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.
Benedictus Pittrich (1757-1827)
- Te Deum Laudamus in D, a Canto, Alto, Tenore, Basso, Violino 1mo
& 2do, Viola, Flauto 1mo et 2do, Cornu 1mo & 2do in D, G,
Clarino 1mo et 2do in D, Tympano e Organo.
Performers: Barbara Fleckenstein (soprano); Gabriele Weinfurter (alto);
Klaus Donaubauer (tenor); Rudolf Hillebrand (bass); Motettenchor und
Orchester Fürstenfeld; Roland Muhr (1948-2015, conductor)
German Regens chori and composer. Nothing is known about his early life.
Around 1783 he joined the Cistercian Abbey Fürstenfeld, on 24 October
1784 professed the religious vows and he was ordained a priest on 17 May
1788. His tenure at the Abbey was interrupted by the dramatic political
changes of the time. The Bavarian secularization of 1803 led to the
dissolution of the monastery. Following this event, he was forced to
leave monastic life. He relocated to Landsberg am Lech, where he
continued his duties as a curate and remained musically active for the
rest of his life. As a composer, his extant works are mainly religious
and it comprises two masses, a Requiem, some minor sacred works as well
as symphonies and other instrumental music. Due to his monastic
connection, many of his original musical manuscripts are now preserved
in historical music collections, notably in the Bayerische
Staatsbibliothek in Munich.
Bohemian violinist and composer, son of Jan Jiří Benda (1686-1757). His
autobiography, written in 1763, presents details of his early training
and the musicians with whom he associated during his long career; the
documentation of his own activities and references to his associates
make this one of the most frequently cited documents of the era. In his
youth Benda was a chorister in Prague and afterward in the Chapel Royal
at Dresden. At the same time he began to study the violin, and soon
joined a company of strolling musicians who attended fetes, fairs, etc.
At eighteen years of age Benda abandoned this wandering life and
returned to Prague, going to Vienna, where he pursued his study of the
violin under Johann Gottlieb Graun, a pupil of Tartini. After two years
he was appointed chapel master at Warsaw. In 1732, he entered the
service of Frederick the Great, then crown prince of Prussia, with whom
he remained the rest of his life. He was a member of the crown prince's
orchestra, and later became concertmaster to the king.[1] He played
about 50,000 concertos over a period of forty years. At Benda's request,
Frederick allowed his parents and siblings to move to Potsdam when, as
Protestants, they suffered religious persecution in Bohemia. Benda was a
master of all the difficulties of violin playing, and the rapidity of
his execution and the mellow sweetness of his highest notes were
unequalled. He had many pupils and wrote a number of works, chiefly
exercises and studies for the violin. Benda died in the Nowawes, a small
colony near Potsdam set up by Frederick the Great to house Protestant
refugees fleeing religious persecution in Bohemia. Of his six children
who survived infancy, four became musicians: Maria Carolina Benda
(1742-1820), Friedrich Benda (1745-1814), Karl Hermann Heinrich Benda
(1748-1836) and Juliane Benda (1752-1783).
Antonín Mašát (1692-1747)
- Offertorium 'Jubilate apparenti Domino' a Canto, Alto, Tenore,
Basso,
Violinis 2, Clarinis 2, Tympanis et Fondamento
Performers: Hana Blazikova (soprano); Petra Noskaiova (mezzosoprano);
Ondrej Smid (tenor); Vojtech Safarik (bass); Pueri Gaudentes; Capella
Regia Praha; Robert Hugo (conductor)
Bohemian composer and scholar. He received his education within the
Piarist system, completing his studies in philosophy and theology at the
order's schools. As a member of the Piarist Order, he was obligated to
teach. He excelled not only in music but also in scientific and
scholarly pursuits, which was characteristic of the Piarist educational
tradition. He is known to have published works on optics and related
sciences, demonstrating a broad intellectual scope typical of
Baroque-era priest-scholars. His musical activities were primarily
centered around the institutions of his order in Bohemia and Moravia,
including schools and churches. He used the Latinized pseudonym Antonín
Maschat (or Remigius Maschat) for some of his work, which has sometimes
led to confusion with other contemporary composers. His extant works are
entirely sacred, including one Requiem, the Missa 'Sancti Attalae
Abbat', litanies, and offertories.
