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A Birth of Classical 2

A VF History of Music & Recording

Baroque

Group & Last Name Index to Full History:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Composers are listed chronologically. Tracks are listed alphabetically.

Find on Page = F3. Not on this page? See history tree below.

 

 

Alphabetical

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
 
Johann Christoph Bach    Johann Ludwig Bach    Johann Michael Bach    Johann Sebastian Bach    Franz Benda    John Blow    Dietrich Buxtehude
 
Francesca Caccini    Giulio Caccini    Giacomo Carissimi    Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský    Marc-Antoine Charpentier    Arcangelo Corelli    François Couperin    Louis Couperin
 
Girolamo Frescobaldi   Johann Jakob Froberger    Johann Joseph Fux
 
Giovanni Gabrieli    Michelagnolo Galilei    Carl Heinrich Graun    Johann Gottlieb Graun    Christoph Graupner
 
George Frideric Handel    Johann Adolph Hasse    Johann David Heinichen
 Reinhard Keiser    Johann Kuhnau
 
William Lawes    Giovanni Legrenzi    Antonio Lotti    Jean-Baptiste Lully
 
Francesco Onofrio Manfredini    Louis Marchand    Johann Mattheson   Claudio Monteverdi
 
Johann Pachelbel    Bernardo Pasquini    Ercole Pasquini     Jacopo Peri    Johann Georg Pisendel    Juan Hidalgo de Polanco    Niccolò Porpora    Michael Praetorius    Henry Purcell
 
Johann Joachim Quantz
 
Jean-Philippe Rameau    Johann Rosenmüller
 
Alessandro Scarlatti    Domenico Scarlatti    Alessandro Stradella
 
Georg Philipp Telemann    Giuseppe Torelli    František Tůma    Franz Tunder
 
Francesco Antonio Vallotti    Francesco Maria Veracini    Antonio Vivaldi
 
Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow    Jan Dismas Zelenka

 

Chronological

Featured on this page in order of the composer's birth date.

 

1551 Giulio Caccini
   
1556 Giovanni Gabrieli
   
1560 Ercole Pasquini
   
1561 Jacopo Peri
   
1567 Claudio Monteverdi
   
1571 Michael Praetorius
   
1575 Michelagnolo Galilei
   
1583 Girolamo Frescobaldi
   
1587 Francesca Caccini
   
1602 William Lawes
   
1605 Giacomo Carissimi
   
1614 Juan Hidalgo de Polanco     Franz Tunder
   
1616 Johann Jakob Froberger
   
1619 Johann Rosenmüller
   
1626 Louis Couperin    Giovanni Legrenzi
1632 Jean-Baptiste Lully
   
1637 Bernardo Pasquini
   
1638 Dietrich Buxtehude
   
1642 Johann Christoph Bach
   
1643 Marc-Antoine Charpentier    Alessandro Stradella
   
1648 Johann Michael Bach
   
1649 John Blow
   
1653 Arcangelo Corelli    Johann Pachelbel
   
1658 Giuseppe Torelli
   
1659 Henry Purcell
   
1660 Johann Joseph Fux    Johann Kuhnau    Alessandro Scarlatti
   
1663 Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow
   
1667 Antonio Lotti
   
1668 François Couperin
   
1669 Louis Marchand
   
1671 Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni
   
1674 Reinhard Keiser
   
1677 Johann Ludwig Bach
   
1678 Antonio Vivaldi
   
1671 Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni    Jan Dismas Zelenka
   
1681 Georg Philipp Telemann    Johann Mattheson
   
1683 Christoph Graupner    Johann David Heinichen    Jean-Philippe Rameau
1684 Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský    Francesco Onofrio Manfredini
   
1685 George Frideric Handel    Johann Sebastian Bach    Domenico Scarlatti
   
1686 Niccolò Porpora
   
1687 Johann Georg Pisendel
   
1690 Francesco Maria Veracini
   
1697 Johann Joachim Quantz    Francesco Antonio Vallotti
   
1699 Johann Adolph Hasse
   
1703 Johann Gottlieb Graun
   
1704 Carl Heinrich Graun    František Tůma
   
1709 Franz Benda

 

  The roots of Baroque reach back to late Renaissance composers, such as the development of monody by such as Giulio Caccini in association with the Florentine Camerata, a group of humanist intellectuals, about the cusp of the 16th century. The term "baroque" is derived of "barocco" meaning a pearl of irregular shape in Portuguese. This page is structured differently from the other YouTube histories. Due that specific dates are largely impossible with early classical music we keep the convention of indexing songs by alphabetical order only. That is, they are not in chronological order. Dates are noted by appendage and refer the year of publication if not composition. As for brackets (: [Part 1]), they indicate sections made by YouTube channels. If the composer you're seeking isn't on this page he may be in Renaissance or Classical. Several late Baroque composers are in Classical if they bridged at all. As "baroque" suggests, things begin to get a little complicated during that period in a literal number of ways, that is, per cataloguing systems [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], particularly thematic, as chronological is for a large part simply not possible [see also 1, 2]. Which brings us to opus numbers, the practice beginning circa 1600 perhaps as an alternative to incipits (the titling of songs by their first few words). As both publishers and composers themselves began to assign op numbers for various purposes, the practice led to such confusion that cataloguing systems became requisite to clarity some sort of sequence and establish universally agreeable standards. As for baroque composers, a good companion to this section is 'Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers' by David Mason Greene & Constance Green (Doubleday 1985): 1, 2. See also: baroque.org; operabaroque; 'A History of Baroque Music' by George Buelow (Indiana U Press 2004) *; 'Musical Authorship from Schütz to Bach' by Stephen Rose (Cambridge U Press 2019) *; 'Baroque Music' by Peter Walls (Routledge 2017) *. See also Stanford University's list of opera composers and Opera Glass. As the history of classical music is largely European until its later arrival to the United States in the 19th century, helpful in the use of this account may be chronological maps of Europe and its monarchs mentioned throughout [1, 2, 3, 4]. The earliest major European temporal power to which this history refers throughout is the Roman Catholic Church and the Papal States. Much of the history of Europe is likewise that of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) from the 9th to the 19th centuries [1, 2, 3; HMEA]. France was a major player alongside the Church in medieval music prior to the Renaissance and became the major European check to the HRE. Venice didn't acquire a lot of territory but became a major cultural center during the Renaissance alike Italy of which it became a part in 1866. Other European nations important to these histories include in alphabetical order Austria, England [GB UK: 1, 2], Germany, Poland [1, 2], Prussia [1, 2], Russia and Spain. Also much affecting European music was northern Europe or, Scandinavia [1, 2, 3], particularly as an adversarial check to Russia. Quick dates for monarchs and popes: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also America [1, 2].

 

 
  Born 8 Oct in 1551 in Italy, Giulio Caccini was the elder brother of sculptor, Giovanni Caccini, and father to Baroque composer, Francesca Caccini. The Baroque period [1, 2] is generally considered to commence in 1600 AD to stretch well beyond 100 years into 18th century. This history begins the Baroque with Giulio Caccini per his later publication of 'Le Nuove Musiche' ('The New Music') in 1602 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]. Containing 12 madrigals and 10 arias, the notable 'Le Nuove Musiche' presented some of the earliest examples of Baroque composition. Giulio had studied lute, viol and harp as a child in Rome. Some time during the sixties Grand Duke Francesco de' Medici brought him to Florence to study music there. Thought to have begun composing about 1570, by 1579 he was employed as a tenor vocalist at the Medici court. During Caccini's years with the Medici family he became involved with the Florentine Camerata [1, 2], a group of humanists, intellectuals, musicians and poets who oft met at the home of Count Giovanni de' Bardi. Another important member of that sphere was Caccini's older contemporary in Florence, Vincenzo Galilei, father to the astronomer, Galileo [*] the latter born when Caccini was 12 years old in 1564. Such the setting in which Caccini became a teacher in great demand during the eighties. Caccini spent his entire career in Florence with the exception of one brief trip to Rome as secretary for the Count in 1592 (following the death of Galilei in '91). Caccini then discovered that his own music was not disliked there, though Rome belonged to Palestrina at the time. Nor did Caccini's music spread throughout Europe as well as Palestrina's. Florence, however, was Caccini's ground w the Florentine Camerata his greater circle. Among the principle concerns of the Florentine Camerata were ancient Greek drama and music. Another member of that group was the slightly younger contemporary of Caccini's, Jacopo Peri, generally credited with having written the first opera, 'Dafne', in 1597. Three days after Peri premiered 'Euridice' on 6 October 1600 in Florence, Caccini's 'Il rapimento di Cefalo' ('The Abduction of Cephalus') was performed on 9 October 1600 before 3800 guests at the wedding of King Henri IV of France and Marie de' Medeci, that in Florence as well. Most of that opera is lost. Be as may, after publishing 'Le Nuove Musiche' mentioned above in July of 1602, Caccini staged his own version of 'Euridice' at the Pitti Palace in Florence on 5 December 1602. In 1614 he published 'Nuove Musiche e Nuova Maniera di Scriverle'[1, 2], another book of madrigals containing 36 songs. Caccini died on 10 Dec 1618. As indicated, among his main contributions to the wane of the Renaissance and early cusp of the Baroque [1, 2] was music theory, such as the development of monody in association with the Florentine Camerata exemplified in 'Le Nuove Musiche' below. Though Caccini died just as the Baroque was beginning to leaf, the period itself would extend another hundred years into the eighteenth century. References: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4. IA. Bibliography: 'Giulio Caccini' by Alfred Ehrichs (Druck Von Hesse & Becker 1908) *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Dates below refer to year of publication if not composition.

