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.
Italian composer and violinist. He was born into a family of musicians
and artists. His grandfather was one of the first violinists of
Florence; his uncle Antonio Veracini (1659-1733) was that and a fine
composer as well. He studied violin with his uncle, with whom he
appeared in concerts in Florence, and also received instruction from
Giovanni Maria Casini and Francesco Feroci, and from Giuseppe Antonio
Bernabei in Germany (1715). In 1711 he went to Venice, where he appeared
as a soloist at the Christmas masses at San Marco; in 1714 he gave a
series of benefit concerts in London, and in 1716 entered the private
service of the Elector of Saxony; in 1717 he went to Dresden and entered
the court service. In 1723 he returned to Florence, where he was active
as a performer and composer of sacred works; he also gave private
concerts. In 1733 he returned to London, where he played for the Opera
of the Nobility, a rival to Handel's opera company; he also composed
operas during his London years. In 1745 he returned to Italy, where from
1755 until his death he was maestro di cappella for the Vallambrosian
fathers at the church of S. Pancrazio in Florence; he also held that
position for the Teatini fathers at the church of S. Michele
agl'Antinori there (from 1758). He acquired a reputation as an
eccentric, and some considered him mad. Nonetheless he was esteemed as a
violinist and composer. Charles Burney remarked that ‘by travelling all
over Europe he formed a style of playing peculiar to himself’.
Performers: Maria Mrazova (alto); Miroslav Svejda (tenor); Maîtrise
d'enfants de Brno; Chœur féminin du Conservatoire de Prague, Chœur
d'hommes Moravan; Orchestre Radiosymphonique de Bratislava;
Bohemian organist and composer. His musical training began at the Jesuit
Gymnasium Jičín (1711-1717). Though he briefly studied law at Prague
University, he soon abandoned it for music, becoming the organist at the
Týn Church. His major breakthrough came in 1720 with the success of his
works for the annual 'musica navalis', the St. John’s Eve festivities
on the Vltava River. This success secured him a lucrative commission to
compose the music for these festivals every year from 1722 to 1729. He
later served as a music teacher and organist at St. Martin's school,
rising to choirmaster at St. Martin's in 1727. As a composer, his output
include 34 extant works, among them, several masses, settings of the Te
Deum and the Magnificat, litanies, offertories and motets; one school
comedy is known, 'Cancet preambulans'. His compositions are in the
Venetian style represented by Johann Joseph Fux and Antonio Caldara,
with some elements of Czech folk music. His style is marked by full
instrumentation and a preference for brass. He handled contrapuntal
texture skilfully, and in homophonic passages often made use of
concertato interplay between soloists and chorus. His son František
Xaver Brixi (1732-1771) was also organist and composer.
German composer and violinist. Brother of August Friedrich Graun
(c.1698-1765) and Carl Heinrich Graun (1704-1759), he received his
earliest education at the Kreuzschule in Dresden before enrolling in
music at Leipzig University. In 1723 he studied with violinist Giuseppe
Tartini in Prague before obtaining the post as concertmaster in
Merseburg in 1726. In 1728 he relocated to Arolsen to serve in the court
of Prince von Waldeck, before joining the private orchestra of Crown
Prince Frederick of Prussia in Ruppin and Rheinsburg in 1732. There he
was concertmaster at the opera until his death. Along with his brother
Carl Heinrich Graun, he was one of the principal figures in the musical
circles of the Berlin court, and although he concentrated his own
efforts toward writing instrumental works, he was adept at vocal genres
as well. Among the latter can be counted an oratorio, La Passione di
Gesù Cristo; several sacred works; six Lieder; and seven Italian secular
cantatas. He was a prolific composer of the former, however, in many
cases defining the emerging North German empfindsamer Stil
(Empfindsamkeit). He composed no fewer than 54 symphonies, 13
two-movement overtures, 62 trios (mostly for flutes/violins and basso),
36 sonatas for violin, four sonatas for flute, and 62 concertos (48 for
violin, five for two violins, three for oboe, two for bassoon, two for
violin/viola, and one each for viola da gamba and viola da
gamba/cembalo). The scope of his compositions has yet to be determined,
given that many works, particularly chamber music, are attributed only
to 'Graun'. He was held in high regard by his contemporaries, especially
as an orchestral trainer and instrumental composer.
