FARRENC, Louise (1804-1875) - 1re Symphonie (1841)

Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) - 1re Symphonie (do mineur), Op.32 (1841)

Performers: L'Orchestre De Bretagne; Stefan Sаndеrling (conductor)

Painting: Charles Johannot (1798-1825) - Allegorie auf die Confédération Rhenane oder besser auf das Lager von Boulogne und die beabsichtigte Invasion in England

Further info: Louise Farrenc (1804-1875) - Symphony No.3 (1847)

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(Jeanne) Louise Farrenc [née Dumont]

(Paris, 31 May 1804 - Paris, 15 September 1875)

French composer, pianist, teacher and scholar. She studied music with Antonín Reicha. In 1821 she married (Jacques Hippolyte) Aristide Farrenc (1794-1865), but was not entirely eclipsed by his acknowledged eminence. Her three symphonies had respectable performances: No.1 in Brussels (1845), No.2 in Paris (1846), and No.3 in Paris (1849); the last received an accolade in the prestigious, and definitely male-oriented, Gazette Musicale, which conceded that "she revealed, alone among her sex in musical Europe, genuine learning, united with grace and taste." She also wrote a piano concerto, 30 etudes in all major and minor keys for piano, 2 piano trios, cello sonata, 2 violin sonatas, 2 piano quintets, and a sextet and a nonet for winds and strings. One of her overtures (1840) was reviewed by Hector Berlioz, who remarked that it was orchestrated "with a talent rare among women." She was a brilliant pianist, and taught piano at the Paris Conservatory from 1842 until 1872, the only woman ever to hold a permanent position as an instrumentalist there in the 19th century. After the death of her husband in 1865, she assumed the editorship of his monumental collection 'Le Tresor des pianistes'. Her role in music history carries significance beyond that ordinarily accorded to competent minor composers. Having worked in a society whose women musicians attained prominence mainly as performers, and in a cultural environment which valued only theatre and salon music, she merits recognition as a pioneering scholar and a forerunner of the French musical renaissance of the 1870s. Her daughter Victorine Farrenc (1826-1859) was also a talented pianist whose promising career was cut short by an early death.

ISTVANFFY, Benedek (1733-1778) - Veni Sancte Spiritus

Benedek Istvánffy (1733-1778) - Offertorio („Veni Sancte Spiritus…”) Per la Domenica Di Pentecoste a 2 Soprani. Alto Tenore Basso. 2 Violini Alto Viola 2 Trombe Tympani Violone Con Organo

Performers: Czabán Angelika (soprano); Huszár Anita (mezzosoprano);

Sol Oriеns Choir and Orchestra; Deményi Sаrοlta (conductor)

Painting: Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) - Allégorie à la gloire de Louis XIV

Further info: Benedek Istvánffy (1733-1778) - Missa Sancta Dorothea

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Benedek (Benedetto) Istvánffy

(Szentmárton [now Pannonhalma], 1733 - Győr, 25 October 1778)

Hungarian composer. Son of József Istvánffy (1703-1771), organist and teacher of figural music at the Benedictine monastery of Szentmárton, he received the first instruction in music from his father. He soon obtaining the post of organist in the castle of Count Antal Széchényi, in a post he held at least until 1761. It was during that period when he got married to Katalin Kőmíves and later born his only daugther Franziska Istvánffy (1756-1816). In 1766 he became succentor at the cathedral in Győr and from 1773 to 1775 he was also responsible for leading the choir of the Jesuit church there, in a posts he held until his death. As a composer, he mainly wrote sacred works, among them, the 'Missa sanctificabis annum quinquagesimum vel Sanctae Dorotheae' (1774) and the 'Messa dedicata al patriarcha Santo Benedetto'. His music style was close to the composers which he was in touch during his lifespan, among them, Gregor Joseph Werner, Franz Josef Aumann, Joseph Krottendorfer and Christoph Sonnleithner. 

MOZART, Leopold (1719-1787) - Divertimento Militare (1760)

Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) - Divertimento Militare | cioe | Sinfonia | à | 2 Violini | Viola obl: | 2 Cornui

| 2 Clarini | 2 Schweggl Pfeiffen | Tromel | et | Basso (1760)

Performers: Münchener Kammerorchester; Hans Stadlmair (1929-2019, conductor)

Painting: Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780) - Reiterbildnis des königlichen Pagen Gintowt (1773)

Further info: Leopold Mozart (1719-1787) - Sinfonia D-Dur (c.1760)

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(Johann Georg) Leopold Mozart

(Augsburg, 14 November 1719 - Salzburg, 28 May 1787)

German composer and pedagogue. The son of a bookbinder, he received his earliest education from the Jesuits at the St. Salvator Gymnasium and Lyceum. While at the latter, he distinguished himself as an actor and singer, although he also progressed as a violinist and organist. As a polymath with many varied interests in the sciences and philosophy, he enrolled at Salzburg University, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1738. Although he was expelled the following year for lack of attendance in the natural sciences, he attached himself to the court of Count Johann Baptist of Thurn-Valsassina und Taxis as a violinist and valet, publishing his first works, a set of six church trio sonatas, as his Op. 1. In 1743 he was appointed second violinist at the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, later serving under his successors, Sigismund von Schrattenbach and Heironymous Colloredo. In 1758 he was appointed as vice Kapellmeister, a position he retained for the remainder of his life. Although the main emphasis in studies of his life have focused on the training of his son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), during which he was absent from his post for long periods of time as he toured with his two children throughout Europe, his own reputation as a teacher and composer was significant. 

