Pavel Josef Vejvanovský (1633-1693) (died at age 60)
Serenade in C Major
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Pavel Josef Vejvanovský was born in Moravia (currently the Czech Republic) in 1633 and was educated at the Jesuit University of Opava, where he also began composing. Prince-Bishop Karl Leichtenstein-Castelcorno hired musicians from all over Europe to play for his court and the churches. He then hired Vejvanovský, because of his musicianship and scholarship, to manage and direct this large and prestigious ensemble of musicians.
Like many composers of his day, Vejvanovský wrote a variety of genres including masses, dances, music for special occasions and feast days, and intimate sonatas and suites characterized by folk-like style and virtuosic brass elements. He also maintained the Prince-Bishop's music library and was the primary copyist of this vast collection of manuscripts from Czech, German, and Austrian collections. It is largely thanks to Vejvanovský that so much central-European music from the time is preserved in what is widely regarded as one of the most important collections of late 17th century music in Europe. Vejvanovský was one of the great musicians of his day on the trumpet and composed numerous virtuosic works for it. Under Vejvanovský’s direction, the Prince-Bishop’s ensemble saw its heyday. Other musicians at court included Philipp Jakob Rittler, whose music also will be presented here today. In the stately and noble opening movement (Andante) of the Serenade in C Major, the strings and brass offer alternating phrases and then join forces. The second movement (Grave) has a slower tempo and a more intimate feel. The third movement (Sarabanda) feels almost like a processional. The fourth movement (Presto) is lively, and the final movement (Conclusion) brings everything to a regal close. |
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Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1620–1680) (died at age 60)
Die Fechtschule (The Fencing School)
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Johann Heinrich Schmelzer was an Austrian composer, violinist, and cornettist. Almost nothing is known about his early years, including where he received his music education. He is thought to have arrived in Vienna during the 1630s, where he enjoyed a close relationship with Emperor Leopold I (a well-known patron of the arts and a composer himself). After Schmelzer was raised to a rank of nobility by the Emperor, he was allowed to add von Ehrenruef to his name (Johann Heinrich Schmelzer von Ehrenruef). He remained composer and musician at the Habsburg court for the rest of his life.
Schmelzer was one of the most important composers and violinists of the period and an important influence on other prominent composers. This was at a time when respected violinists and violin music composers were primarily Italians, which made it even more remarkable that he was once referred to as "the famous and nearly most distinguished violinist in all Europe." He made substantial contributions to the development of violin technique and promoted the use and development of sonata and suite forms in Austria and South Germany. He wrote instrumental music that included masses and other sacred works, a number of vocal works, including several operas and serenatas, and a large body of dance music used for dramatic purposes or for court dancing. In 1679, the Emperor appointed him to the rank of Kapellmeister (master of a court choir or orchestra). Just a few months later, he died of the plague. Die Fechtschule (The Fencing School) is a fine example of his dance music used for ballet. It is entertaining, colorful, and vivid, so much so that, if you close your eyes, you can imagine the swords clashing and see the graceful footwork of the opponents in the fifth movement (Fechtschule). The sixth and final movement is called the Bader Aria because both the winner and the loser of the sword fight end up at the bathhouse to recover from their exertions. |
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Alessandro Melani (1639-1703) (died at age 64)
Sonata à 5
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As were most of the respected composers of his day, Alessandro Melani was Italian. His brothers were also musical, one being a composer and the other a castrato singer. Along with Bernardo Pasquini and Alessandro Scarlatti, he was one of the leading composers active in Rome during the 17th century.