Giulio Caccini

  Amor ch'attendi


      1614

      Lute: Chitarra Barocca

      Soprano: Montserrat Figueras


  Ave Maria


      Istanbul State Opera Chamber Choir

      Kevork Tavityan


      More likely composed by Vladimir Vavilov c 1970

      Wrongly ascribed to Caccini


  Euridice

      1602   Opera

      Concerto Italiano

      Rinaldo Alessandrini

  Chi mi confort'ahime, chi piu consolami

      1600   Opera

      From: 'Il rapimento di Cefalo'


  Le Nuove Musiche: Amarilli, Mia Bella

      1602

      Therobo: Fred Jacobs

      Soprano: Johanette Zomer


  Le Nuove Musiche: Amor, Io Parto

      1602

      Guitar: Hopkinson Smith

      Soprano: Montserrat Figueras



 
  Born in Venice between 1554 and 1557, Giovanni Gabrieli continues the Venetian school into the late Venetian Renaissance and early Baroque. Though he wrote secular works sacred music was his main concern. He was nephew to composer, Andrea Gabrieli, who may or may not have helped raised him, though likely mentored him. Albeit unknown, being related to Andrea may have found him composing at least as a student by 1570 as a teenager. He later studied with Orlande de Lassus in Munich where he remained until about 1579. 1584 found Gabrieli in Venice where he became lead organist at Saint Mark's Basilica in 1585. He would remain at Saint Mark's the remainder of his life, as well as at the Church of Saint Roch where he was also principal organist. Among Gabrieli's more illustrious accomplishments was his volume of motets, 'Sacrae Symphoniae' [audio], published in 1597 and gaining him his hour of power throughout Europe. 'Sacra Symphonia' contained the first two sonatas to which this history arrives: the 'Sonata pian e forte' Ch. 175 [1, 2, 3] and 'Sonata octavi toni a 12' Ch. 184 [1, 2, 3]. It is thought the sonata [1, 2, 3, 4] was first called such in 1561 ("sonare" = Italian for "to sound") to distinguish an instrumental piece for lute from a cantata, that is, song. The sonata, however, wouldn't develop into a major vehicle for another eighty to hundred years via Baroque composers such as Arcangelo Correlli and Johann Kuhnau when two kinds of it began to appear: the sonata da chiesa (church sonata) and the sonata da camera (chamber sonata). Be as may, the sonata's first treatment in literature wasn't until 1710, appearing in Brossard's 'Dictionaire de Musique' that year. As for Gabrieli, about 1606, nine years after publishing 'Sacra Symphonia', he fell too ill to work, appointing deputies to execute what he couldn't. He died on 12 August 1612 due to a kidney stone. Among posthumous publications arrived 'Canzoni e Sonate' [*] in 1615 containing 'Sonata XVIII' [*]. Also published that year were ''Sonata XXI: Con Tre Violini' Ch. 214 [1, 2] and 'Sacrae Symphoniae Liber Secundus' [*]. References for Gabrieli: 1, 2. Compositions: 1, 2, 3,. Scores. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Bibliography. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Dates below refer to year of publication if not composition.

Giovanni Gabrieli 

  Deus qui beatum Marcum Motet à 10


      1597

      Ensemble Plus Ultra/Michael Noone

  In Ecclesiis a 14


      1608

      Taverner Consort, Choir & Players

     Andrew Parrott

  Magnificat a 14

      Green Mountain Project

     Jolle Greenleaf/Scott Metcalfe

  Magnificat a 33


      Gabrieli Players

  Sacra Symphonia  


      Sonata pian e forte   1597   Ch 175

      Bayerische Staatsoper/Zubin Metha


 
  Born circa 1560 in Ferrara, Italy, Ercole Pasquini  is first found in service to Giovanni Battista Aleotti [*], architect to the Duke of Ferrara [*], teaching his daughters music in the latter seventies. As dates vary between sources, data herein is based on a birthdate of circa 1570 for Raffaella Aleotti [1, 2] and circa 1574 for Vittoria Aleotti [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], making Pasquini perhaps 18 years old upon discovering four-year old Vittoria to be especially talented while teaching her older sister, Raffaella [1, 2]. Pasquini is thought to have been mentored by teacher alike to the Aleotti girls, Alessandro Milleville [*]. Pasquini may have remained in service to Aleotti throughout the eighties. In 1592 Pasquini acquired employment at the Benedictine church of Santa Maria in Verona. In 1593 Aleotti published two books of music by his daughters, a volume of motets by Rafaella and a book of madrigals by Vittoria. Rafaella's work, thought to be earliest known compositions by a nun to see print, included two motets by Pasquini along with a dedication to him and Milleville. That same year Pasquini published his poetic favola (fable) in five acts, 'I fidi amanti' ('The Faithful Lovers'), toward the marriage the next year of Don Carlo Gesualdo and his patroness, Eleonora d'Este [*]. Some time before 1597 he succeeded Luzzasco Luzzaschi as organist of the Accademia della Morte in Ferrara, after which he accepted an appointment as organist at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. He simultaneously held a similar position at Santo Spirito in Sassia in 1604. Pasquini is known to have been residing at a hospital for the mentally abnormal in 1605. In 1606 Pasquini was fired from his bench at St. Peter's for unclear cause, though likely due to a mental condition described in no greater detail then "crazy" in so many words. He was apparently rehired until an incident in May 1608 - leaving his organ to approach and speak to the Pope - got him dismissed for good. He was replaced by Alessandro Costantini from June through October, succeeded by Girolamo Frescobaldi after that [1605-08 *]. Biological record of Pasquini disappears henceforth, though he may have lived to as late as 1619. His last composition, 'Jesu decus angelicum', for four voices and organ, may or may not have been published posthumously in Fabio Constatini's 'Scelta di Motetti' in 1618 [*]. Ten toccatas, canzonas and Romanesche were copied posthumously into 'Il Libro di Fra Gioseffo da Ravenna' (I-RAc Ms 545) probably by Benedictine Giuseppe Rasino c 1630-40. Though not known when composed, they are of interest in the development of baroque alongside titles by such as Andrea Gabrieli and Frescobaldi. They are Pasquini's toccatas, canzonas and Romanesche which find him of interest in the development of baroque composition [*]. Pasquini left behind no great volume of works, some thirty pieces for keyboard and several for voice his major haul. References: 1, 2. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2; 'Romanesche' (variations/ 101-7); Toccata (2-3). Recordings of: 'Works for Harpsichord and Organ' by James Johnstone. Further reading: 1, 2, 3, 4. Biblio: documentation: '17th century keyboard music: sources central to the keyboard art of the Baroque' by Alexander Silbiger (Garland 1987-89); 'Ercole Pasquini, Toccate, Canzoni, Ricercari' ed by Paul Kenyon *; 'The First Volume in the Complete Works of Ercole Pasquini' by David Schulenberg *; 'Interpreting Historical Keyboard Music' by Andrew Woolley & John Kitchen (Routledge 2016) *. Further references for Rafaella and Vittoria Alleotti: 1, 2, 3.

Ercole Pasquini

  Ruggieri

 
     Organ: Simone Stella

  Toccata 1

      Organ: Amarilli Voltolina


 
  Born 20 August 1561 in Rome, Jacopo Peri was also known as Il Zazzerino for his bountiful locks. Though a minor composer, his place in the late Renaissance is established by being credited with writing the first opera, 'Dafne', composed in 1597 to premiere in 1598. Baroque and opera (musical drama) broke out of the gate at about the same time in Europe, both in Italy and both in Peri. Peri was about eleven when he left Rome for Florence to enter into the Servite Santissima Annunziata monastery to become a singer. Sometime afterward he studied w Cristofano Malvezzi [*], the latter who may have attended the first meeting of the humanist Florentine Camerata [1, 2] on 14 January 1573 at the home of Giovanni de' Bardi, Count of Vernio. "Humanism" didn't get coined as a term until the early 19th century by theologian, Friedrich Niethammer, in reference to education based on classical systems (: ancient Greece). Thus humanism had been about in one way or another, without an identity, since the 13th century. The importance of humanism which peered back to Greek philosophy and scholastics was one of the defining characteristics of the Renaissance into which latter period Peri had been born. The dome of St. Peter's Basilica [1, 2, 3, 4], designed by Michelangelo Buonarroti, et al, as of 1546 and completed in 1590, had for inspiration the dome of the Florence Cathedral [1, 2] designed after Hadrian's Roman Pantheon [1, 2, 3, 4] constructed from 118 to 125 AD. Hadrian's Pantheon (extant) was a redesign of General Agrippa's about 27 BC under Emperor Augustus, that dedicated to the pantheon (all or complete) of Greco-Roman gods. The building of the dome to the Florence Cathedral affected the incipit of the Renaissance in architecture insofar as its original design by Neri di Fioravanti in 1367 had sparked a rejection of the Gothic flying buttress in favor of returning to the classic Roman dome as free-standing architecture. The genius of Filippo Brunelleschi had won the dome's final design in 1418. With its completion in 1436 the Renaissance-to-come had fairly rang its first bell in Florence. The completion of St. Peter's in 1590 when Peri was about 29 years of age fairly marks the crowning culmination of the Renaissance as the calendar turned baroque. Peri had studied w Malvezzi sometime in the seventies during which time he sang at multiple churches. He was hired as an organist at the Badia Florentina, an abbey and church, in 1579. His most prestigious position arrived with the House of Medici come 1588. Both a singer and keyboard player for the Medicis, he also composed madrigals, which originated in Italy and were the dominant style of secular vocal music in Europe at Peri's time. He also wrote incidental music for plays, and intermedi (intermezzi), that is, intermissions between acts of plays that featured some or other sort of musical performance. During the nineties Peri began associating with Jacopo Corsi and the Florentine Camerata. In 1597 Peri, Corsi and poet, Ottavio Rinuccini, collaborated on the creation of 'Dafne' to premiere in 1598. Two years later Peri and Rinuccini premiered 'Euridice' [1, 2, 3] on 6 October 1600. 'Il Rapimento di Cefalo' [1, 2, 3] followed three days later on 9 October,  with music by Giulio Caccini and libretto by Gabriello Chiabrera, making that the third known opera after Peri's. Peri's significance to baroque was in his conservative monodies for solo voice accompanied by no more than basso continuo. Monteverdi took both note and monody to greater fame. Peri died in Florence on 12 August 1633. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio (samples vocal works). Discographies: 1, 2, 3. IA. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Dates below refer to year of publication if not composition.

