Johann Samuel Endler (1694-1762) - Sinfonia D-Dur
Performers: Ottο Sаuter (trumpet); Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Bremen; Simοn Wrіght
Further info: Johann Samuel Endler (1694-1762) - Sinfonia in F, No.15
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German composer. His father was organist and schoolmaster at Olbernhau.
No documents concerning Endler's schooling are known, but many
circumstances, including his connections to Christoph Graupner, suggest
that he attended the Thomasschule in Leipzig. He enrolled at the
university there in 1716. Archival documents regarding the Neukirche
show Endler, still a student, substituting there as organist and
director of church music in 1720. From 1721 to 1723 he directed Fasch's
collegium musicum. While Graupner was in Leipzig in connection with his
application for the post of Thomaskantor, he evidently offered Endler a
post at Darmstadt, and the latter was installed at the court in 1723 as
an alto singer and violinist. He was promoted to Konzertmeister before
1740 and then (before 1744) to vice-Kapellmeister under Graupner. After
Graupner's death in 1760 Endler succeeded to his position, which he held
until his own death two years later. Three early church cantatas and
one secular cantata (the political satire Der Raritätenmann, written in
1747 for the birthday celebration of Landgrave Ludwig VIII) survive;
another secular cantata, Der Nachtwächter (1746), has been lost.
Endler's remaining extant works are orchestral. Two-thirds of the
sinfonias were written for special festivities and first performed
between 1748 and 1761 at the landgrave's favourite hunting castle,
Kranichstein. Often richly orchestrated, they exploit skilfully the
court's especially large group of virtuoso brass and wind players. They
consist of a modern Allegro movement followed by a suite of up to six
further movements with dance, tempo and, occasionally, character titles.
Concertante elements are apparent, except in the first movements. The
overtures are similar, except that the first movement is in the form of a
French overture, tonal unity is maintained throughout the cycle and a
larger selection of dance movements is found. The autograph manuscripts
of Endler's compositions, together with his excellent copies of other
18th-century works, are in the Hessisische Landes- und
Hochschulbibliothek, Darmstadt.