Born in Pistoia, Melani began singing at the Pistoia Cathedral at the age of 11, remaining there for ten years until he became maestro di cappella (master of the choir or orchestra) in Orvieto in 1663 and Ferrara in 1665. He returned to Pistoia in December 1666 to replace his brother as maestro di cappella of the cathedral in June 1667. The following October, he was appointed maestro di cappella of the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. He remained there until 1672 when he became the maestro at San Luigi dei Francesi, a position he held for 31 years. Both Pope Clement IX and Pope Innocent XI appreciated his work and commissioned pieces from him. He also enjoyed the patronage of Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and he was listed among the "celebrated professors of music protected by the Prince of Tuscany" in 1695. He is ranked among the second school of Roman opera composers, but he is chiefly remembered today for his large volume of church music. Sonata à 5 (sonata in five movements) was found in manuscript form at Uppsala, Sweden, probably copied in the 1680s or 1690s, although a shorter version for a single trumpet in an Oxford manuscript may go back to the middle of the 1600s. This piece is in an early style and is in C major rather than D major, the standard key for later Italian trumpet music. It is also unusual in that the violin parts are in scordatura (Italian for “mistuning”), a tuning of a string instrument different from the normal, standard tuning. It typically attempts to allow special effects or unusual chords or timbre, or to make certain passages easier to play. It is not clear whether that was part of Melani’s original conception, but it certainly creates an unusual and attractive sound. |
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Georg Muffat (1653-1704) (died at age 51)
Concerto No. 1 in D Minor (“Bona Nova,” Italian for “Good News”)
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Georg Muffat was born in Megève, Duchy of Savoy (now in France). While Muffat's father was Scottish, his mother was French, but he regarded himself as German. He studied in Paris between 1663 and 1669.
After leaving Paris, Muffat became an organist in Molsheim and Sélestat. Later, he studied law in Ingolstadt and afterwards settled in Vienna. He could not get an official appointment there, so he travelled to Prague in 1677, then to Salzburg, where he worked for the Archbishop for about ten years. In 1680, he traveled to Italy, where he studied the organ with Bernardo Pasquini; he also met Arcangelo Corelli, whose works he admired very much. From 1690 to his death, he was Kapellmeister to the Bishop Johann Phillipp of Passau. Muffat’s compositions were strongly influenced by both French, Italian, and German composers. He played an important role in the exchanges between European musical traditions, including having written two significant texts on music performance, technique, tempo, bowing, good ensemble playing, and musicianship. Though he was primarily a composer of instrumental works, he also wrote operas, none of which have survived. His son Gottlieb Muffat became organist to the Holy Roman Emperor and was himself a prominent composer of primarily keyboard music. Muffat’s Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, like all of his concertos, is essentially divided into two parts introduced by two movements in Italian style. The first of these is an introductory sonata with a slow section (Grave), proceeding to a faster tempo (Allegro), and sometimes followed by the slow tempo (Grave) again. These are followed by an opera-like Aria and then a dance (Giga in Italian or Gigue in French). It’s as though a primarily Italian mode of florid melody has been combined with a German passion for counterpoint and sophisticated harmony. Muffat said, “The notes, the strings, the sweet sounds of music give my life a sense of fulfilment, all the more because I mingle the French style with the German and Italian, without inciting a war; but rather holding up a mirror to the longed-for harmony and dear peace which these peoples so greatly desire.” |
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Philipp Jakob Rittler (1637-1690) (died at age 53)
Ciaccona à 7
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Rittler was a priest, a talented composer, and a formidable violinist who was active in Austria and Moravia in the second half of the 17th century. It is unclear exactly where Rittler was born, but he may have received his early training in Graz, where he was a priest and court chaplain to Prince Johann Seyfried von Eggenberg. He may have attended university at Opava in Moravia. It was in Moravia that he first made contact with Vejvanovský. In 1675, he became chaplain at the court of the Bishop of Olomouc, Karl Liechtenstein-Castelcorno, at Kromeriz. However, he really wanted a musical appointment, and after persistent canvassing and rejection, he finally received the title of honorary vicar and conductor of the choir at Wenceslas Cathedral in Olomouc, where he remained for the rest of his life.