Jacopo Peri

  Tu Dormi e L'Dolce Sonno


 
     Carter No.30

      Soprano: Ellen Hargis

  Euridice

      Opera   1600

      Mezzosoprano: Gloria Banditelli

  Hor che gli augelli


      Carter No.20

      Pub 1619

      Soprano: Ellen Hargis

  Uccidimi, dolore

      Carter No.32

      Soprano: Montserrat Figueras

  O Miei Giorni Fugaci

      Carter No.17

      Pub 1609


      Countertenor: Sean Lee   Piano: Chien-Lin Lu

  Se tu parti da me


      Carter No.12

      Pub 1609


      Soprano: Ellen Hargis



Birth of Classical Music: Jacobo Peri

Jacopo Peri

Source:
Alchetron
  The Baroque period is generally given as 1600 to perhaps 1750. Baptized on 15 May 1567 in Cremona, Italy, Claudio Monteverdi was already in his thirties when baroque composition and instrumentation became a branch of exploration in Italy, Monteverdi among its advance guard. As a younger contemporary to Giulio Caccini, Monteverdi was destined to take baroque to such a full and flush splendor that "early Baroque" and "Monteverdi" are nigh interchangeable. Monteverdi was a gamba (viol) player who studied at the University of Cremona, his first employment as a musician at the Cathedral of Cremona in the choir. Composing seriously as an adolescent, 'Sacrae cantiunculae' was his first published volume of songs in 1582, an assemblage of sacred motets and madrigals. In 1590 he was hired by Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, with whom he moved up from singer and violist to court composer. In 1607 Monteverdi composed 'L'Orfeo', among the earliest operas nine years after what is considered the first, Jacopo Peri's 'Dafne' having premiered in 1598. 1613 found Monteverdi composing as choir master at the basilica in San Marco. By 1632 Monteverdi had become a priest, sacred music to follow. Among his last works before his death on 29 Nov 1643 was the opera, 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' ('The Coronation of Poppea') in 1642. He'd written some eighteen operas, but only 'L'Orfeo', 'Lamento' (an aria from 'L'Arianna'), 'Il ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria' ('The Return of Ulysses') and 'L'incoronazione di Poppea' have survived. Monteverdi's operas aside, his most important works were his earlier books of madrigals, the fifth in 1605 ('Il quinto libro de madrigali a cinque voci') considered his most significant in the development of baroque, occasioning his discussion of counterpoint and prima pratica [*] versus seconda pratica [1, 2, 3] in his introduction. See also Monteverdi's contribution to the baroque relevant to basso continuo notation: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. References for Monteverdi: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Publications. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio samples: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Internet Archive. Further reading: second practice of counterpoint: Ilias Chrissochoidis; Ulrich Siegele. Bibliography: 'Letters of Claudio Monteverdi' by Denis Stevens (Cambridge U Press 1980); 'Seconda Pratica: A Background to Monteverdi's Madrigals' by Denis Arnold; various. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Claudio Monteverdi     

  Ch'io t'ami e t'ami più de la mia vita

     1605   From Madrigals: Book 5

      La Venexiana

  Ecco mormorar l’onde

      1590   From Madrigals: Book 2

      La Venexiana

  Il quarto libro dei madrigali

     1603   Madrigals: Book 4

       Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini

  Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria

      Opera

      Concerto Vocale

  Il sesto libro dei madrigali

       1614   Madrigals: Book 6

       Concerto Italiano/Rinaldo Alessandrini

  Lamento della Ninfa

      1638

      Conductor: Michel Corboz

  L'incoronazione di Poppea

      1642   Opera

      Teatro Comunale di Bologna

      Conductor: Ivor Bolton Director: Graham Vick

 L'Orfeo

     1607   Opera

       La Capella Reial de Catalunya Barcelona

       Director: Jordi Savall

  L'Orfeo

     1607   Opera

       Ensemble des Opernhauses Zürich

       Director: Nikolaus Harnoncour

  Vespro della Beata Vergine

      1610

        The Monteverdi Choir

        Conductor: Sir John Eliot Gardiner

 

Birth of Classical Music: Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi

Source: Wikipedia

Birth of Classical Music: Michael Praetorius

Michael Praetorius

Source: Classical Net
Born in 1571 in Creuzburg, Germany, Michael Praetorius was Michael Schultze, Schultheis or Schults of which Praetorius is a Latinization, Schulzte being "mayor" in German. The musical Renaissance into the wane of which Praetorius was born had been a considerably Catholic or secular affair, not so grand in Germany as it had been next door in France or over the Alps in Italy, nor even in England across the Channel which experienced some degree of isolation from the Continent during the Reformation as well. Relevantly, the Strait of Dover (English Channel) is only about 21 miles across and could be sailed on a good day in three or so hours. Though the gap between Dover and Calais in France was short enough to encourage both commerce and assault, the Channel nevertheless served as a natural moat when not contested. Howsoever, Praetorius studied divinity, languages, music and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt beginning in 1582 at age eleven. Music likely included composing. He also spent a period at the Lateinschule at Zerbst / Anhalt before graduating from Frankfurt in 1587, upon which he became organist at the Marienkirche in 1587. From thereon and throughout his twenties Praetorius led an itinerant life as an organ specialist, both performing as well as consulting (repair and such). He worked for numerous churches and aristocrats during the last 13 years of the 16th century, among them Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, possibly as early as 1592 [1595 per Zachary Alley]. His journeys from place to place had also made him a well-known composer by the turn of the century. He set 'Es ist ein Ros entsprungen' to music in 1609, an anonymous hymn first appearing in the 'Speyer Psalter' of 1599. Known in English as 'Lo, how a rose e'er blooming', that was a Lutheran Christmas carol, "Ros" (Rose) symbolizing the Virgin Mary. The importance of Mary in the liturgical music of the Catholic Church has been noted long since. But before getting too far ahead, Praetorius' hymn behooves us to note the Christmas carol [1, 2, 3, 4] which place is huge in the music of Western civilization. "Carol" is Anglo-French for "choraule" (choral song) in Latin. Though modern Christmas carols include not a few of secular variety that are famous, such as Irving Berlin's 'White Christmas' of 1942, the most throughout the centuries were in praise, of course, of Christ. One carol, 'Angel’s Hymn', is traced back to 129 AD when Roman Bishop, Telesphous, ordained the song to be sung at midnight on Christmas Eve [1, 2, 3, 4]. Its chorus, "Gloria in Excelsis Deo!," is thought to have passed its way through the centuries to be combined with verses from the French carol of unknown origin, 'Les Anges dans Nos Campagnes', to finally arrive in 1862 as 'Angels We Have Heard on High' [*] with lyrics translated by John Chadwick sung to the tune of 'Gloria in Excelsis Deo!' (not Bach's later cantata) [*]. Christmas and its observance with carols would be outlawed for a time in the 17th century both in Cromwell's England from 1644/47 to 1660 [1, 2] and in American New England from 1659 to 1681 [1, 2, 3]. Other than that the practice too resembled that by Roman Catholics, another reason for the ban was that the date of December 25 had been that of the pagan holiday, Saturnalia, not the actual birthdate of Jesus. There was also issue w people taking the day off from work. As for Praetorius, back a little earlier in 1602 he composed a collection of fourteen Magnificat settings while in Regensburg that saw later publishing in 1611 in a volume called 'Megalynodia Sionia' [1, 2, 3]. He was made Kapellmeister to Henry Julius (above) in 1604. From 1605 to 1610 he published his 9-part 'Musae Sioniae'. 'Musarum Sioniarum: motectae et psalmi latini' appeared in their midst in 1607 [1, 2]. This is thought to contain the first sacred motets, 52 of them, written in style baroque. In addition to the liturgical 'Megalynodia Sionia' in 1611 Praetorius published 'Missodia Sionia' [1, 2], 'Hymnodia Sionia' [1, 2] and 'Eulogodia Sionia' [1, 2] the same year. In 1612 he published 'Terpsichore' [1, 2, 3], a collection of 312 dances for four instruments consisting of bransle, courantes, voltes, ballets and gaillarde. Upon the death of Henry Julius in 1613 Praetorius remained with his successor, Frederick Ulrich. He was also employed by John George I, Elector of Saxony, in 1613. Though already familiar with the Venetian School, he there studied Venetian style which led to his accredited creation of the chorale concerto (not) that would lead to the later chorale cantatas of JS Bach. Other important composers of the chorale concerto were Praetorius' close contemporaries, Samuel Scheidt [*] and Johann Hermann Schein [*]. From 1615 to 1620 Pratorius published three volumes of 'Syntagma musicum' [1, 2, 3], a prose work addressing the reconstruction of musical instruments and their use in Lutheran liturgy. Come 'Polyhymnia Caduceatrix & Panegyrica' ('Hymns of Peace and Praise') in 1619 [1, 2]. Praetorius' published 'Puericinium' [1, 2] in 1621, a collection of 14 motet settings for multiple choirs. That may have been published before his death on his fiftieth birthday on 15 Feb of 1621. Praetorius had been a highly prolific composer, completing no less then twelve hundred chorale and song arrangements, his 312 instrumental dances in 'Terpischore' and numerous other works for the Lutheran church. Along the way he was a major figure in the introduction to Protestant Germany of the "new music" that was the baroque surfacing in Catholic Italy. References for Praetorius encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; David J. Susan. Publications: CPDL; 'Gesamtausgabe der Musikalischen Werke' IMSLP; michael-praetorius. Recordings: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4; reconstructions: 'Lutheran Mass for Christmas Morning' by the Gabrieli Consort & Players directed by Paul McCreesh *; 'Christmas Vespers' (Christmas Eve) by Apollo’s Fire directed by Jeannette Sorrell *; 'Ostermesse' (Easter Mass) by Weser Renaissance directed by Manfred Cordes: 1, 2. Audio samples: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2; 'Es ist ein Ros entsprungen' *. IA. Further reading: Linda Crampton. Biblio: 'The Cambridge History of Sixteenth-Century Music' by Fenlon & Wistreich (Cambridge U Press 2018) *; 'A History of Baroque Music' by George Buelow (Indiana U Press 2004) *; 'Musical Authorship from Schütz to Bach' Stephen Rose (Cambridge U Press 2019) *. Other profiles: 1, 2. References for Christmas music: 1, 2; carols: 1, 2; recordings: 'Christmas Music' by the Westminster Cathedral Choir w the Parley of Instruments directed by David Hill.

