GNOCCHI, Pietro (1689-1775) - Messa in Fa maggiore

Pietro Gnocchi (1689-1775) - Messa in Fa maggiore

Performers: Coro Claudio Monteverdi; Ensemble Pian & Forte; Bruno Gini

Drawing: Giovanni Antonio Canal 'Canaletto' (1697-1768) - The Church of SS Domenico e Sisto, Rome

Further info: Pietro Gnocchi (1689-1775) - Messa in Re maggiore (1739)

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Pietro Gnocchi

(Alfianello, 27 February 1689 - Brescia, 9 December 1775)

Italian composer. Most of the information concerning Gnocchi's life derives from his contemporary Cristoni. As the second son of a middle-class family, he became a priest, devoting himself particularly to the study of music. After the death of his younger brother, he went to study in Venice. Before returning to Brescia, he travelled extensively, meeting famous musicians in Vienna and Munich as well as in Hungary, Bohemia and Saxony. He lived a withdrawn and ascetic life in Brescia, writing learned books on epigraphy, geography and ancient history, and earning a wide reputation as a scholar and master of languages. On 16 June 1723 he was appointed maestro di cappella of Brescia Cathedral and in 1733 he competed unsuccessfully for the post of organist there as well. In April 1762 he reapplied for the position and was successful, holding both jobs until his death. From about 1745 to 1750 he also worked at the Orfanelle della Pietà in Brescia. According to Cristoni, Prince Faustino Lechi of Brescia travelled to Bologna as a young man to study with Padre Martini, who expressed surprise that the prince had undertaken such a journey when Brescia possessed ‘un celebre Professore di Musica’ in the person of Gnocchi. Prince Lechi accepted Martini's advice and became Gnocchi's student, friend and patron. The Lechi family purchased Gnocchi's 25-volume history of ancient Greek colonies in the east, and possessed his treatise on Brescian memorial tablets as well as many of his compositions. Gnocchi wrote a great quantity of music, almost entirely sacred, which remains in manuscript. He planned to publish his 12-volume Salmi brevi, but no more was printed than the title-page and dedication. His interest in geography is reflected in some of the titles of his works: for example, Magnificat settings for six voices entitled ‘Il capo di buona speranza’ and ‘Il rio de la plata’, and masses for four voices ‘Europe’, ‘Asia’, ‘Africa’ and ‘America’. In style, Gnocchi favoured the Venetian technique of alternating choirs, treating them in a homophonic rather than imitative style: according to Guerrini, his compositions lack the animation of his Venetian contemporaries Benedetto Marcello and Lotti; the masses for eight-part double chorus are considered his best works.

REJCHA, Antonín (1770-1836) - Overture in D (c.1823)

Antonín Rejcha (1770-1836) - Overture in D (c.1823)

Performers: Prague Philharmonia; Kaspar Zehnder (conductor)

Painting: Eleonore Anne Steuben (attributed) (1788-1869) - Antonin Reicha

Further info: Antonín Rejcha (1770-1836)

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Antonín (Antoine-Joseph, Anton) Rejcha [Reicha]

(Prague, 26 February 1770 - Paris, 28 May 1836)

Czech composer, active in France and Austria. Nephew and pupil of Joseph Reicha (composer and violinist, leader and later Kapellmeister, of the Electoral orch. at Bonn). In 1785 the family moved to Bonn, where Reicha became a member of the Hofkapelle of Max Franz, Elector of Cologne, playing violin and second flute in the court orchestra under his uncle's direction. The young Beethoven entered the Hofkapelle as violist and organist in 1789 and Reicha befriended him. From about 1785 Reicha studied composition secretly, against his uncle's wishes, composing and conducting his first symphony in 1787 and entering the University of Bonn in 1789, where he studied and performed until 1794, when Bonn was attacked and captured by the French. He managed to escape to Hamburg. In 1799 he moved to Paris, hoping to achieve success as an opera composer but in 1801 he moved on to Vienna. Once there, he studied with Antonio Salieri and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger. Reicha's life and career in Vienna were interrupted by Napoleon's November 1805 occupation of the city by French troops. Then Reicha decided to move back to Paris. He was soon teaching composition privately, future prolific composer George Onslow being one of his pupils by 1808. This time three of his many operas were produced, but they all failed; yet his fame as theorist and teacher increased steadily, and by 1817 most of his pupils became professors at the Conservatoire de Paris. The following year, Reicha himself was appointed professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Conservatoire with the support of Louis XVIII. In 1818 he married Virginie Enaust, who bore him two daughters. Reicha stayed in Paris for the rest of his life. He became a naturalized citizen of his adopted country in 1829 and Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1835. That same year, he succeeded François-Adrien Boieldieu at the Académie française. Though a prolific composer, he was of particular importance as a theorist and teacher in early 19th-century Paris.

