Carl Stamitz (1745-1801) - Sinfonie (G-Dur) a grand orchestre des 'Six sinfonies, grand
orchestre, deux violons, alto et basso, deux hautbois et deux cors de
chasse ad libitum', Oeuvre XIII (1777)
Performers: Capella Savaria; Zsolt Kalló (conductor)
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German composer and violinist. The son of concertmaster Johann Stamitz
(1717-1757), he received his training from his father’s colleagues
Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, and Franz Xaver Richter before
being appointed a violinist in the Mannheim orchestra at the age of 17.
In 1770, however, he decided to resign his position and began a 25-year
career as a touring virtuoso, performing mainly on the viola and viola
d’amore. His first city was Paris, where he began publishing his music,
followed by Frankfurt in 1773, St. Petersburg in 1775, Strasbourg in
1777, London in 1778, Amsterdam and The Hague in 1782, Berlin in 1786,
Nuremburg in 1788, Kassel in 1790, and Weimar in 1792. His successes
were variable, but he maintained close contact to various composers and
musicians he met in each city. In 1795 he settled in the university town
of Jena, where he spent the last years of his life devoted to the study
of alchemy in a place without any appreciable musical establishment,
although he did find employment teaching at the university. Toward the
end of his life he planned further tours to Russia. Stamitz came to
epitomize the clarity and regularity of Classical form and structure in
his numerous compositions. These include good lyrical contrasting
melodies, careful use of the so-called Mannheim devices, regularized
harmony, and sometimes colorful harmony. His focus was on instrumental
music, particularly the symphony and concerto, of which he is recognized
as a universalist composer. His music includes over 50 symphonies, 38
sinfonia concertantes (mainly for two violins or violin and viola), over
80 concertos (20 for violin, three for viola, six for cello, 11 for
flute, four for oboe, 15 for clarinet, 12 for bassoon, five for horn,
and others for keyboard, harp, basset horn, and viola d’amore), seven
wind parthies, 22 wind serenades, six string quintets, 21 string
quartets, 12 woodwind quartets, 35 string trios and six piano trios, 90
duets, 15 violin sonatas, two operas, two festive cantatas, a Mass,
three canticles, a massive quodlibet in two acts titled Great
Allegorical Musical Festivity (written in 1788 in Nuremburg to celebrate
the balloon flight of Jean-Pierre Blanchard the previous year), and
other smaller chamber works. He can be reckoned as one of the most
prolific composers of the period. His brother Anton Stamitz
(1750-c.1809) was also a violinist and composer.
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