Michael Praetorius

  Consort: La Canarie


      Eduardo Antonello

  Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen

      1609

      Chanticleer

  Es Ist Ein Ros Entsprungen

       Pub 1599

      Frederica von Stade


  Hallelujah: Christ ist erstanden

      1619

      La Capella Ducale/Roland Wilson

  In dulci jubilo

      1619

      Gabrieli Consort & Players/Paul McCreesh


  Terpsichore: La Bouree


      Early Music Consort of London/David Munrow

  Terpsichore: Musarum


      1612

      Ricercar Consort

 
 
Born in Florence, Italy, on 18 Dec 1575, Michelagnolo Galilei learned to play lute as a child. His father was Vincenzo Galilei and his older brother was the astronomer, Galileo Galilei [*]. In 1593 he went to Poland, likely to play lute for the Radziwiłł family. Poland had had a Renaissance of its own, though a bit out of the way. Returning to Florence in 1599 to apply at the court of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, one assumes that composition or arrangements were among such as Galilei was concerned to present to Ferdinando, in vain, for he was back in Poland in 1600. In 1607 he obtained an honorable court position in Munich with Holy Roman Elector, Maximilian I of Bavaria [*]. Galilei remained in Munich, a principal cultural hot spot in Germany, the remainder of his life. It was 1620 when Galilei published his book of lute pieces, 'Il primo libro d'intavolatura di liuto' [*]. Galilei rose to no great prominence in greater Europe before dying in Munich 3 Jan 1631. Holding principle residencies in Poland and Munich, however, meant a time of regional prestige. Galilei had composed mostly dances like galliards, voltas (voltes), courantes and passamezzos. References: Wikipedia. Recordings: audio samples: 1, 2; discos: 1, 2, 3. Scores. HMR Project. All but three pieces below are toccatas. The others are corrantes. Both the toccata and corrante were of fairly recent origin during the late Renaissance. The toccata was composed mostly for keyboard or lute, usually having a quicker tempo and emphasizing virtuosic playing.

 Michelagnolo Galilei 


  Corrente 10

      Corrante

      Kirchmeyr Vienna

  Sonate in Do Minore: I


      Toccata

      Anthony Bailes


  Sonate in Do Minore: II

      Corrante

      Anthony Bailes

  Sonate in F Minor: IV


      Toccata

      Anthony Bailes


  Sonate in Si Bemolle Maggiore: II

      Corrante

      Anthony Bailes

  Toccata 2

      Steve M

  Toccata 3

      Steve M

 

 

 
  Born in Sep 1583 in Ferrara, Italy, Girolamo Frescobaldi is another composer requisite to any account of early Baroque such that, had it only five fingers, Frescobaldi would be one of the major. By the time Giulio Caccini published 'The New Music' in Florence in 1602 Frescobaldi was about nineteen years of age. Frescobaldi's father was a property owner whose son studied under Luzzasco Luzzaschi in Ferrara before leaving for Rome.Numerous sources have Frescobaldi admitted to the Accademia (Congregation) di St. Cecilia in 1604 where he may have sung and played organ. Such, however, is speculative. Frescobaldi's presence in Rome isn't confirmable until 1607 when he was hired on as an organist at Santa Maria. He was also employed by the Archbishop of Rhodes, with whom he made his only journeys beyond Italy, traveling to Flanders and Antwerp. In 1608 Frescobaldi succeeded Ercole Pasquini as organist at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, which position he held intermittently until his death. Between 1610 and 1613 Frescobaldi began working for Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini, keeping that position until 1631. In 1614 Frescobaldi had been hired by the Duke of Mantua. But he found the people "cold" and lasted only about five months, that leading to his publishing of 'Toccate e partite d'intavolatura' [*] the next year in Rome. 'Partita sopra l'aria della Romanesca' arrived in 1616 [1, 2]. Moving ahead into the twenties, Frescobaldi published his second volume [1, 2] of 'Toccate e partite d'intavolatura' in 1927. He is thought to have published 'Il primo libro delle Canzoni' [*] in Rome in 1928 before heading to Florence the same year to serve the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He published two important books of arias there in 1630. Rome again exerted its pull in 1634 when Pope Urban VIII offered him a position at St. Peters. He simultaneously found himself employed by Cardinal Francesco Barberini as well. In 1635 he published his 'Fiori musicali'. Frescobaldi died on 1 March 1643 only about ten months the same year before his major rival in Venice, Monteverdi. Frescobaldi wrote no operas as did Monteverdi, his a mastery of instrumental composition, for keyboard especially, authoring canzonas, motets, toccatas, partitas (simply instrumental tunes), capriccios (caprices, usually lively in free form and often virtuosic) and fantasias (improvisational at first but developing more rigid forms over the years). References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Recordings of: audio samples: 1, 2, 3 (MIDI files), 4; discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Publications by or about. Analysis: Frederick Hammond. IA. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. Bibliography: 'Frescobaldi Studies' Quadricentennial Frescobaldi Conference (1983 Duke U Press 1987) *.

Girolamo Frescobaldi

  Capricci I-XII


      Harpsichord: Sergio Vartolo

  I Fiori Musicali

      Schola Gregoriana/Dom Nicola M. Bellinazzo

  Partita sopra l'Aria di Follia


      Doubtfully by Frescobaldi

     Rosemary Thomas

  Toccate d'Intavolatura di Cimbalo

      Laura Alvini

  Toccata Prima


      Clavichord: Kevin Komisaruk


Birth of Classical Music: Girolamo Frescobaldi


Girolamo Frescobaldi

Source: Stella Sacra
  Born on 18 Sep 1587 in Florence, Francesca Caccini, daughter of composer, Giulio Caccini, finds the Baroque period coming into full bloom. Caccini's first known performance as a singer was in 1600 at the wedding of Henry IV of France and Maria de Medici. She is thought to have begun composing shortly thereafter, a piece called 'La Stiava', written for Carnival in 1607, among her earliest works. By the time she published 'La Tancia' in 1613, Caccini was in her element, working for the Medici's as a singer, teacher and composer much of scores for stage (opera, she a young woman while opera was being developed [with assistance from her father, Giulio Caccini] and beginning to catch). She followed 'La Tancia' with 'Il Passatempo' in 1614, 'Il primo libro delle musiche' in 1618 and 'La Fiera' in 1619. 'La liberazione di Ruggiero' was published in 1625, written for Prince Ladislaus Sigismondo visiting from Poland. Caccini is documented to have left the Medicis (permanently) in 1641, at which point she disappears from history, perhaps dying that year. Few works by Caccini have survived. Though her operas hadn't the magnificence of Monteverdi's, she otherwise left behind an admirable anthology of vocal pieces, especially solos and duets. What scores of hers survive indicate she was notably more the perfectionist with ink and paper than the average composer. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Audio samples: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Discos: 1, 2, 3. IA. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bibliography: 'Francesca Caccini at the Medici Court' by Suzanne G. Cusick (U of Chicago Press 2009).

Francesca Caccini 

 Aure Volanti

    1625   Opera

     From 'La liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina'

     Lenoir-Rhyne Youth Chorus/Florence Jowers

 Che t'ho fatt’io

    Mezzosoprano: Natalia Kawalek

    Cello: Tilly Cernitori   Laute: Ulrike Flörré

 Ciaccona

    Violino: Andrea Benucci

 Dov'io Credea

     Clavicembalo: Alfonso Fedi

     Soprano: Elena Cecchi Fedi

     Viola da gamba: Francesco Tomei

 Io mi distruggo, et ardo

     Soprano: Shannon Mercer

 Lasciatemi Qui Solo

   Soprano: Maria Cristina Kiehr

 Nube Gentil

    1618

    Soprano: Henriette Feith

     Theorbo: David van Ooijen

 O Che Nuovo Stupor

     1618

     Soprano: Henriette Feith

      Theorbo: David van Ooijen

 

 
Birth of Classical Music: William Lawes

William Lawes

Source:  Wikipedia
Born in April 1602 in Salisbury, England, William Lawes was younger brother by five or six years to composer, Henry Lawes. Their father, Thomas Lawes, was a vicar choral (professional singer) at Salisbury Cathedral. Among composers on this page William owns the distinction, unlike Henry, of not having published any of his works. Both were tutored by John Cooper (aka Giovanni Coprario) who acquainted them w early Italian baroque method. Though the brothers employed baroque method such as basso continuo in their music neither are known so much for baroque as for their areas of expertise in general. Albeit both wrote vocal works Henry is especially noted for those, particularly his songs. Though both wrote instrumentals William is especially noted for those, particularly his consorts. The spiritual climate into which the Lawes brothers were born was Puritan, that is, Anglican with purification from Roman Catholicism its purpose, one good reason for 102 such Puritans, also called Pilgrims, to distance themselves from Europe by boarding the 'Mayflower' to arrive at the Colony of Virginia [*] in 1620. There had been prior aborted attempts to colonize America, and Virginia had been chartered and settled earlier in 1606 and 1607, but they are the passengers of the 'Mayflower' credited with making Virginia America's first permanent colony. The spiritual climate back in Europe on the continent was such that the Dominican friar, Bruno [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], had been executed in Rome only two years before Lawes' birth for believing in the possibility of multiple worlds in an infinite cosmos. It didn't require the Church a mathematical grasp of infinity, concerning which there is no center, to recognize that the Church wasn't the center of Bruno's reality, though it became such soon upon his conviction of heresy, thereupon stripped and hung upside-down on a stake for burning alive, his ashes tossed into the Tiber. There were multiple realities far and wide on Lawes' own globe during his era. Egypt was approaching a millennium of Muslim Ottoman rule by the time Lawes was born, not many there for whom Rome was at the center of things. The Church had been troubled anywhere and everywhere constantly since the emergence of Protestantism via Luther [*] in 1517. The Polish–Swedish War of 1600-1611 [*] was fought during Lawes' childhood. Poles and Swedes once allied against Russian threat now had the concerns of two opposing faiths mixed into their helter-skelter on Earth. Lawes, too, would arrive to a reality centered in war. Lawes found early patronage in Edward Seymour, 1st Earl of Hertford, who found a teacher for him in composer, John Cooper (aka Coprario) circa 1619, composition no doubt among his studies. In 1635 he was appointed a lute player and singer to the court of King Charles I. Lawes remained with Charles until his, Lawes', early death in 1645. Throughout the history of music in Europe, for a musician to acquire some position at some royal court was to arrive to the peak, there nowhere higher to go. Except in Lawes' case, whose chariot swung low during the English Civil War between Charles, et al, and Parliament from 1642 to 1651, monarchial England the loser following Charles' death in '49. Having joined the Royalist cause as among the king's Guard, Lawes was taken home  during the Battle of Rowton Heath, shot to death on 24 September 1645. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio samples: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'Harp Consorts' w Maxine Eilander (harp); 'Consorts to the Organ' by Phantasm; 'The Royal Consort' by Phantasm. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. Bibliography: 'William Lawes (1602-1645): Essays on His Life, Times and Work' by Andrew Ashbee (Routledge 2019) *; 'Music in the Baroque Era - From Monteverdi to Bach' Manfred Bukofzer (Read Books 2013) *; Review by Arne Spohr of 'The Consort Music of William Lawes 1602-1645' by John Cunningham 1, 2; The Cyclopaedia: Vol 20; 'Willburt Lawes and His String Music' by Rupert Erlebach *; 'The Keyboard in Baroque Music' ed by Christopher Hogwood *. The list below features a couple airs [1, 2], fantasias and pavans. The air (aria, ayre) was a relatively new development which enjoyed a brief period of popularity for a few decades while Lawes was young. (John Dowland had published 'First Booke of Songs or Ayres' in 1597.) 'Consort Set a 6 in G minor' is an air. The fantasia had been around for three quarters of a century by the time Lawes was born. It was originally composed to accommodate improvisation, a fantasy what one called a piece that had no particular form, but developed various forms over time. The pavan (pavane) was a stately slow-tempo dance, such as 'Consort Set a 5 in F' below, which had originated in Venice about a decade before the fantasy.