Austrian violinist and composer. The son of an impoverished painter, he
showed talent as a violinist at an early age. He was a pupil of Joseph
Suche in 1797 and of Anton Wranitzky from 1798. Encouraged by Ignaz
Schuppanzigh, he made his first public appearance with brilliant success
at a morning concert in the Augarten in 1800. In 1802 he began piano
and composition lessons with Emanuel Aloys Förster. In 1810 he was
appointed leader of the Hoftheater orchestra in Vienna, soloist at the
Hofkapelle (1816) and later soloist to the emperor (1835) and musical
director of the Hofkapelle (1836). He never went on tours and rarely
gave concerts, yet he was a finished virtuoso, admired even by Niccolò
Paganini. In Vienna he was very successful as a teacher. He was awarded
the Salvator medal (1811), the freedom of Vienna (1817) and the Order of
Franz Joseph (1862), and was an honorary member of several musical
academies. As a composer, his works include 3 violin concertos, a Mass
(1848), 5 string quintets, 8 string quartets, trios, and solo violin
pieces. Most of these are conservative in style and were intended
primarily for his own performance.
Austrian composer and violinist. Born to Paul Ditters, costumier at the
imperial court and theatre in Vienna, and his wife Anna (née Vandelin),
he received his earliest education at the Jesuit school in Vienna, where
he displayed a precocious talent as a violinist, enough so that in 1751
he was performing with local court orchestras. Here he came to the
attention of Giueseppe Bonno and Christoph Willibald von Gluck, the
latter of whom took him with him to Italy in 1763. There Ditters
achieved success as a virtuoso, and by 1765 he had been hired by
Archbishop Adam Patachich as Michael Haydn’s successor at Großwerdein
(now Oradea, Romania). He improved the quality of the ensemble, but in
1769 it was dissolved and Ditters relieved of his duties. He found other
employment with the Archbishop of Breslau, Count Philipp Gotthard von
Schaffgotsch as a state administrative functionary at Schloss
Johannesberg (now Janský vrch, Poland), and in 1773 he was appointed as
chief forester at nearby Javernig (Javornik). This appointment required
aristocratic rank, and Ditters was ennobled as von Dittersdorf at
Freiwaldau (Jeseník). In 1784 he returned to Vienna where he
participated actively in the musical life of the city. His rank allowed
him access to all levels of the court society, and his abilities earned
him the friendship of colleagues such as Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, with whom he performed in a string quartet (the cellist
was his student Jan Křtitel Vanhal). In 1790, however, he returned to
music as Kapellmeister to Duke Carl Christian Erdmann zu
Württemberg-Oels, a post that also included governmental administrative
duties. He moved to Oels (Olésnice) and then Karlsruhe in Upper Silesia.
A reversal of fortune caused him to retire in 1796, and he moved to the
small town of Neuhof (Červená Lhota), where he died only a couple of
days after completing his autobiography. He was a prolific and
progressive composer, particularly with respect to his use of the
characteristic symphony, sometimes based upon Classical stories. He was
conventional in terms of his harmony, but his skill in contrasting
instruments (as well as writing for unusual timbres and combinations)
demonstrates a good sense of color. His formal structures are often
conventional, and his textures mainly homophonic, but he was considered
one of the foremost composers of Vienna during his day. He can be
considered one of the most popular composers of Singspiels of his day,
with one work, Doktor und Apotheker, achieving international success.
The number of works composed demonstrates an almost inexhaustible
creativity and includes: 127 symphonies (with another 90 likely, making
him the most prolific composer in the genre of all time, if true), 18
violin concertos, five viola concertos, eight oboe concertos, four
keyboard concertos, nine other concertos (for oboe d’amore, harp,
contrabass, cello, flute, and two violins), four sinfonia concertantes
(including two for string quartet and orchestra, one for viola,
contrabass, and orchestra, and another for 11 solo instruments), four
serenades, five cassations, 16 divertimentos, 18 string trios, seven
string quartets, six horn quintets, six string quintets, 35 partitas, 72
preludes, 31 keyboard sonatas, 136 solo keyboard works, 16 violin
sonatas, 32 operas, three concert arias, 16 secular cantatas, 16 Masses,
a Requiem, four oratorios, 11 offertories, eight litanies, and 170
smaller sacred works such as Psalms, motets, and so forth.
