Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817)
- Concerto (II, en Re majeur) pour le Pianoforte, Op.26 (1788)
Performers: Christoph Lieske (piano); Kammerorchester Merck; Peter Lücker (conductor)
Further info: Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel (1750-1817) - Messe A-Dur
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German composer. His musical gift was evident at a young age; he had
rigorous musical training from the court organist A. Kette and from
Weismandel in Würzburg, where he entered the university in 1764. In 1768
he was tonsured and became organist in the collegiate chapter of
Neumünster, later rising to sub-deacon (1772), deacon (1773) and finally
priest (1774). His lifelong service to the church provided a
subsistence without noticeably compromising his musical career. As a
result of a performance at the Würzburg court, he was invited to perform
for the court at Mainz, noted for its orchestra and its active musical
life. His trip included a visit to Mannheim, where Mozart heard him
perform and condemned his excessive tempos (letter of 26 November 1777).
Early in 1778 Sterkel was called to Mainz to fill a position in the
Liebfrauen chapter and was named court chaplain as well. Late in 1779
Elector Friedrich Karl Joseph von Erthal sent him on an extended tour of
Italy. He seems nevertheless to have gained much in his mature style
from his extended exposure to Italian taste. He visited all the major
cities of Italy, frequently performing as a pianist. For the Naples
court he played duo sonatas and concertos with Lady Catherine Hamilton;
the queen commissioned his only opera, Il Farnace, performed in an
elaborate production with ballets at the S Carlo on 12 January 1782.
Travelling north again in May, he spent several weeks with Padre Martini
in Bologna, then was recalled to Mainz to fill a canonry of his
chapter. He visited Stein’s piano workshop in Augsburg en route and was
thereafter an advocate and sometimes agent for Stein’s instruments. In
Mainz before the end of the year, he plunged into a period of intense
music-making and composition. Sterkel’s well-known meeting with
Beethoven, as reported by Simrock and Wegeler, occurred early in 1791.
Sterkel played one of his own sonatas, accompanied by Andreas Romberg on
the violin.
Beethoven was reluctant to perform in turn, and was challenged to play
his own demanding Righini variations, which had recently been published;
he played those that he remembered and improvised additional ones,
successfully imitating throughout the distinctive light, graceful
performing style just displayed by Sterkel. When the Mainz court was
disrupted by the French invasion in October 1792, the director, Vincenzo
Righini, was called to Berlin. On the regaining of Mainz, he was named
Kapellmeister (1793) and charged with rebuilding the court music, but
the war caused further difficulties and the royal chapel was disbanded
in 1797. Except for a visit to Righini in Berlin, he spent the next
years in Würzburg. The court there fostered mainly sacred performances,
and he composed much church music, including several festival masses.
From about 1802 he was in Regensburg, where his unceasing efforts on
behalf of the musical life brought accolades; he established a choir
school to provide good vocalists and wrote most of his partsongs at that
time. After his Regensburg patron, Karl Theodor von Dalberg, was made
Grand Duke of Frankfurt, Sterkel followed him to Aschaffenburg in April
1810 and was appointed music director. Among other duties he was
responsible for theatrical productions, including performances of some
Mozart operas. When Aschaffenburg was annexed to Bavaria in 1814 the
court was dissolved. In 1815 he visited Munich, then returned to
Würzburg. Beethoven is said once to have called Sterkel the ‘royal
composer’, as his published dedications form a roster of the highest
members of the nobility. Sterkel was also an effective teacher, whose
pupils included the pianists C.P. Hoffmann, G.C. Zulehner, Catherina
Bauer and T. Horgniés, and the singers E. Eck, L. Barensfeld, N. Häckel,
J.C. Grünbaum and G. Weichselbaum. As a composer, his own compositional
style is close to Haydn. His works include an opera, four Masses, a Te
Deum, 125 Lieder, 15 part songs, eight concert arias, 26 symphonies, six
piano concertos, a piano quartet, a quintet, 46 trios, 31 violin
sonatas, six duos, 14 keyboard sonatas and 53 miscellaneous other pieces
for keyboard.