German abbot and composer. He was the son of Michael Müller and
Magdalena Höltschi. At the age of 12, he joined the school of Einsiedeln
Abbey, which he entered as a novice on January 20, 1742. A year later,
he took his vows, and in 1748, he was ordained as a priest. It was
likely while studying in Milan and during his time in Bellinzona that he
became acquainted with the practice of playing on several organs. In
1763, he was recalled to Einsiedeln to take up the office of Subprior.
Concurrently, starting in 1771, he reorganized the abbey's archive. On
August 11, 1773, he was elected Abbot of Einsiedeln, a post he held for
the rest of his life. As a composer, he wrote several sacred songs as
well as masses, hymns, psalms, and motets. He also left behind
one-movement pieces for organ intended for specific liturgical
celebrations.
Spanish composer. Baptized in the Santa Maria del Mar parish in
Barcelona, he began his musical studies as a choirboy at the Escolania
de Montserrat. In 1778 he was appointed 'maestro de capilla' at Seu
d'Urgell Cathedral. After his ordination as a priest in 1780, he secured
the post of 'maestro de capilla' at Girona Cathedral in 1781,
succeeding Francesc Juncà, and in a post he held until 1785. In that
year he transferred to Córdoba to assume this magisterium, a position he
retained until his death, with one brief interruption between 1787 to
1789 to assume the post of 'maestro de capilla' of the Royal Convent of
La Encarnación in Madrid. As a composer, his legacy is exceptionally
prolific, with a corpus that exceeds 900 cataloged compositions, mainly
sacred. His style is rooted in the classicism of the Viennese school.
German composer, pianist and conductor. Sister of Felix Mendelssohn
(1809-1847), she was the eldest of four children born into a
post-Enlightenment, cultured Jewish family. She enjoyed an excellent
general and musical education throughout her childhood, but while he was
encouraged to pursue music professionally, she was prevented from doing
so by her father. Nevertheless, music remained centrally important to
her within private spaces such as the salon. She received her earliest
musical instruction from her mother, Lea Salomon (1777-1842), who taught
her the piano (she is reputed to have noted her daughter’s ‘Bach
fingers’ at birth). She then studied the piano with Ludwig Berger, and
in 1816 with Marie Bigot in Paris. A few years later she embarked on
theory and composition with Carl Friedrich Zelter, a conservative
musician and early champion of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her first
composition dates from December 1819, a lied in honour of her father’s
birthday. In 1820 she enrolled at the newly opened Berlin Sing-Akademie.
During the next few years Mendelssohn produced many lieder and piano
pieces; such works were to be the mainstay of her output of about 500
compositions. In 1825, the Mendelssohns moved to Leipziger Straße 3, a
large property which allowed the family to establish one of the most
impressive musical salons of the century. In 1829, she married the
painter Wilhelm Hensel (1794-1861), whose active support of her gifts
meant that, exceptionally, marriage and motherhood did not spell the end
of her compositional life. She collaborated closely with her husband in
a purpose-built studio, Hensel responding to her music with drawings,
and she composing songs to his poetry. Beginning in the early 1830s, she
became the central figure in a flourishing salon, for which she created
most of her compositions and where she performed on the piano and
conducted. Two trips to Italy, in 1839-40 and 1845, were among the
highpoints of her life. In Rome she formed a close relationship with
Charles Gounod, who later noted Fanny’s influence on his budding musical
career. Her impressions of the first Italian trip are inscribed in 'Das
Jahr', a set of 12 character-pieces that combine musical and
autobiographical motifs. Her last composition, the lied 'Bergeslust',
was written on 13 May 1847, a day before her sudden death from a stroke.
Italian violinist and composer. Born in the center of the Italian violin
makers at Cremona, he received his earliest training on the violin from
his father and, subsequently, from Giacomo Civeri and Carlo Ricci. An
invitation from Antonio Caldara, who had met him while passing through
Casalmaggiore, took him to Vienna, where he became a well-known virtuoso
and teacher without, however, obtaining an official position in the
service of the imperial court. In 1736, however, he returned to
Casalmaggiore on the death of his mentor, remaining there as a performer
and teacher. He died in a carriage accident on the way to Mantua. His
works are mostly in the style of Antonio Vivaldi, including the 12
violin concertos and the 18 trio sonatas (six of which were published in
1727). His set of six symphonies published in 1729, however, reflect
the styles and structures of Milanese works by Antonio Brioschi and
Giovanni Battista Sammartini.