Hungarian composer, pianist and teacher. Son of Ádám Liszt (1776-1827)
and Maria Anna Lager (1788-1866), his father was an amateur musician who
devoted his energies to the education of his son. At the age of 9,
young Liszt was able to play a difficult piano concerto by Ferdinand
Ries. A group of Hungarian music-lovers provided sufficient funds to
finance Liszt's musical education. In 1822 the family traveled to
Vienna. Beethoven was still living, and Liszt's father bent every effort
to persuade Beethoven to come to young Liszt's Vienna concert on April
13, 1823. Legend has it that Beethoven did come and was so impressed
that he ascended the podium and kissed the boy on the brow. There is
even in existence a lithograph that portrays the scene, but it was made
many years after the event by an unknown lithographer and its
documentary value is dubious. Liszt himself perpetuated the legend, and
often showed the spot on his forehead where Beethoven was supposed to
have implanted the famous kiss. However that might be, Liszt's
appearance in Vienna created a sensation; he was hailed by the press as
'child Hercules'. He met and studied with Carl Czerny and Antonio
Salieri. Salieri appealed to Prince Esterhazy for financial help so as
to enable Liszt to move to Vienna, where Salieri made his residence.
Apparently Esterhazy was sufficiently impressed with Salieri's plea to
contribute support. Under the guidance of his ambitious father, Liszt
applied for an entrance examination at the Paris Conservatory, but its
director, Luigi Cherubini, declined to accept him, ostensibly because he
was a foreigner. Liszt then settled for private lessons in counterpoint
from Antoine Reicha. Liszt remained in Paris, where he soon joined the
brilliant company of men and women of the arts. Paganini's spectacular
performances of the violin in particular inspired Liszt to emulate him
in creating a piano technique of transcendental difficulty and
brilliance, utilizing all possible sonorities of the instrument.
Handsome and a brilliant conversationalist, Liszt was sought after in
society. His first lasting attachment was with an aristocratic married
woman, the Comtesse Marie d'Agoult; they had 3 daughters, one of whom,
Cosima Liszt (1837-1930), married Liszt's friend Hans von Bulow before
abandoning him for Richard Wagner. His second and final attachment was
with another married woman, Carolyne von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who was
separated from her husband. Her devotion to Liszt exceeded all limits,
even in a Romantic age. Liszt fully intended to marry Sayn-Wittgenstein,
but he encountered resistance from the Catholic church, to which they
both belonged and which forbade marriage to a divorced woman. His own
position as a secular cleric further militated against it. Thus, Liszt,
the great lover of women, never married. Liszt's romantic infatuations
did not interfere with his brilliant virtuoso career. One of his
greatest successes was his triumphant tour in Russia in 1842. Russian
musicians and music critics exhausted their flowery vocabulary to praise
him as the miracle of the age. Czar Nicholas I himself attended a
concert in St. Petersburg, and expressed his appreciation by sending him
a pair of trained Russian bears. Liszt acknowledged the imperial honor,
but did not venture to take the animals with him on his European tour.
It is not clear why, after all his triumphs in Russia and elsewhere in
Europe, he decided to abandon his career as a piano virtuoso and devote
his entire efforts to composition. He became associated with Wagner as a
prophet of 'music of the future'. In 1848 he accepted the position of
Court Kapellmeister in Weimar. As a composer, he made every effort to
expand the technical possibilities of piano technique; in his piano
concertos, and particularly in his Etudes d'execution transcendante, he
made use of the grand piano, which expanded the keyboard in both the
bass and the extreme treble. He also extended the field of piano
literature with his brilliant transcriptions of operas. Although Liszt
is universally acknowledged to be a great Hungarian composer, he was
actually brought up in the atmosphere of German culture.