William Lawes

 Consort Set a 5 in F

    Phantasm

    Organ: Daniel Hyde

 Consort Set a 6 in B flat major

    Jordi Savall

 Consort Set a 6 in G minor

    Phantasm

    Organ: Daniel Hyde

 Divisions on a Pavan in G Minor

     Rose Consort of Viols

     Organ: Timothy Roberts

 Fantasia for 6 viols

    The Orpheon Consort

 Gather ye rosebuds

    Soprano: Suzie LeBlanc

 Harp Consort n 8

    Il Caleidoscopio


 
  Baptized in Marino on 18 April 1605, Giacomo Carissimi had a barrel maker for a father. Alexander Carpenter at AllMusic has him surfacing from an obscure youth at age eighteen in the choir at the Tivoli Cathedral, becoming an organist at age nineteen. The New World Encyclopedia has him in Assisi at age twenty where he became a chapel master. One could think he was composing by at least that time. He later assumed the same position at the church of Sant'Apollinare in Rome in 1628 and remained there the rest of his life. He became a priest in 1637. Among Carissimi's contributions to the Baroque period was the development of the oratorio, 'Jephte' of 1648 regarded his finest [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The oratorio is basically an opera without theatrical drama, for the ear rather than eye. An oratorio could be fashioned into an opera, or if you removed theatre from opera you could get an oratorio. Its subject matter was sacred as compared to opera which concern was usually historical or mythological due its origins in association with humanist intelligentsia (Greek monody). The oratorio probably became common as a term due that they were early performed at the Oratory of Santissimo Crocifisso in Rome. Like opera, oratorios were intended to be grand with soloists backed by powerful choirs and numerous instruments grouped in orchestras (Latin "orchestra" from Greek). In addition to oratorios Carissimi wrote cantatas and his parody mass included in MS 1177 in 1672, 'Sciolto Havean Dall'Alte Sponde' [1, 2]. A parody mass can be a secular caricature of a mass, but it was originally a piece of nonliturgical sacred music made to imitate the liturgical mass. The parody mass was nothing new. Palestrina had composed about fifty of them in the 16th century. Carissimi's 'Missa Sciolto Havean' was a parody of his earlier cantata of no later than 1653, 'Sciolto Havean Dall'Alte Sponde'. Carissimi died in Rome on 12 Jan 1674. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Publications by or about *. Scores: 1, 2. Audio samples: 1, 2. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. IA. Bibliography: 'The Cantatas of Carissimi' by Gloria Rose (Yale University 1959) *; 'Carissimi's Tonal System' by Beverly Stein ('The Journal of Musicology' 2002) *. Other profiles 1, 2. All works below are oratorios.

Giacomo Carissimi 

 Jephte

    1648

     Cantores Musicæ Antiquæ

     Florida State University

 Jonas

    Coro della Radio Svizzera

     Sonatori della Gioiosa Marca

     Diego Fasolis

 Judicium Salomonis [Part 1]

     Ensemble San Felice/Federico Bardazzi

 Judicium Salomonis [Part 2]

      Ensemble San Felice/Federico Bardazz

 Judicium Salomonis [Part 3]

     Ensemble San Felice/Federico Bardazzi

 


 
Birth of Classical Music: St. Mary's Church

St. Mary's Lutheran Church

Lubeck, Germany

Source: Memrise
Born in 1614 in Lübeck, Franz Tunder witnesses the early development of baroque in Germany following Praetorius two generations earlier. Baroque was yet largely an Italian phenomenon during Tunder's time, but what the Roman Church had been to the Renaissance the Lutheran Church would be to high Baroque of JS Bach. Bach, however, wasn't born until 1685, eighteen years after Tunder's death. Tunder had became court organist to Duke Frederick III of Holstein-Gottorp [*] in 1632, age eighteen. He had studied a few years earlier in Italy. in 1641 he became head organist at St. Mary's Lutheran church in Lübeck. In 1647 his position was enlarged to administrator and treasurer as well. Tunder worked in that capacity for the next twenty years until his death on 5 Nov 1667. Although Tunder was and is considered among the more important composers of his time little of his work has survived, lost like the original St. Mary's Catholic Church constructed between 1250 and 1350 AD, become Lutheran during the early Reformation by 1532 with Hermann Bonnus its first pastor. To the right is its interior rebuilt upon nigh obliteration during World War II. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions. Scores. Audio samples: 1, 2. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Internet Archive. Further reading: Georg Predota. Bibliogrqphy: 'Franz Tunder: 1614-1667' by G.B. Sharp ('The Musical Times' 1967).

