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 studied the violin with Carlo
Manzolini, and counterpoint with P.M. Minelli and Floriano Arresti. He
became a member of the Accademia Filarmonica, Bologna, in 1705, and from
1709 played the violin in the orchestra of S Petronio. His first set of
concertos, published in 1713, were first performed under the composer's
direction at the house of Count Orazio Bargellini. In 1721 Alberti was
chosen president (principe) of the Accademia Filarmonica, a post to
which he was re-elected in 1724, 1728, 1733, 1740 and 1746. A set of
violin sonatas, op.2 (1721), was followed by a further set of concertos,
collectively entitled ‘Sinfonie’, and issued by Le Cène in 1725 –
presumably without the composer's authorization as they are incorrectly
designated op.2. (This possibly inadvertent duplication of an opus
number led to the renumbering of the violin sonatas as op.3 when
published by Walsh shortly afterwards.) From 1726 until his death
Alberti was maestro di cappella of S Giovanni in Monte, Bologna, and
from 1734 he deputized for G.A. Perti as maestro di cappella of S
Domenico. The success enjoyed by Alberti's concertos, particularly in
England, doubtless owed much to their clarity of expression, tautness of
construction and moderate technical requirements. They were among the
first concertos by an Italian composer to show Vivaldi's direct
influence, which is seen most clearly in op.1 in the five examples with
an obbligato principal violin part. The distinction between ritornello
and episode in their outer movements is a notable feature. Similar
general qualities characterize the violin sonatas, which remain,
however, firmly in the post-Corellian mould.
German priest and composer. He was born in Obendorf am Neckar, studied
theology in Eichstätt and composition with Abbé Vogler in Mannheim.
Although he was ordained priest of the Benedictine monastery in
Peterhausen, he settled in Weingarten abbey where he composed, among
others, two extensive Vespers for the local monasteries.
German composer. He was the ninth child of Carl Wagner, a clerk in the
Leipzig police service. Richard’s father died six months after his
birth. Soon after, Richard’s mother started living with her late
husband’s friend named Ludwig Geyer. After a while, she and her family
moved to Geyer’s residence in Dresden. Richard lived here until he
turned 14. Geyer loved theater and this interest was shared by Richard
who took part in his performances. In 1820, Richard was enrolled at
Pastor Wetzel’s school near Dresden. Here, he received piano instruction
from a Latin teacher. After Geyer’s death in 1821, Richard was sent to a
boarding school of Dresdner Kreuzchor, which was paid for by Geyer’s
brother. When Richard turned nine, he was impressed by the Gothic
elements of Carl Weber’s opera Der Freischutz. During this time, Richard
entertained ambitions as a playwright. By 1827, the family went back to
Leipzig. His first lessons in harmony were taken between 1828 and 1831.
In January of 1828, he heard Beethoven’s 7th Symphony and later in
March, the same composer’s 9th Symphony. In 1831, Richard joined Leipzig
University. He became a member of the Saxon student fraternity. Richard
also took composition lessons from Thomaskantor Weinlig. In 1833,
Richard’s brother managed to get a position for him as a choir master at
a theatre in Wurzburg. When he turned 20 that same year, Richard
composed his first complete opera entitled Die Feen, which means The
Fairies. In 1834, he went back to Leipzig where he held a short
appointment as a musical director at the Magdeburg opera house. During
this time, he wrote Das Liebesverbot, or The Ban on Love. This
composition was based on Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. In 1840,
Richard completed Rienzi. With a lot of support from Giacomo Meyerbeer,
this was accepted for performance by the Dresden Court Theatre in 1842.
Richard lived in Dresden for the next six years.
During his time here, he was appointed the Royal Saxon Court-Conductor.