Anton Bernhard Fürstenau (1792-1852)
- Concerto (D-Dur) in modo di Scena cantate | per il Flauto con
accompagnemento | di due Violino, Alto, Basso, Flauto, due Oboi,
Clarinetti, | Fagotti, Corni, Clarini e Timpani (o Pianoforte.) |
composto e dedicato al suo amico | Signor Enrico Dehnel | Capitano
nell'artigliera Reale di Hannover, | Cavaliere dell'Ordine Guefe ...
Op:84 (1831)
German flautist and composer. Son of Caspar Fürstenau (1772-1819), he
received his first flute lessons from his father. He was highly gifted,
performing publicly for the first time at the age of seven. In 1804, he
joined the Oldenburg court orchestra. He later embarked on extensive
concert tours throughout Germany and Europe (including Berlin, Munich,
Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, and Vienna) in the company of his father.
Partly owing to his wish to settle down and partly on account of his
father's poor health, he accepted an appointment to the Frankfurt town
orchestra in 1817; there Johannes Vollweiler gave him further lessons in
composition. The year after his father's death he moved to Dresden,
where he became first flautist under Carl Maria von Weber's direction.
As a composer, he wrote and arranged numerous works, mainly for the
flute. He created new and characteristic literature for his instrument
through his 147 published works, including twelve solo concertos,
variations, and chamber compositions. His influence extended through his
extensive teaching, with his son Moritz Fürstenau (1824-1889) being one
of his numerous students. He was considered the most important Romantic
flautist and the most famous virtuoso on his instrument in Germany
during the first half of the nineteenth century.
German composer and organist. Almost nothing is known about his life.
His primary professional roles included serving as a Council Member
(Ratsherr) and as the Organist at the collegiate church of the Blessed
Virgin Mary (Stiftskirche B.M.V.), which is the current Erfurt
Cathedral. He was active in Erfurt his whole life and his contributions,
along with those of contemporaries like Philipp Jacob Baudrexel, are
cited as having a sustainable and lasting influence on the musical life
of the city and region. The only extant music by him is a manuscript
copy of his 'Sequitur Missa â 6. C. A. T. B. | 2 Violin. Authore Paulo
Meinong | ad B.V. Effurti | Organoedo'.
Italian composer and keyboardist. As a girl she performed in her home
while her elder sister Maria Gaetana (1718-1799) became a distinguished
mathematician lectured and debated in Latin. Little is known about her
early training, although her cantata 'Il restauro d’Arcadia' was
produced at the Teatro Ducale in Milan in 1747, followed in 1751 by her
opera 'Sofonisba'. Further stage works were produced, expanding her
reputation as a composer throughout Lombardy. In June 1752 she married
Pietro Pinottini, and her fortunes declined thereafter. At her death,
she was in pecuniary difficulties. Her instrumental music demonstrates
an affinity with the prevailing early Classical Empfindsamkeit, while
her stage works are all in the manner of opera seria. Her works include
at least six operas or serenatas, four concertos for keyboard, two
fantasias, and several keyboard sonatas, in addition to a few
miscellaneous works.
Swedish conductor, violinist, viola player and composer. He was born
into a musical family. His father, Johan David Gottfried Zander
(1714-1774), was a musician (bassoonist, oboist, and violinist) who had
emigrated to Sweden and played in the Royal Court Orchestra, the
Hovkapellet. Following his father's footsteps, he joined the Hovkapellet
as a violinist in 1772. His talent quickly earned him recognition, and
he was promoted to assistant concertmaster in 1787, and deputy
Konzertmeister the next year, a post he held until his death. He taught
the violin at the Swedish Royal Academy of Music from 1785 and at the
Opera school from 1786; he became a member of the Academy in 1786. He
gained a considerable reputation as a highly skilled soloist on both the
violin and viola in public concerts throughout the capital. While best
known for his theatrical music, he also composed a significant body of
instrumental work, displaying his awareness of contemporary European
stylistic trends, particularly the influence of the Austrian composers.
His most notable surviving large-scale orchestral work is the Symphony
in B-flat major (1785), one of the few four-movement symphonies written
in Sweden during the 18th Century. He also composed several concertos
(mostly lost), three string quartets and various solo and chamber pieces
published in collections like Musikaliskt Tidsfördrif. His promising
career was tragically cut short when he died prematurely of pneumonia in
1796. He remains as an important figure in the Gustavian era of Swedish
music.