German composer. He began organ studies with local organist Johann
Philipp Pitzler, with whom he traveled. In 1710 he met Johann David
Heinichen in Weissenfels, who at the time was working as a lawyer. With
Heinichen, he took lessons in general bass and also began studying
composition. When Heinichen went to Italy, Förster moved to Merseburg
where he continued his studies with the Kapellmeister and court organist
Georg Friedrich Kaufmann. Later, in 1717 he was employed as a chamber
musician in the Sachsen-Merseburg Hofkapelle where he played second
violin to Johann Gottlieb Graun, whom he later superseded as
Konzertmeister. In 1723, Förster traveled to Prague with his employer
for the coronation of Charles VII of Bohemia. In Prague, he made the
acquaintance of the Viennese court musicians Fux, Caldara, Conti and
Piani and also took part in a performance of Fux's Constanza e Fortezza
and performed in a concert as a harpsichord soloist and violinist for a
Dutch ambassador. He continued to serve at his post in Merseburg until
the Hofkapelle was dissolved in 1738 following the death of the Duke
Moritz Wilhelm. At the birthday of Frederick Anton, Prince of
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt he played as a soloist under the leadership of
Kapellmeister Johann Graf. Still without a fixed position, he applied
for the position of vice-kapellmeister in Rudolstadt which he received
on 3 May 1743 without a fixed salary. He died there two years later in
1745. Throughout his life, Förster maintained numerous contacts with
other musicians. Most notably, he is known to have subscribed to two of
Telemann's publications of the 1730s; Tafelmusik and the Paris quartets.
It was Telemann who published Förster's Sei Duetti, Op. 1 in Paris in
1737. Förster was proficient in the Italian style of composition, which
he learned from Heinichen and from his subsequent trips to Leipzig and
Dresden (1719), and then Prague (1723). This is evident in his wealth of
orchestral and chamber music, much of which was probably composed for
performance at the Merseburg court. During his time in Merseburg he was
also required to compose Italian cantatas, and purportedly also learned
Italian for this purpose. Although there are several Italian cantatas
listed in Breitkopf's thematic catalogue, few, if any, of these pieces
have survived.
Brazilian singer, composer, and conductor. In 1752, he joined the
Brotherhood of São José dos Homens Pardos, where he served as a tenor
until the end of his life, and also as a 'regente'
(conductor/choirmaster) starting in 1792. He assumed the same post at
the Church of Nossa Senhora das Mercês de Baixo from 1776 to 1782. He
was also an organist and worked for the Senado da Câmara of Vila Rica,
often performing as a tenor using the falsetto tradition of the time,
following the Spanish and Portuguese style, rather than the Italian
castrato tradition. As a composer, a significant portion of his musical
output has been lost. Among the extant works, a Salve Regina, mass
settings, a Ladainha (1789), the Ofício para os Funerais do Rei D. Pedro
III, and the Oratório ao Menino Deus Para a Noite de Natal.
Italian composer, flautist, and violinist. Little is known about his
early life or training, although he may have received education at one
of the Neapolitan conservatories. He first appears as a composer of
opera buffa in 1738, when his 'Lo secretista' was premiered successfully
in Naples. His opera 'La tavernola abentorosa' was censured in 1741 due
to its satirical portrayal of monastic life, even though it was
apparently written for a monastic audience. During this period he
attained a reputation as an excellent contrapuntist and chamber
musician. His main instrument was the violin, but he probably also
played the flute, due to the focus of his music on that instrument. In
addition to three operas, he wrote 25 duets for two flutes, concertos
for one and two flutes, a mandolin concerto, and a double concerto for
flute and violin. His style typifies the lyrical Neapolitan opera, with
clear tunes and stable formal structures (mostly ritornello or binary).
German-born Norwegian organist, composer and polymath. Born in a port
city on the eastern Baltic (today in Lithuania), he was trained in music
by his father, Heinrich Berlin, before finishing his studies in
Copenhagen with Andreas Berg. In 1737 he was appointed as city musician
in Trondheim, and three years later became organist at the cathedral as
well. His duties included playing at all the services as well as
assisting the cantor’s rehearsals of hymns and choral music at the Latin
school. In 1751 he assumed responsibility for the organist post at Vor
Frue church and would often engage his sons as deputies. He also found
time to continue the theoretical and pedagogical research that he had
embarked on in Copenhagen. Besides his work in music as a theorist,
composer, and instrument builder, he was also in charge of the city
waterworks and fire brigades, as well as writing treatises on astronomy
and meteorology. As a composer, his works include three symphonies and
nine concertos (six for harpsichord, and others for violin and bass
viol), as well as two cantatas and a host of smaller dance and
occasional works for the keyboard. His musical style tends toward the
North German Empfindsamkeit. His theoretical works include 'Musikalske
Elementer (1744), the first music text in Norwegian, and 'Anleitung zur
Tonometrie' (1767), an early work exploring the physics of the art form.