However, his involvement with left-wing politics terminated his stay in
Dresden. After leaving Dresden, Richard was unable to enter Germany for
the next 11 years due to great political instability. During this time,
he wrote Opera and Drama and then started developing his popular Ring
Cycle. This work combined literature, music, and visual elements in a
way that would anticipate the future of film. In 1843, Wagner completed
The Flying Dutchman, which was considered one of the greatest works of
the time. In 1845, Richard produced Tannhauser and then started working
on Lohengrin. In 1862, Richard returned to Germany. He was invited by
the king to settle in Bavaria. In 1869 and 1870, Richard’s first two
operas were presented in Munich. Richard died of a heart attack on
February 13, 1883. He was 69 years old and died while on vacation in
Venice. His body was shipped back to Bayreuth where he was buried. Until
his final years, Richard’s life was characterized by political exile,
poverty, turbulent love affairs and repeated flight from creditors. His
controversial music, drama and politics have attracted extensive comment
in the recent decade. The effect of his ideas can actually be traced in
many arts throughout 20th century. Their influence spread beyond
composition to philosophy, visual arts, theatre and literature. During
his lifetime, his work was deeply loved by many and influenced other
composers. He was able to revolutionize opera through his concept of
Gesamtkunstwerk, which translates to “total work of art.” His
compositions, and especially those of later years, are notable for their
complex textures, orchestration, rich harmonies and elaborate use of
leitmotifs. His musical language composed of extreme use of chromaticism
and shifting tonal centers greatly influenced the development of
classical music.
Austrian composer and music theorist. Fux's exact date of birth is
unknown. According to his death certificate he was 81 when he died. His
father, Andreas (c.1618-1708), married twice, and Johann Joseph may have
been his eldest child. Although a peasant, Andreas Fux was a parish
official attached to the church at St Marein and came into contact with a
number of musicians, among them the Graz organist J.H. Peintinger and
the Kantor Joseph Keller, who probably influenced his son's early
musical development. In 1680 Fux enrolled as a ‘grammatista’ at Graz
University, and in 1681 he entered the Jesuit Ferdinandeum as a student
of grammar and music. By August 1685 he had taken a position as organist
at St Moritz in Ingolstadt. Fux's movements between the beginning of
1689, when a new organist was appointed at St Moritz, and his marriage
in 1696 remain uncertain. Although Fux's employment as court composer in
Vienna dates officially from April 1698, he himself was ambiguous about
his length of service in this capacity. In various documents, he
implied that he began to work for the imperial household in 1695, or
even 1693. Together with the recently appointed composers Badia,
Giovanni Bononcini and Marc’Antonio Ziani, Fux effectively began to
introduce elements of late Baroque style into the sacred and secular
genres cultivated at court. After the death of Leopold I in 1705 and the
accession of his son Joseph I, Fux retained the office of court
composer. In the same year he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister at the
Stephansdom, where in 1712 he succeeded J.M. Zacher as first
Kapellmeister. He retained this office until the end of 1714, and during
the same period he also directed services at the Salvatorkirche. His
duties as deputy Kapellmeister at the Stephansdom centred on the music
performed before the statue of Our Lady of Pötsch, which the emperor had
had placed on the high altar of the cathedral in 1697. After the
unexpected death of Joseph I on 17 April 1711, the empress-regent
Eleonora dissolved the Hofmusikkapelle, and many of its personnel,
including Bononcini and Badia, were pensioned.
By October 1711 Fux had been appointed deputy Kapellmeister to the
court. In January 1715 Charles VI appointed Fux as Hofkapellmeister, a
position he held for the rest of his life. As a composer who served
three emperors, Fux undertook an especially taxing combination of
duties. His coronation opera, Costanza e Fortezza, nominally in
celebration of the Empress Elisabeth Christine's birthday but
effectively written to mark the coronation of Charles VI as King of
Bohemia, represents the peak of his public office. The publication of
the Gradus ad Parnassum in 1725 has been compared in importance with the
publication of Fischer von Erlach's Entwurf einer Historischen
Architektur (Vienna, 1721). Both works embody the concept of Habsburg
style selfconsciously, and persuasively relate their author's
achievements to a coherent past. On 8 June 1731 Fux's wife died, and
some seven months later the composer drew up his will (5 January 1732).
