previously all the services had been
learnt by ear. The two Camidges also originated the York musical
festivals, beginning with a performance, on a small scale, of Handel's
‘Messiah’ at the Belfry church, which led to oratorios being given with
orchestral accompaniments in the minster. On the resignation of John
Camidge, he was appointed his successor as organist (11 November 1799), a
post he held until his retirement (8 October 1842). As a composer, he
published a considerable quantity of music for the harpsichord, organ,
and piano, besides a collection of psalm tunes, a ‘Method of Instruction
in Musick by Questions and Answers,’ and some church music. In the
preface to his Organ Concertos, op.13 (c.1815), he wrote that he had
"endeavoured to imitate the particular style of music which has been so
long admired, namely that of Handel and Corelli. This acknowledgement
will, he hopes, secure him from the critics’ censure". Matthew Camidge
was married to a niece of Sheriff Atkinson of York, by whom he had three
sons; two took orders, and became respectively vicar of Wakefield and
canon of York, and chaplain at Moscow and Cronstadt, and the third, John
Camidge (1790-1859), succeeded his father as organist of York.