The most important treatise was his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule of 1756, a work that was translated into many languages during his lifetime and is still in print. Much information on his personality can be gleaned from biographical studies of his son, but it can be said that, although a disciplinarian, he had many interests beyond music; he was well read, and in later life he was a kind, generous individual, even though his relationship with his son can be seen as problematic. As a composer, Mozart was prolific and a worthy model for his son in the variety of works that he wrote. These include six university plays/oratorios; seven Masses; six litanies; numerous Psalms, Sequences, hymns, and such; 21 Lieder; 69 symphonies; four serenades; two divertimentos; six partitas; 12 concertos; much miscellaneous dance music; six trio sonatas; nine trios; three keyboard sonatas; and many smaller works. Mozart’s style is in the vein of Empfindsamkeit, although he has a descriptive flair in his music. For example, he frequently includes local everyday life in his musical portrayals of sleigh rides, hunts, peasant weddings, and so forth. His daughter, Maria Anna (or Nannerl), was the recipient of a pedagogical work, the Notenbuch, which contains practical small pieces (and a number of very early works by her brother). Mozart’s music has been cataloged according to LMV or Eisen numbers. 

BACH, Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst (1759-1845) - Westphalens Freude (1791)

Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759-1845) - Westphalens Freude, ihren vielgeliebten König Friedrich Wilhelm bey sich zu sehen, eine Cantate in Musik gesetzt und in Minden vor Sr. Majestät dem Könige aufgeführt,

auch in einem Clavierauszug gebracht (1791)

Performers: Ingrid Schmithüsen (soprano); Regina Kabis (soprano); Veronika Winter (soprano); Claudia Schubert (alto); Howard Crook (tenor); Klaus Mertens (bass); Das Kleine Konzert; Hermann Max (conductor)

Painting: Heinrich Friedrich Füger (1751-1818) - Orpheus holt Eurydike aus der Unterwelt

Further info: Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach (1759-1845) - Sestetto concertante Es-Dur (c.1800)

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Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach

(Bückeburg, 24 May 1759 - Berlin, 25 December 1845)

German composer. Son of Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach (1732-1795) and grandson of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), he grew up at the court of Schaumberg-Lippe, where he was instructed by his father and Christian Friedrich Geyer, the local cantor. In 1782 he and his father paid a visit to his uncle, Johann Christian Bach, in London, where he stayed until 1784. Following travels through the Netherlands and France, he arrived in Minden, where he functioned as music director of the city (although there was no formal title or post). Following successful performances of cantatas for the Prussian royal family, he was appointed as Kapellmeister to the dowager queen Elisabeth Christine in 1789, further being keyboard tutor to the Prussian royal family of Friedrich Wilhelm III until 1811, when he was pensioned. He was still alive in 1843 and attended the unveiling of the Bach memorial in Leipzig. Like his father, he was fully versed in the styles of music of the later 18th century, though it is difficult to trace a stylistic development due to much of his music being lost. His sextet contains parts of considerable virtuosity for horns, and his symphonies show a good sense of thematic contrast. He is perhaps best noted, however, for his sense of humor. The piano piece for six hands, Das Dreyblatt, for example, requires a large male teacher seated between two smaller female pupils with his part being simultaneously the highest and lowest in the work; another example is the “concerto buffo” for bass voice, fortepiano, and toy instruments. His works include a Stabat mater, five secular cantatas, a ballet-pantomime (of 43 movements), three odes, 23 Lieder, seven symphonies, three piano concertos (and one for two pianos and orchestra), nine violin sonatas, six piano trios, seven larger chamber works for various instrumental combinations, 13 keyboard sonatas, and a host of small keyboard works.

DE PERNET, Charlotte Madelaine Louise (1766-1789) - Sonate en Do majeur

Charlotte Madelaine Louise de Pernet (1766-1789) - Sonate (III) en Do majeur

des 'Quatre Sonates pour le piano-forte ou le clavecin... composées et dédiées à elle-même après sa mort'

Performers: Barbara Bаіrd (harpsichord)

Painting: Lombard school (17th Century) - A portrait of a boy gifting a rose to a girl at the virginal

Further info: Quatre Sonates pour le piano-forte ou le clavecin

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Charlotte Madelaine Louise de Pernet [Madame de Villeblanche]

(Saint-Domingue, 1766 - Paris, 11 August 1789)

French composer. Daughter of Charles Hyacinthe de Pernet and Marie Louise Bouchaud de La Foresterie, her family came from Nantes before settled in Saint-Domingue where they owned a sugar cane and coffee plantations. After her mom's death, she was under the supervision of his cousin, and composer, Michel Paul Guy de Chabanon with whom she received music lessons. On 6 April 1782, she left the Ursuline convent where she was living in order to get marry René Armand Levasseur de Villeblanche. The couple settled in Paris but she died prematurely in 1789. One year later, her husband published postum the collection of 'Quatre Sonates pour le piano-forte ou le clavecin... composées et dédiées à elle-même après sa mort', written by her when she was young.