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)
Further info: Józef Elsner (1769-1854) - Te Deum (1815)
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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.