His son Johan Henrich Berlin (1741-1807) was also organist and
composer, mainly active in Trondheim.
French composer, organist and writer. Almost nothing is known about his
life before 1690. The only reliable information about him is given on
the title-page of his harpsichord book and in a few archival documents
at Perpignan. He is generally believed to have been a pupil of the
composer and organist Nicolas Lebègue. He served as the titular organist
of the church of Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet in Paris, likely holding
this prestigious position until around 1690. At some point then he moved
from Paris to the southern city of Perpignan where he became the
organist at the Cathédrale Saint-Jean-Baptiste in a post he held until
his death. The reason for his departure from a prominent Parisian post
for the provincial city of Perpignan is unknown, especially considering
the prestige of his previous position. His surviving music, though
limited in volume, is highly regarded for its systematic and
harmonically progressive nature. A single collection of his harpsichord
pieces survives in manuscript form, titled 'Livre des pièces de clavecin
de tous les tons naturels et transposéz'. This collection contains 255
pieces and is considered, alongside the works of François Couperin and
Jean-François Dandrieu, one of the most important contributions to
French Baroque harpsichord music. According to some scholars, it is the
largest collection of 17th-century French harpsichord music. The
collection is unique for European music of the late 17th century because
the pieces are systematically organized, exploring all major and minor
keys. His music is noted for its extreme chromaticism and striking
exploration of the expressive possibilities of harmonic variation.
Italian composer. He was born into a musical family, the eldest of seven
children of Rosario Bellini (1776-1840) and Agata Ferlito (1779-1842),
and niece of the organist and composer Vincenzo Tobia Bellini
(1744-1829). He received his first musical instruction from his father
and grandfather, and soon revealed a fine gift of melody. The Duke and
Duchess of San Martino e Montalbo took interest in him and in 1819
arranged to have him enter the Real Collegio di Musica di San Sebastiano
in Naples, where he studied harmony and accompaniment with Giovanni
Furno and counterpoint with Giacomo Tritto. He further studied the vocal
arts with Girolamo Crescentini and composition with Nicola Zingarelli.
Under their guidance, he made a detailed study of the works of
Pergolesi, Jommelli, Paisiello, and Cimarosa, as well as those of the
German classics. While still in school, he wrote several sinfonias, two
masses, and the cantata 'Ismene' (1824). His first opera, 'Adelson e
Salvini', was given at the Collegio in 1825; it was followed by the
premiere at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples of his second opera, 'Bianca e
Gernando' (1826). In 1827 he went to Milan, where he was commissioned
by the impresario Barbaja to write an opera seria for the famous Teatro
alla Scala; it was 'Il Pirata', which obtained fine success at its
premiere on 1827; it was also given in Vienna in 1828. It was followed
by another opera, 'La Straniera' (1829). He was then commissioned to
write a new opera for the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, on a Shakespearean
libretto; it was I Capuleti e i Montecchi; first performed on 1830, it
had a decisive success. Even more successful was his next opera, 'La
Sonnambula', which was premiered in Milan on 1831, with the celebrated
prima donna Giuditta Pasta as Amina. Pasta also appeared in the title
role of Bellini's most famous opera, 'Norma', first given at La Scala on
26 December 1831, which at its repeated productions established
Bellini's reputation as a young master of the Italian operatic bel
canto. He then had an opportunity to go to London and Paris, and it was
in Paris that he brought out his last opera, 'I Puritani' (1835), which
fully justified the expectations of his admirers. He was on his way to
fame and universal artistic recognition when he was stricken with a
fatal affliction of amebiasis, and died six weeks before his 34th
birthday. His remains were reverently removed to his native Catania in
1876. Bellini's music represents the Italian operatic school at its most
glorious melodiousness, truly reflected by the term 'bel canto'. In his
writing, the words, the rhythm, the melody, the harmony, and the
instrumental accompaniment unite in mutual perfection. The lyric flow
and dramatic expressiveness of his music provide a natural medium for
singers in the Italian language, with the result that his greatest
masterpieces, 'La Sonnambula' and 'Norma', remain in the active
repertoire of opera houses of the entire world, repeatedly performed by
touring Italian opera companies and by native forces everywhere.