English organist and composer. He studied for seven years with Matthias
Hawdon, organist of St. Nicholas's Church. From 1783 to 1836 he was
organist of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Aberdeen, and was for several
years organist to the Aberdeen musical society. In Aberdeen he was long
the only resident musician of any standing. He died on 28 July 1837 at
Craigie Park, a suburban residence. He was a prolific composer of
pianoforte and vocal music. He contributed several airs to Robert
Archibald Smith's ‘Scottish Minstrel,’ and was complimented by Robert
Tannahill for setting some of his songs to music. He edited ‘Sacred
Music, consisting of Chants, Psalms, and Hymns for three Voices,’
London, 1828, the tunes in which are mostly his own. His anthem, ‘When
sculptured urns,’ was once very popular.
American organist, composer, and teacher. His father was an officer in
the United States Army. Due to his father's career, Gleba's family
traveled extensively during his childhood and adolescence, which
included a prolonged period living in Europe. He began teaching himself
to play the pianoforte at an early age. As a teenager, he studied piano
for one year with the late Leopold Godowsky III, who was a grandson of
the pianist Leopold Godowsky I, and a nephew of George and Ira Gershwin.
Gleba has served as an organist and music director at numerous
churches, which has fostered his particular fondness for sacred choral
music. Through intensive study of classical scores, he taught himself to
compose symphonies, sonatas, concerti, and other classical forms. He
insists on composing in the Viennese classical style of the second half
of the 18th Century. Today, he performs only occasionally. He teaches
harmony, counterpoint, composition, piano, harpsichord, clavichord, and
organ at his home in Branford, Connecticut.
Johann Wilhelm Hertel (1727-1789)
- Concerto per il Organo | accompagnato | da | 2 Corni, 2 Flauti | 2
Violini, Violetta et Basso, | composto et dedicato | all'Altezza
Serenissima | di | FEDERICO |
Duca Regnante di Meclenburgo
Performers: Mеrsеburger Hofmusik; Michael Schönhеit (organ &
conductor)
German violinist, keyboard player and composer. Son of Johann Christian
Hertel (1697-1754), he received his musical training from his father and
members of the Bach family. He also came to the attention of Franz
Benda, who heard him perform in 1742 in Strelitz, where his father had
moved. Upon Benda’s recommendation Hertel was trained in Berlin and at
the court of Zerbst before obtaining a position as Kapellmeister with
Duke Christian Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. From 1770 he was the
privy councillor in the service of Princess Ulrike but continued to
compose, arrange concerts at the court and give music instruction. In
his last years he gave up the violin and devoted himself to keyboard
instruments. As a theorist, Hertel wrote four volumes on musical
compositions, which were published in Leipzig between 1757 and 1758. In
his youth Hertel was considered one of the best violinists of Franz
Benda’s school. As a composer, he is best known for his craftsmanship
that blends a progressive harmonic language with technical display. His
music includes a Mass, five Passions, 12 secular cantatas (and seven
with nontraditional sacred texts), 11 Lutheran cantatas, numerous
chorales, 40 concert arias, 60 Lieder, three motets, three Psalms (in
German), two sets of incidental music for Shakespeare plays, 63
symphonies, 15 keyboard concertos (and 31 other concertos), three
partitas, five trios, 19 violin sonatas, and 30 keyboard sonatas. His
literary works include a treatise on thoroughbass, three autobiographies
and a collection of essays by Voltaire and others.
English painter, composer and woodwind player. Son of Robert Woodcock
(1642-1710) and Deborah Littleton, he grew up in Shrewsbury House,
Chelsea, London, where his parents ran a girls school. In 1714, he
married Ayliffe Stoaks, by whom he had several children. According to a
contemporaneous biographical account, he worked as a civil servant,
holding a 'place or clerkship in the Government.' He resigned his
government post around 1723 to devote himself to marine painting, and
that he was ‘very skillful in music, had judgement and performed on the
hautboy in a masterly manner’. John Hawkins called Woodcock ‘a famous
performer on the flute’, but he was more likely an enthusiastic amateur
on the oboe, recorder and flute. As a composer, his only surviving
compositions are a set of XII Concertos in Eight Parts (1727). They are
of historical importance as the first flute concertos ever published and
the first oboe concertos published by an English composer.