Franz Tunder

 An Wasserflüßen Babylon

    Teares of the Muses

 Christ Lag in Todesbanden

    Organ: Paul Fritts

 Hosianna dem Sohne David

    Crescendo Chorus

    Crescendo Period Instrument Orchestra

 In dich hab ich gehoffet, Herr

    Organ: Pieter Dirksen

 Jesus Christus, unser Heiland

    Organ: Marcus Hufnagl

 O Jesu Dulcissime

    Barokensemble Consort of Voices

 Praeludium in G minor

    Organ: Friedhelm Flamme


Birth of Classical Music: Giacomo Carissimi

St. Mary's Lutheran Church

Lubeck, Germany
  Baptized on 19 May 1616 in Stuttgart, Johann Jakob Froberger witnesses baroque in Germany a couple generations after its emergence in Italy about 1600, he an important link from its prominence in Italy toward its future dominance in Germany. By the time Froberger was born early medieval music had reached to a peak in France with the building of Notre Dame circa 1200 (yet in construction). With the intentional study of music among Notre Dame's purposes, being associated with the University of Paris, composing quickly became a sophisticated craft. Troubadours, meanwhile, were traveling about from one estate to the next throughout France. Seeking patronage from royal courts for secular music led to the Burgundian school followed by the Franco-Flemish school in the Low Countries, of which the Renaissance burgeoned in combination with humanism, the latter a scholastic revival of matters classical, that is, largely ancient Greece. As the Renaissance arrived to its greatest muscle in the Roman and Venetian schools Germany arrived to its own cultural Renaissance despite the mindset of Luther's Reformation more concerned with matters Biblical than Greek. Though far away Poland had had its Renaissance as well, Russia even more distant remained largely an observer of matters European. As the term implies, the Renaissance was a bloom of many parts both sacred and secular. Another of its more obvious divisions had been wrought by the Reformation, making it a Catholic Renaissance in southern Europe stretching from Spain to Venice, and a Protestant Renaissance in embattled (contrapuntal, say) northern Europe. Catholics and Protestants, however, weren't the only in the land with an interest in temporal power. Nigh anywhere there was an aristocrat or royal court there was trouble as well, all from counts to dukes to emperors preferring to wield a relatively absolute power on Earth. Among the endless omnipresent arguments between monarchical powers was the Thirty Years War [1, 2, 3, 4], among the deadliest in European history which began on 23 May 1618, four days after Froberger's second birthday. Stuttgart, where he was born, was situated midway between two of that war's main belligerents, France and Bavaria, that is, France and its allies, principally Dutch and Swedish, versus the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire that included, especially, Bavaria and Spain, and was allied with the Roman papacy. Stuttgart was located in present day Baden-Württemberg (belonging to Habsburg Spain) with France its western border and Bavaria (belonging to Habsburg Austria) its eastern. As the Thirty Years War didn't cease until 25 May of 1648 Froberger would have ineluctably experienced, been witness to and begun composing in the midst of the countless miseries of that contest. From three to more than eleven million were killed during the three decades of that struggle. The population in Germany was reduced by 25 to 40 percent. During the more peaceful year of Froberger's birth in 1616 his father was kapellmeister to the Württemberg court and had a library which included above a hundred books of music. To own a book at Froberger's time in Germany was to have money. Gutenberg had invented the printing press about 1450 but a book was yet an expensive thing to buy, something beyond the means of the common Joe. Though probably safe to say that Froberger didn't have to learn how to drive a wagon as a child, what with thirty years worth of corpses to cart around, his education as a youth is otherwise speculative. Little is certain concerning Froberger until 1637, when he and his brother, Isaac, sold their father's library upon the latter's death of plague which took their mother and a sister as well. A more positive event arrived that year upon obtaining employmant as an organist in Vienna. Granted a stipend to study under Frescobaldi in Rome, Froberger spent the next three years in Italy before returning to Vienna in 1641, both a Catholic and composer now if not before. He there worked as an organist and chamber musician before returning to Italy in 1645 to study music under the Jesuit polymath, Athanasius Kircher, in Rome. He returned to Vienna in 1649, there to present Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand III, with his completed 'Libro Secundo' [IMSLP], a volume of 24 pieces divided into four chapters containing six each of toccatas, suites, fantasias and canzonas. But the death of Empress Maria Leopoldine, she a brief wife at age seventeen, left a climate on things such that Froberger left Vienna to spend the next few years traveling Europe from Germany to the Low Countries to London. He may have been employed, as well, by Ferdinand III as a diplomat or spy. 1652 found him in Paris where he likely became acquainted with composer, Louis Couperin, before returning to Vienna yet again in 1653. He there completed 'Libro Quarto' [IMSLP] in 1656. Like 'Libro Secundo', 'Quatro' contained 24 pieces divided into four chapters, this time containing six each of toccatas, suites, ricercars and capriccios. Froberger transitioned to Leopold I upon Ferdinand's death in 1657. He that year dedicated 'Libro di capricci e ricercate' to Leopold. Nevertheless, political complexity at Leopold's court found Froberger released from service the same year. Though known to have made a brief trip to Mainz in 1665 he spent the majority of his last ten years in Château d’Héricourt in the employ of the dowager Duchess of Montbéliard. He died of apoplexy on 7 May 1667. Unlike many composers of his era, Froberger published none of his work, and only two of his compositions were printed in his lifetime. His teacher in Rome during the forties, Athanasius Kircher, published Froberger's 'Hexachord Fantasia' [1, 2] in his 'Musurgia Universalis' of 1650 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In 1660 François Roberday published 'Fugues et Caprices' [1, 2] in Paris in which his 'Fugue 5' was a version Froberger's 'Ricercar 1' of 1658. That altered version was the second and last composition by Froberger to see print during his lifetime. The works for which Forberger is best-known and most influential to the Baroque period are his numerous dance suites for keyboards [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] in which he originated the standard order of an allemande first, courante second, sarabande third and gigue fourth. Those seem to be intended more for harpsichord than organ. Froberger's final compositions are thought to have been found in a lost autograph titled 'Livre Primiere' [Asperen] finally emerging at a Sotheby's auction in London in 2006. Froberger's suites are titled Suites in the DTO cataloguing system of Guido Adler [1, 2]. In Siegbert Rampe's [1, 2, 3] more recent system (FbWV) they are called Partitas [*]. Classical Archives presents both [*]. Froberger also composed choral works, two of his motets yet extant: 'Alleluia! Absorpta es mors' and 'Apparuerunt apostolis'. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio at BBC. Recordings: discos: 1, 2, 3; 'Froberger' by Glen Wilson: 1, 2; 'Froberger: Complete Music for Harpsichord & Organ' by Simone Stella: 1, 2; 'Froberger Edition' by Bob van Asperen *; 'Froberger: The Unknown Works' by Siegbert Rampe *; 'Libro Quarto of 1656' by Web Wiggins *; 'Suites for Harpsichord' by Gilbert Rowland: 1, 2; 'Toccatas and Partitas' by Sergio Vartolo: 1, 2. Discussion. Further reading: Norbert Müllemann: 1, 2; David Schulenberg*. Biblio: 'J.J. Froberger: 1614-1667' by G.B. Sharp; 'Searching Fantasy' by Terence Charlston. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3.

Johann Froberger

 Capriccio in G

     1656

     Organ: Markus Märkl

 Fantasia in A minor

     DTÖ Fantasia No. 2   FbWV 202

     Harpsichord: Andreas Zappe

 Plainte faite à Londres

      'Complaint Made in London'   1656

      Clavicembalo: Stefano Lorenzetti

 Suite in G minor

    Allemande

    Authorship unconfirmed

    Lute: Andreas Martin

 Toccata in D minor

    1649   DTÖ Toccata No. 2   FbWV 102

     Organ: Jim Kosnik

 Toccata in G major

    1649   DTÖ Toccata No. 3   FbWV 103

     Harpsichord: Marius Bartoccini

 Tombeau in C minor

     'Sur la mort de Monsieur Blancrocher'  

      FbWV 632

      Clavecin: Skip Sempé


 
  Born in 1619 (perhaps 1615/17) in Oelsnitz, Saxony, Johann Rosenmüller shoveled more coal into the stove that would eventually see Germany's engine steaming ahead of Italy's in baroque composition. Rosenmuller attended the Lateinschule at Oelsnitz as a youth where music was likely part of his curriculum. He enrolled into the University of Leipzig in 1640 to study theology and might have been composing by that time, as he also studied music under Tobias Michael and acquired employment upon graduating in 1642 as an assistant music teacher at the Thomasschule where he remained throughout the forties. Rosenmuller published his first volume of compositions in 1645: 'Paduanen, Alemanden, Couranten, Balletten, Sarabanden' [1, 2, 3]. 'Kern-Spruche' ('Key-Sayings' from the Old and New Testaments) followed in 1648, a collection of 20 sacred concertos [1, 2, 3, 4]. Rosenmuller was yet a teaching assistant in 1650, but moved up in the world upon becoming an organist at St. Nicholas Church in 1651. He published 'Andere Kern-Sprüche' ('Other Key-Sayings') in Hamburg in 1652 [1, 2, 3], a collection of sacred songs for voice, strings (violin, viol) and continuo (unspecified bass instrument). Becoming musical director in absentia to the Altenburg court some 25 miles south of Leipzig in 1654, he published 'Studenten-Music' [1, 2, 3], a collection of seven dances (Paduans) and 10 suites for unspecified instruments. "Paduan" probably refers to the pavane [1, 2], a slow processional court dance originating in Italy in the early 16th century similar to the basse dance [*] emerging in France in the 14th century. Rosenmuller was imprisoned the next year for homosexual activity. Yet 1658 found him enviably employed at St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, he having escaped. Between 1678 and 1682 he taught music at the Ospedale della Pietà, an esteemed music school and orphanage. His final volume of compositions, 'Sonate à 2, 3, 4 è 5 Stromenti', arrived in 1682 [1, 2]. He next served the court of Anthony Ulrich, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, as choirmaster until his death in Wolfenbüttel on 10 September 1684. Rosenmuller brings us to a couple important elements in baroque, late here in addressing, which bear mention before continuing much further. The first is continuo, also known as basso continuo or figured bass [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Continuo dates back to the latter 16th century upon the emergence of polychoral works as an instrumental means of keeping a constant meter or recurring rhythm. That flowed into the Baroque to become a standard method of the period elemental to baroque notation as well. Relatedly, it is during the baroque that bar lines were added to the staff specifically to indicate regular repeating measures. Bar lines in earlier scores of the 15th or 16th century had other divisional purposes, sometimes to define each beat. The basso continuo had been preceded by the ostinato in the interest of persistently repeating musical patterns or phrases. Ostinatos are identified as early as the 13th century in the English rota or round, 'Sumer is icumen in' ('Summer Has Arrived') of 1260 in particular, that possibly written by W. de Wycombe. Rendition by the Hilliard Ensemble. The ostinato made its way into the Baroque to remain ever since, arriving to contemporary times as the riff or vamp. A good example of a modern ostinato ia the driving bass and piano in Henry Mancini's 'Peter Gunn'. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions. Audio samples: 1, 2, 3 (MIDI downloads). Recordings: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Ensemble Masques directed by harpsichordist, Olivier Fortin: 'Sonate a 2, 3, 4 e 5 Stromenti': 1, 2, 3; Johann Rosenmüller Ensemble directed by Arno Paduch: 'Deutsche Geistliche Konzerte' ('German Sacred Concertos') *, 'Venezianische Abendmusik' ('Venetan Evensong') *. Biblio: August Horneffer (1898); Hymnology. See also: 1, 2, 3.

Johann Rosenmüller

  Hebet eure Augen auf gen Himmel

    1648

    Soprano: Olga Nazaykinskaya

    Tenor: Ivliy Semenenok

 In te, Domine, speravi

    1648

    Soprano: Ellen Hargis

    The King's Noyse/David Douglass

 Lieber Herre Gott

    1648

    Cantus Cölln

 O felicissimus paradysi aspectus

    Soprano: Sonja Adam

 Siehe an die Werke Gottes

    'Behold the Works of God'

    1652

    Jordi Savall

 Sonata Seconda

     1682

     El Concierto Ylustrado

 Welt ade, ich bin dein müde

    Windsbacher Boys Choir

    Karl-Friedrich Beringer


 
  Likely born in 1626 in Chaumes-en-Brie, Louis Couperin, son of a small landowner, serves as the initial example of French Baroque on this page, and the first instance of several major musicians bearing the Couperin name [1, 2]. The first record of the Couperin name is from 1356. The first musical Couperin is thought be one Mathurin Couperin, an amateur who was a trader by profession. His son, Charles, was the father of Louis. Though Louis played viol as well, the majority of his compositions were for harpsichord and organ. Among first records of him he is discovered to be a cleric in Chaumes by 1641. He was probably composing by some time in the forties and skilled at harpsichord, as his career in music is said to have sparked in 1650 when he and two younger brothers performed compositions by Louis for composer and harpsichordist, Jacques Champion de Chambonnières [*], at the latter's home in Le Plessis-Feu-Aussoux near Paris ['Le Parnasse François' Titon du Tillet Evrard]. Chambonnières was impressed, upon which Couperin traded Chaumes-en-Brie for Paris 30 miles of so northeast to began studies under Chambonnières. In 1653 Couperin became an organist at the Church of St. Gervais in Paris where he remained the whole of his career. During that time he also worked for Marquis Abel Servien from 1656 to 1658. Couperin died on 29 August 1661, only about age thirty-five, causes unknown. Louis' younger brothers, Charles and François, with whom he'd begun his career only a decade earlier were also living at St. Gervais. Though literature about Couperin is less than vast, he enjoyed the high esteem of his peers at the time as an especially talented craftsman, both as a composer and performer. A couple hundred compositions by Couperin exist in the Bauyn manuscript of 1690 [1, 2] and the Oldham manuscript discovered in 1957 [1, 2]. Louis himself didn't publish anything during his lifetime. Images of the Couperin family are not uncommonly confused. Research on any of them invariably finds one represented as another somewhere. The image to the right is a portrait Louis' brother, Charles, painted by Claude Lefèbvre sometime between 1665 and 1670. That is the Charles who began his career along with Louis and Francois mentioned above. The portrait is often mistaken for Louis, made easy by the 1979 album issued by Gustav Leonhardt, 'Suiten und Pavane', which has Charles' portrait on its cover as Louis. No images of Louis, if any exist, are found. See 'The Other M Couperin' by Glen Wilson as to Louis' brother, Charles (1639-79). As for Francois (1631-1701), though reportedly popular and talented at harpsichord alike Louis, he remains an obscure figure, not to be confused with Louis' later nephew, François Couperin le Grand (1668-1733), son of Charles to the right. References 1, 2, 3. Compositions: 1, 2; reviews: 'Pièces de Clavecin' from the Bauyn manuscript: 1, 2. Scores. Audio: 1, 2. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; 'Couperin: Dances from the Bauyn Manuscript' by Pavel Kolesnikov: *. Discussion. Bibliography: Bruce Gustafson ('Early Music' 2005): 1, 2; Tillet's 'Le Parnasse François': 1, 2. Other profiles: 1, 2.