WESLEY, Samuel (1766-1837) - Symphony in E flat-major, No.5 (1784)

Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) - Symphony in E flat-major, No.5 (1784)

Performers: Milton Keynes Chamber Orchestra; Hilary Davan Wetton

Painting: Julius Caesar Ibbetson (1759-1817) - Skaters on the Serpentine in Hyde Park (1786)

Further info: Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) - Symphony No.6 (1802)

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Samuel Wesley

(Bristol, 24 February 1766 - London, 11 October 1837)

English composer and organist. The son of Charles Wesley (1707-1788) and brother of Charles Wesley II (1757-1834), he studied music under William Boyce in 1774. Samuel showed his musical talent early in life. As a boy, he was recognised as a child prodigy by the British musical establishment, along with his elder brother, Charles. He quickly mastered the violin, harpsichord and organ. By the age of eight, he was becoming known for his composing and improvisational skills. By 1779 he and his brother embarked upon a career giving subscription concerts. In 1784, Wesley converted to Catholicism, focusing his compositional efforts on writing sacred music. An accident in 1787 forced him into a quiet rural life at Ridge near St. Albans for two decades, but after 1808 he returned to become one of the leaders of the English musical establishment, including founding membership in the Royal Philharmonic Society. Wesley worked as a conductor as well as a music teacher and lecturer. He seems to have been one of the pioneers of the British organ recital: prior to his time, entertainment was not considered appropriate for a church building. Despite a reputation as the best improvisor on the organ in England, he never succeeded in obtaining an organist's post though he applied to the Foundling Hospital both in 1798 and 1813 and to St George's, Hanover Square in 1824. From 1815 onwards, he was beset by lack of money and depression. At one stage, he was reduced to asking Vincent Novello for copying work. His ability on the organ was so highly regarded that he was introduced to, and played for Felix Mendelssohn in September 1837, a month before Wesley's death. Mendelssohn gave a recital at Christ Church Newgate, during which Wesley said to his daughter Eliza, "This is transcendent playing! Do you think I dare venture after this?" It seems that Mendelssohn persuaded the old man, who was by now very frail, to play. Mendelssohn stood by his side while he was playing and complimented him, but Wesley replied "Ah, Sir! you have not heard me play; you should have heard me forty years ago". His music is characterized by good harmony and a more progressive sense of style. Works include five Masses, two services, 63 other sacred works, 38 anthems, 51 choruses, two oratorios, 97 hymns (57 of which were published in 1835 in The Psalmist), seven symphonies, 13 concertos, three quartets, nine trios, and 10 violin sonatas, as well as many smaller works.

VON THURN UND TAXIS, Karl Alexander (1770-1827) - Sinfonia C-Dur (1790)

Karl Alexander von Thurn und Taxis (1770-1827) - Sinfonia C-Dur (1790)

Performers: Böhmisches Sinfonieorchester Budweis; Hans Peter Wiesheu (leitung)

Painting: Michael Neher (1798-1876) - Das Rathaus in Regensburg (1841)

Further info: Musik aus der Reichstagszeit

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Karl (Carl) Alexander (Fürst) von Thurn und Taxis

(Regensburg, 22 February 1770 - Schloss Taxis bei Dischingen, 15 July 1827)