Rittler composed music for virtuosos, and his music circulated throughout the Habsburg Empire. His work is divided into two periods: before 1675, he composed primarily instrumental music, and after this time he composed mainly music for the church. His instrumental pieces are distinguished by their inventive orchestration and demanding solo parts. Some pieces refer to aspects of daily life, including the tolling of the church bells and the sound of a village wind band in Graz. Ciaccona à 7 (Ciaccona in Italian; Chaconne in French; or Chacona in Spanish) is a type of musical composition popular in the Baroque era and was used as a vehicle for variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line, which offered a compositional outline for variation, decoration, and melodic invention. The slow then bouncy and pleasant dance in triple time was a popular social dance in France in the 17th and early 18th centuries. When it was first introduced, it was a quick dance characterized by suggestive movements. |
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Carlo Farina (1600-1639) (died at age 39)
Capriccio Stravagante
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Carlo Farina was an Italian composer, conductor, and violinist. He was born in Mantua and presumably received his first music lessons from his father, who was a violist at the court of the Gonzaga in that city. From 1626 to 1629, he worked as concertmaster in Dresden, where he worked with Heinrich Schütz, who interested him in composing. Farina was granted the title of Count of Reggio di Calabria by Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy. He was head of music for the Royal Court of the Prince of Messa from 1626-1630. From 1629 to 1631, he was a prominent member of the electoral court orchestra in Bonn, until he returned to Italy, where he worked in Parma and later in Lucca. In 1635 he held a position at the court of Carlo I Cybo-Malaspina, Prince of Massa, and between 1636 and 1637 in Gdańsk. From 1638, he lived in Vienna, where he died of the plague.
He is considered to be one of the earliest violin virtuosos, and he made many contributions to violin technique. In the work on our program today, Capriccio Stravagante, he explores the versatility of members of the string family (originally written for a violin, two violas, a cello-range instrument, and harpsichord) to mimic animals like dogs barking and cats fighting and other instruments such as trumpets, shawms (like an early oboe with double reed), organs, and guitars. See whether you can identify what instruments and Farina imitates. Prepare for some wonderful surprises. Farina’s other works are almost completely unknown. The Capriccio is the only example of such a work in the five volumes of music that he published in the 1620s. His remaining works consist of polyphonic dances in the French style and brilliant sonatas for violin. |
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Johann Joseph Fux (1660-1741) (died at age 81)
Serenade in C
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Johann Joseph Fux was an Austrian composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is most famous as the author of Gradus ad Parnassum, a treatise on counterpoint, which has become the single most influential book on the style of Renaissance polyphony, first developed by the composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Fux was born to a peasant family in Styria, Austria. Relatively little is known about his early life, but likely he went to nearby Graz for music lessons. In 1680, he was accepted at the Jesuit university there (also attended by Rittler), where his musical talent became apparent; and he was organist at St. Moritz until 1688. Sometime during this period, he must have made a trip to Italy, as evidenced by the strong influence of Corelli and Bolognese composers on his work of the time. By the 1690s, he was in Vienna and attracted the attention of Emperor Leopold I with some masses he composed. The emperor was so impressed by them that he hired him as court composer. Fux traveled again to Italy, studying in Rome in 1700. Fux served Leopold I until the Emperor’s death and two more Habsburg Emperors after that. He was famous as a composer throughout this period, but his fame declined as the Baroque style died. His music never regained favor. However, Gradus ad Parnassum doubtless influenced countless other composers. Haydn largely taught himself counterpoint by reading this work and recommended it to a young Beethoven. Mozart had a copy that he annotated. The Baroque age in music in Austria ended with Fux. A serenade (serenata in Italian) is a musical composition or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. It is typically a calm, light piece of music. The classic usage would be from a lover to his lady love through a window. It was considered an evening piece, one to be performed on a quiet and pleasant evening and typically was sung by one person accompanying himself on a portable instrument, most likely a guitar, lute, or other plucked instrument. The custom of serenading in this manner began in the Medieval era. Around 1700, the serenade was performed outdoors and could use instruments that would be too loud in a small room (e.g., trumpets, horns, and drums). A serenade is commonly of a multi-movement structure, ranging anywhere from four to as many as ten movements. They usually are constructed with a fast opening movement, followed by slow middle movements that alternate with fast ones, and close with a fast (presto or allegro) movement. There are strong influences from chamber music, and serenades can be subtly inserted into a chamber music program. The delightful Serenade in C by Fux is written for eight instruments. The usual French orchestra of strings and oboes is supplemented with three straight trumpets and drums to fine martial effect, and concludes with a movement that may be described as wild. Because of the length of this work, we will not perform the Serenade in its entirety. |
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