His activities at court notably decreased, with many of his
responsibilities being assigned to Caldara and others. He had complained
of serious illness at the close of the Gradus, and by the late 1720s
his rate of composition had sharply declined. His last testimonial is
dated 10 March 1740. On 13 February 1741 he developed a ‘raging fever’
and died. He was much mourned at court. The most outstanding of his many
students were Gottlieb Muffat, G.C. Wagenseil and J.D. Zelenka.
According to C.P.E. Bach, J.S. Bach placed him first among those
contemporary composers whom he most admired. Fux represents the
culmination of the Austro-Italian Baroque in music. His compositions
reflect the imperial and Catholic preoccupations of the Habsburg
monarchy no less than does the architecture of Fischer von Erlach or the
scenic designs of the Galli-Bibiena family. His Gradus ad Parnassum
(1725) has been the most influential composition treatise in European
music from the 18th century onwards.
French composer, violinist and administrator. His father, Jacques
Dauvergne, was a musician and probably his first teacher. Antoine began
his career as a violinist in Moulins and Clermont-Ferrand before moving
to Paris in the late 1730s. According to Pierre de Bernis, he studied
composition with Rameau (not with Leclair, as stated by La Laurencie and
Pincherle). In 1739 he became a violinist in the chambre du roi and
registered the privilege to publish his op.1, Sonates en trio (granted
in 1740). He joined the Opéra orchestra in 1744 and by 1752 had assumed
some of the conducting responsibilities. His first stage work, Les
amours de Tempé, a ballet in four acts, was presented at the Opéra in
1752 and received a favourable review in the Mercure de France.
Dauvergne’s most enduring operatic success, Les troqueurs, was staged
the following year and established a theatrical career which was to last
over 20 years. Dauvergne was named composer to the chambre du roi and
successor to François Rebel as master of the chambre du roi in 1755, and
surintendant of this establishment nine years later. In 1762 he became,
with Nicolas-René Joliveau and Gabriel Capperan, a co-director of the
Concert Spirituel. The repertory was modified (Mondonville having
resigned as director and removed all his manuscripts), new artists were
introduced to the orchestra and chorus, and Pierre Gaviniès was
appointed leader-conductor. Dauvergne’s sacred works were all written
for this organization, mostly in the earlier part of his 11-year term
there. His tenure passed without notable incident until administrative
and artistic misfortunes beset his final two years. In 1769 Dauvergne
became, with Joliveau, P.-M. Berton and J.-C. Trial, a director of the
Opéra.
Perhaps the most significant aspect of his first term as director of the
Opéra was his involvement in negotiations with Gluck (1772-74).
Dauvergne was unimpressed by Roullet’s proposal to bring Gluck and his
operas to Paris, so Gluck himself wrote to Dauvergne, enclosing the
first act of Iphigénie en Aulide as a sample. Although Dauvergne
admitted the novelty and potential influence of Gluck’s work, he
continued to discourage the composer by demanding five other operas.
Marie-Antoinette then intervened, and the première of Iphigénie at the
Opéra in 1774 was a triumph. Dauvergne’s 1773 arrangement of Destouches’
Callirhoé stimulated much adverse criticism of his knowledge of
contemporary taste. Nevertheless, he was named composer to the Opéra in
March 1776, and the following month resigned as director. In 1780 he
again became its director, but shortly thereafter numerous musicians
complained in writing of his perpetual nagging and inept management. He
was unable to rally support, and resigned in 1782, pleading for an
adequate pension. In 1783 and 1784 he was urged to assume the
directorship of the newly established Ecole Royale de Chant but declined
the offers because of the low salary. He became director of the Opéra
for the third time in 1785. Although his merit, honesty and wisdom were
cited in the appointment, another series of letters, critical of his
age, taste and management, made this term as unpleasant as the last. The
death of his second wife in 1787, the increasing political instability
(which inevitably caused financial and artistic difficulties) and his
diminished abilities forced him to retire in 1790. He died, nearly
forgotten, seven years later.