German aristocratic from a family of patrons of music. He was the fifth Prince of Thurn and Taxis, head of the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post, and Head of the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis from 13 November 1805 until his death on 15 July 1827. With the death of his father on 13 November 1805, he became nominal Generalpostmeister of the Imperial Reichspost until the resignation of Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor. Karl Alexander studied at the Universities of Strasbourg, Würzburg, and Mainz and then subsequently went on a European tour. In 1797, he was appointed successor to his ailing father's position as Prinzipalkommissar at the Perpetual Imperial Diet in Regensburg. Karl Alexander also worked for the Thurn and Taxis postal empire, operating during a decline due to the gradual loss of territory as a result of the Napoleonic Wars. He married Duchess Therese of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, fourth eldest child and third eldest daughter of Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and his wife Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, on 25 May 1789 in Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Karl Alexander and Therese had seven children. After the end of the Holy Roman Empire, the Thurn and Taxis postal system continued to survive as a private company. Since 1806, Karl Alexander headed a private postal company, the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post. It existed first as a feud of some of the Confederation of the Rhine members, such as Baden, Bavaria, and Württemberg. Bavaria, however, nationalized the postal system two years later. After the Congress of Vienna, Karl Alexander took over the Hessian and Thuringian postal services, as well as those in the Hanseatic League cities of Bremen, Hamburg, and Lübeck, and Schaffhausen. From 1820, the company began to prosper again, so Karl Alexander began to acquire large amounts of land holdings. He was also an occasional composer and wrote a sinfonia and keyboard music preserved in Regensburg.

AUFSCHNAITER, Benedikt Anton (1665-1742) - Missa Sancti Francisci (1712)

Benedikt Anton Aufschnaiter (1665-1742) - Missa Sancti Francisci (1712)

Performers: Neue Innsbrucker Hofkapelle; Detlef Bratschke (leitung)

Engraving: Georg Braun (1541-1622) & Franz Hogenberg (1539-1590) - Passau

Further info: Benedict Anton Aufschnaiter (1665-1742) - Serenade della Pace

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Benedict Anton Aufschnaiter [Aufschneider, Auffschnaidter]

(Kitzbühel, bap. 21 February 1665 - Passau, bur. 24 January 1742)

Austrian composer. His main appointment was in Passau, where he succeeded Georg Muffat as court Kapellmeister in 1705. He spent his early years in Vienna, where he may have been a pupil of Johannes Ebner (a member of the well-known family of organ players and son of Wolfgang Ebner) whom he declared his model. Apparently he came into contact with members of the Viennese nobility, and he may have been employed at a court. In a letter of 1724 to Prince-Bishop Lamberg, while complaining about the quality of the violinists in Passau, Aufschnaiter claimed to have had in Vienna, where he spent many years, ‘16–18 excellent musicians’ at his disposal. His op.1 (of which no copy is extant) was dedicated to Count Ferdinand Ernst von Trautmannsdorf, who may have been his employer. In 1695 his op.2 appeared in Nuremberg with a dedication to Archduke Joseph (later Emperor Joseph I). Under the title Concors discordia it contains six orchestral suites which show Italian concerto grosso structure but also an apparent French influence; they probably followed the example of Georg Muffat. All that is known of op.3 is that it was dedicated to Emperor Leopold I; no copy is extant. Op.4 consists of eight church sonatas published under the title Dulcis fidium harmonia symphoniis ecclesiasticis concinnata, which appeared in 1703 and were dedicated to the four early fathers of the church and the four evangelists. These are orchestral sonatas for two solo violins (which have complicated double stops), two violins ad libitum, viola, violone and organ; they may have been inspired by Heinrich Biber’s works. From 1705, when he became Kapellmeister at Passau, Aufschnaiter was active as a composer of church music (although he was not officially appointed cathedral Kapellmeister as Muffat had been). His opp.5 and 8 comprise vespers for four voices, strings and continuo instruments (1709, 1728), his op.6 five masses (1712) and his op.7 offertories with two solo violas (1719). In all his church works Aufschnaiter favours a more traditional style similar to the Roman cantata style; there are fewer demanding violin passages and double stops than in his earlier works, and he prefers to please with melodic charm. In his theoretical writings he emphasizes the difference between church, chamber and theatre music.