Louis Couperin

 Fugue 61

    Organ: Warren Steel

 Minuet in C

    Harpsichord: Ernst Stolz

 Prelude a l'imitation de Mr. Froberger

    Harpsichord: Peter Kramer

 Prelude in G minor

    Lana Krakovskiy

 Sarabande in A minor

    Harpsichord: Alberto Bagnai

 Suite in C

    Harpsichord: Richard Egarr

 Suite in F major

    Klawesyn: Monika Forys

 Tombeau de Mr de Blancrocher

    Harpsichord: Gustav Leonhardt


Birth of Classical Music: Giacomo Carissimi

Charles Couperin brother to Louis

Painting: Claude Lefèbvre   1665-70

Source: Pedro Beltrán Abogados
Birth of Classical Music: Giovanni Legrenzi

Giovanni Legrenzi

Source: Wikipedia
Baptized on 12 August 1626 in Clusone, Republic of Venice, Giovanni Legrenzi had a violinist and composer for a father. As is father taught him music as a youth Giovanni may have been composing by the time of his earliest known employment as organist at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Bergamo in 1645 where he remained until 1656. He was ordained as a priest in 1651. He first published in 1654 in Venice, a book of music for Mass and Vespers called 'Concerti Musicali Op 1' [1, 2, 3]. In 1656 Legrenzi became maestro di cappella at the Academy of the Holy Spirit until 1665, that a fraternity of musicians who supplied music in Ferrara. His first of nineteen operas, 'Nino, il giusto', was performed in 1662 in Ferrara. His second opera, 'L'achille in Sciro' [*], premiered in 1663 in Ferrara. Partnering w librettist, Ippolito Bentivoglio [*], that was greatly successful, his now becoming a name. Along w operas Legrenzi wrote numerous oratorios. Oratorios are grand choral and instrumental works like opera but without stage, made to hear rather than see. His first, 'Oratorio del giuditio', premiered in Vienna in 1665. In 1670 he was appointed Maestro di Musica at the Ospedale Santa Maria dei Derelitti in Venice, more commonly called the Ospedaletto. By that time Legrenzi owned land in Clusone, comfortable of numerous published works and several operas. While at the Ospedaletto, Legrenzi composed 'La divisione del mondo' [1, 2] for premiere at the Teatro San Salvador in Venice on 4 Feb 1675, that among his most popular works. He became Maestro di Coro of the Ospedale dei Mendicanti in 1676 until 1682. Legrenzi was a star composer by then, but the early eighties brought increased upon the premiere of 'Il Giustino' at the Teatro San Salvador in Venice on 7 Feb 1683. He followed that the next year w his highly successful 'Publio Elio Pertinace' [1, 2]. Legranzi was appointed Maestro di Cappella at San Marco (St. Mark's Basilica) in April 1685, followed by his final opera, 'Ifianassa e Melampo', that autumn. His last of fourteen oratorios [Wikipedia], 'Erodiade', appeared in 1687.  Legrenzi's health had begun to falter by the time he became Maestro at San Marco, less and less able to perform. He is thought to have died in the horrible pain of kidney stones on 27 May 1690. His last two books assigned an opus were 'Sonate a 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 e 7 istrumenti' (Op 18) in 1693 and 'Voci geniali, raccolte in duetti e terzetti' (Op 19) in 1698. Both of these are lost. Works with opus (plural = opera) numbers (: Op 1) in Legrenzi are other than his operas or oratorios and were later assigned due to necessity upon a couple of volumes mistakenly introduced as his tenth. His first opus, 'Concerti Musicali', had been described as "Opera Prima" on the title page, not Opus 1. In 1670 his 'Acclamationi Divote' [1, 2] was described as 'Opera X'. Three years later his 'La Cetra' [*] was erroneously printed as 'Opera Decima'. As both couldn't be his tenth, a revised copy of 'Acclamationi Divote' remedied the problem by describing it as 'Opera Xi', the small "i" indicating a plural. Legrenzi's volume following 'La Cetra' ('Cantate e Canzonette': 1, 2) was correctly labeled his twelfth in 1676, although 'La Cetra' was reissued in 1682 once again erroneously as his tenth. "What a lot of baloney!" he might have shouted to the skies, both editions printed in Bologna. Eventually 'Acclamationi Divote' became as it was, Op 10, 'La Cetra' became Op 11 and 'Cantate e Canzonette' Op 12. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Publications. Scores: 1, 2. Operas: 'Zenobia e Radamisto' 1665 *; 'Eteocle e Polinice' 1674 *; 'La divisione del mondo' 1675 *; 'Totila' 1677 *; 'Giustino' 1683 *. Oratorios. Audio samples: 1, 2. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Internet Archive. Further reading: 'Sacri concerti' by Luigi Collarile. Bibliography: 'Legranzi perduto: Appunti di bibliografia' by Luigi Collarile. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Giovanni Legrenzi 

  Dixit Dominus Domino Meo

    Cantores Musicæ Antiquæ/Jeffery Kite-Powell

 Dies Irae

    Ricercar Consort/Philippe Pierlot

 Non Susurate

    Musica Antique Prague

 Sonata quinta a due

    Pallade Musica


 
Although born in Florence, Italy, on 28 or 29 November 1632, Jean-Baptiste Lully fairly represents French Baroque in full bloom. Originally named Giovanni Battista Lulli, he learned guitar and violin as a youth, taught by a Franciscan friar. In 1646 Charles, Duke of Guise, saw Lully play violin at Mardi Gras and took him to Paris to serve his niece, Mademoiselle de Montpensier (Duchess of Montpensier), as chamber boy, also working in the scullery. He meanwhile assisted her with conversational Italian. As a skilled musician, however, he was soon studying keyboard under Nicolas Gigault and Francois Roberday. Examining theory with Nicolas Métru, he also performed with the court's musicians. He is later quoted as saying that he learned everything he needed to know about music by age seventeen while in the service of M de Montpensier. He left that position in 1652, not wishing to follow his matron into rural exile, her life in danger duef the Fronde rebellions of 1648-59. Which is one version. The other is that he was dismissed for writing "scurrilous" verse. Either way, in 1653 Lully met fifteen year-old Louis XIV, the pair dancing together in a ballet, upon which he became court composer of instrumental music. When Louis began governing in 1661 Lully officially became a French subject and musical director for the royal family, at which point his compositions were automatically published. In 15 years he'd climbed from humble positions in a royal household, albeit that of a duchess up there with the face cards, to a plateau where there was no higher a musician could go. Except to also begin an eleven-year collaboration with the playwright, Molière, in 1661, they producing 'Les Fâcheux' that year, and 'Le Mariage Forcé' in 1664. In 1672 he became director of the Académie Royale de Musique, that is, royal opera, thereafter producing nigh an opera per year until his passing in 1687. During that time in the early eighties he began to fall from Louis' favor, perhaps for being bisexual. In 1687 Lully managed to accidentally puncture his foot with a conducting wand during a performance celebrating Louis' recovery from recent surgery, to die of gangrene in Paris on 22 March 1687. The largest body of Lully's works were intermedes (music inserted between acts or written into another composer's work such as a ballet), ballets du cour (court ballets), sacred motets grand and petit, and operas. Among ballets were his French overtures as well as the comédie-ballet with Molière. One thing you would probably see in a scene in a movie about Louis XIV is the minuet, brought to Earth by Lully, though some think it originated in the province of Poitou, he picking it up for theatrical works which tempo is quicker than for the slower disciplined dance that become popular during Lully's service to Louis. Lully composed some 92 theatrical minuets. Johann Sebastian Bach and George Handel later included minuets in suites, and Mozart's first composition at age 6 was a minuet. It developed into the scherzo w Beethoven. By the time Lully was finished so was Italian dominance of the baroque, that moving to northern Europe. Albeit Italiano, Lully made a point of being a French composer by once stating, "Italy? Never heard of it." References for Lully: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio samples: 1, 2. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Internet Archive. Discussion. Further reading: Harold Sack; Ruth Watanabe. Bibliography: 'Jean Baptiste Lully' by R.H.F. Scott (Peter Owen Publishers/ London 1973); 'Jean-Baptiste Lully and the Music of the French Baroque: Essays in Honor of James R. Anthony' *; Oxford. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. References for the minuet: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; minuet and trio: 1, 2.