Flemish teacher, organist, and composer. While he originated from
Flanders, he spent the first part of his life in England. Much of his
early life remains a mystery, though he was a Jesuit, which
significantly shaped his career. He is believed to have worked as an
organist in Liège between 1651 and 1657. During this time, he likely
composed the majority of his keyboard works. In 1658, he entered the
novitiate of the English Jesuit Province at Watten, near Saint-Omer.
After his novitiate, he became a music professor at the English Jesuit
College in Saint-Omer, a position he held from around 1658 until his
death in 1687. This college was a vital institution for English
Catholics who couldn't study in England. It's believed he died in
Saint-Omer. While not widely known, his work has recently gained
attention due to the discovery of a 17th-century manuscript containing
music attributed to him. This manuscript, found in a London bookshop,
has offered new insights into the keyboard music of the period and his
compositions.
German composer and organist. He received his musical training from
Johann Christoph Schmidt when he was choirboy in the Dresden Hofkapelle.
In 1702, he settled in Leipzig and enrolled at the university to study
law. He also joined the student collegium musicum founded by Georg
Philipp Telemann. When Telemann left Leipzig in June 1705, he succeeded
him as organist and music director of the Neukirche, and took over as
director of Telemann’s collegium musicum. He was also conductor of the
Leipzig civic opera for which he wrote a number of works. In 1709 he met
the violinist and composer Johann Georg Pisendel, who became leader of
the orchestra of Hoffmann’s collegium. At this time the ensemble
consisted of 50 to 60 musicians and had won fame and recognition beyond
the Leipzig area. He seems to have visited England between 1709 and
1710, but no details are known. In 1713 he applied, along with Johann
Sebastian Bach and three other candidates, to succeed Friedrich Wilhelm
Zachow as organist at the Liebfrauenkirche in Halle. When Bach
eventually declined the appointment on 19 March 1714 the Halle
consistory offered it to Hoffmann, but although he officially accepted
the post he never took up his duties there. On 9 September 1714 he
married Margaretha Elisabeth Philipp and in the same month became one of
the few Leipzig musicians of the time to be granted citizenship. He had
been suffering from a serious illness since 1713 and died on the
evening of 6 October 1715, aged only 36. As a composer, he was highly
regarded during his life and Charles Burney stated as 'one of the finest
composers of the first half of the 18th century'.
He is a contemporary Belgian composer known for
blending modern classical, cinematic, ambient, and post-minimalist
music. His compositions create rich sonic landscapes that evoke both
intellectual and emotional responses. His music features in
documentaries, films, installations, and dance performances, valued for
its cinematic atmosphere and emotional depth. Using delicate harmonies,
polyrhythms, polytonality, and layered soundscapes, he often conveys a
subtle melancholy. As a finalist in international competitions, he also
teaches composition and guitar. Currently, he is Composer-in-Residence
at Brussels Muzieque, curating performances and collaborating with
international artists. His works are published by Groovy Scarab Music
Publishing and ASCAP.
German composer. His early life and musical education remain unknown.
The earliest known record of his career stated on 24 November 1731 he
was appointed 'Director Musices' of the court chapel of
Bentheim-Tecklenburg under Count Moritz Kasimir I in a post he likely
held the rest of his life. Count Moritz Kasimir was a devoted patron of
the arts and a skilled amateur musician, proficient in the violin,
flute, and cello. He amassed a significant music collection that served
as the primary repertoire for the court chapel. Among the works in this
collection, 91 compositions are attributed to Dömming. Of these, only 32
have survived, including concertos, trios, three suites, an overture,
and a single symphony, along with a few vocal works. The cantata 'Die
Jagd' (1755) is his last known composition, as all biographical traces
of Dömming are lost after this date. According to the original music
sources, Dömming's works were composed at the two princely residences:
Hohenlimburg and Rheda.