Jean-Baptiste Lully

 Armide

     1685/86    LWV 71

     Les Talens Lyriques

     Christophe Rousse

  Atys

     1676   LWV 53

     Les Arts Florissants

 Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme

    1670   LWV 43

    Theatre Le Trianon a Paris

 Domine salvum fac regem

      LWV 74/4

      Les Dames du Port-royal

      Director: Martin Robidoux

 Idylle sur le Paix

     1685   LWV 68

      Ludovice Ensemble

      Fernando Miguel Jalôto

 Isis

     1676   LWV 54

      Les Talens Lyriques

  Menuet pour trompettes

    1668   LWV 38

     From 'George Dandin'

     Le Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall

 Psyché

     1678   LWV 56

     Soprano: Carolyn Sampson

 Te Deum

     1677   LWV 55

    Musica Florea/Marek Štryncl


Birth of Classical Music: Jean-Baptiste Lully

Jean-Baptiste Lully

Source: Rhapsody
  Born in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany on 7 December 1637, Bernardo Pasquini kept people going to church in Italy as the latter's early dominance of the early Baroque period began shifting to northern Europe. Along w a lot of keyboard music, Pasquini composed largely cantatas, operas and oratorios, forms arising simultaneously and elemental to the Baroque period. Pasquini had studied under Mariotto Bocciantini in Uzzano before following his uncle to Ferrara in 1650 where he became a university organist at Accademia della Morte in 1654. 1657 found him an organist at Santa Maria in Vallicella. In 1664 he began doing double duty as organist at both the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore and Santa Maria in Aracoeli. He found patronage in Prince Borghese in 1667. In 1706 Pasquini became a member of the Accademia degli Arcadi, an influential literary and musical circle formed in 1656 by Queen Christina (who had abdicated the Swedish throne in 1654, converted to Catholicism and moved to Rome). Pasquini was buried in the Church of St Lawrence in Lucina upon his death in Rome on 21 Nov 1710. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: .1, 2 Recordings: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 'Passion Cantatas' w Sharon Rostorf-Zamir (soprano) *; 'La sete di Christo' w Francesca Aspromonte (soprano) 1, 2; 'Sonate per gravicembalo' w Roberto Loreggian (harpsichord/ spinet) & Francesco Ferrarini (cello) *. IA. Further reading: John Collins (PDF); Giancarlo Fioretti. Biblio: 'Bernardo Pasquini: musicista del secolo XVII' Virgilio Virgili (E. Nucci 1908); 'A Source of Pasquini Partimenti in Naples' ('Pasquini Symposium' ed. by Armando Carideo 2012) *. Other profiles: *.

Bernardo Pasquini

 Canzona Francese in F

    Organ: Marju Riisikamp

 Miei flutti vastissimi

    Aria

    Cantata: 'Hor ch'il ciel fra densi horrori'

    Capella Tiberina

    See 'Passion Cantatas'

 Non più lagrime

    Soprano: S. Tomasello

 Partite diverse di Follia

    Organ: Edoardo Bellotti

 La Folia da Espagna

    Harpsichord: Claudio Di Veroli

 La sete di Christo

    1689

    Performance unknown

 Toccata con lo scherzo del Cuccù

    Organ: Federico Teti


Birth of Classical Music: Dietrich Buxtehude

Bernardo Pasquini

Source: Bernard Gordillo
Buxtehude

Dietrich Buxtehude

Painting: Johannes Voorhout   1674 

Source: Wikipedia
Born about 1638, Dietrich Buxtehude hailed from Helsingborg when it was part of Denmark rather than Sweden. Others think he was born in Holstein when it was part of Denmark instead of Germany. Either way he was Dane with a name Germanized by himself (Diderich to Dietrich). As Buxtehude's father was a church organist in Helsingør he likely studied music as a youth. Buxtehude is thought to have been employed as an organist in 1657 in Helsingborg, then at Helsingør in 1660. In 1668 he succeeded Franz Tunder as organist at St. Mary's Church in Lübeck. Buxtehude composed largely for organ, harpsichord and voice in a broad variety of forms, though he preferred cantatas, preludes, sonatas and fugues. The librettos to his oratorios survive, but the scores do not. Buxtehude's position at St. Mary's might have been enviable, but only to degree. Wishing to retire in 1703, he offered his station to both Johann Mattheson and George Handel (the pair traveling to visit him together) on condition that it come with betrothal to one of his daughters, Anna Margareta. Both declined, leaving the next day [1, 2, 3]. It wasn't easy for Buxtehude's daughter, unblessed w comely appearance, to be as popular as her father's music: in 1705 Johann Sebastian Bach was twenty years old when he walked more than 250 miles to study under Buxtehude. Though he stayed three months he left a bachelor as well. Buxtehude died two years later on 9 May 1707. His position along w Anna Margareta went to Johann Christian Schieferdecker. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Chronology. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (MIDI files); 'Complete Organ Works' w organ by Hans Davidson; 'The Complete Organ Works' Vol 1-5 w organ by Christopher Herrick [1, 2]: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Biblio: 'Dieterich Buxtehude: Organist in Lübeck' by Kerala Snyder (Schirmer Reference 1987) 1, 2; Oxford. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.

Dietrich Buxtehude

  Chaconne in E minor

     BuxWV 160

     Orquesta Sinfonica

      Direction: Dietrich Paredes

     Orquestacion: Carlos Chavez

 Das neugebor'ne Kindelein

      BuxWV13

     Lyrics: Cyriacus Schneegass

      The Purcell Quartet

 Der Herr is mit mir: Alleluia

     BuxWV 15

     Orchestra Anima Eterna

 Jesu, Meines Lebens Leben

      BuxWV 62

      Collegium Vocale

     Orchestra Anima Eterna & The Royal Consort

     Jos Van Immerseel

 Jubilate Domino, Omnis Terra

    1690   BuxWV 64

     Aradia Ensemble

 Membra Jesu Nostri

    1680   BuxWV 75

     The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

 Passacaglia in D minor

     BuxWV 161

     Organ: Pierre Thimus


 
  Born in Arnstadt, Germany, on 18 Dec 1642, Johann Christoph Bach was 1st cousin once removed of more famous Johann Sebastian Bach. He's not to be confused with Sebastian's uncle or brother, both composers, all three sharing the same name [*]. This Cristoph Bach was elder brother to composer, Johann Michael Bach, with whom German Baroque came into full bloom. Like the musical dynasty of which Louis Couperin was a member [*], there were enough musicians popping out of Bach ovens to run a Nabisco plant [Bach dynasty: 1, 2, 3], of which this history treats only eight. The Couperin name was perhaps a couple centuries older than Bach's. It's thought that at the start of the 16th century there existed four branches of the Bach family, though the first records of a Bach don't occur until Veit (Vitus) Bach about 1550, a baker in Wechmar who had fled Hungary for being Lutheran. The first known musically professional Bach was Johannes Hans, born about 1580, who preferred playing pipe to baking. But with Johann Cristoph and his brother, Johann Michael, the Bach name began to loom large. As the son of Heinrich Bach, the latter a musician, Johann Christoph was taught music as a youth, most likely composing by the sixties. Bach Cantatas has him employed at the Arnstadt castle chapel in Thuringia as of 20 Nov 1663. Two years later he became town organist of Eisenach at St. George's where he remained his whole career. Also employed as organist and harpsichordist at the kapelle (chapel) of the court of the Duke of Eisenach, he likewise held that position until his death. Albeit Johann Christoph Bach was a successful composer and organist, ranked by some as the only other Bach to approach the stature of Johann Sebastian, he didn't have a head for finance, dying heavily in debt in Eisenach on 31 March 1703. References: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Other profiles 1, 2. The list below begins and ends with a lamento. 'Es erhub sich ein Streit' is a cantata. From its beginnings as a solo voice madrigal prior to Bach's birth, the cantata quickly swelled into greater forms involving choruses and orchestras, as Bach is witness.

Johann Christoph Bach

 Ach, daß ich Wassers g'nug hätte

    Tallahassee Bach Parley

 Es erhub sich ein Streit

     Wiener Sängerknaben & Chorus Viennensis

     Hans Gillesberger

      Concentus Musicus Wien

      Nikolaus Harnoncourt

 Fürchte dich nicht

     Rheinische Kantorei

     Director: Reinhard Goebel

 Meine Freundin, du bist schön

     1676

      Zsuzsi Toth: Sopran

     Violine: Susanna Ogata

      The Bach Ensemble/Josua Rifkin

  Praeludium

     Clavecin: Gustav Leonhardt

 Was betrübst du dich, mein Herz

     Organ: Jörn Boysen

 Wie bist du denn, O Gott

     Accademia Hermans


 
  Born in the Paris vicinity 1643, Marc-Antoine Charpentier was a prolific composer of both sacred music, largely motets, and secular works, especially for theatre. Knowledge of his music has a big head start in the 28 volumes of autograph manuscripts he left behind to the Royal Library, now housed at Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Those are known as the Melanges or Meslanges Autographs [1, 2, 3, 4]. Sacred works included hymns, masses, antiphons, sequences, Leçons des ténèbres [1, 2] and responsories. Charpentier had also composed nine Litanies de la Vierge (Litanies of Loreto), that is, of the Virgin Mary, H 82-90 [1, 2, 3]. He composed settings for the Magnificat, Te Deum [1, 2] and 'Psalms'. He wrote numerous motets for 'Domine salvum fac regem' and oratorios. Secular works included airs sérieux and à boire (for drinking), cantatas, pastorales, divertissements [1, 2], operas, intermedes and incidental music. Charpentier had been a law student in Paris at about age nineteen in 1662 [*]. He completed only one semester before quitting, not seeming to show up again until studying under Giacomo Carissimi in Rome, likely from 1667 to 69 per most sources [1665: 1, 2]. Returning to France, he became courtier to Marie de Lorraine, Duchess de Guise, for whom he composed for the next seventeen years. Another significant patron of his in that time was Isabelle d'Orléans, also known as Élisabeth Marguerite d'Orléans [1, 2]. Among theatrical works composed during those years were his pastoral opera, 'Actéon' H 481 composed 1683-1685 [1, 2], and his chamber opera, 'La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers' H 488 of early 1686 [Wikipedia]. In 1687 Charpentier became maître de musique to the Jesuits, first at the Lycée Louis-le-Grand [1, 2], then at the Church of Saint-Paul-Saint-Louis [*]. Assuming the same position at the Sainte-Chapelle [*]. in 1698, he died on 24 Feb 1704. H numbers for Charpentier refer to the 1982 catalogue of Hugh Wiley Hitchcock beginning with H 1 as Charpentier's 'Messe de minuit pour noël' [1, 2] circa 1690(?). References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Librettists. Scores: 1, 2; 'Nine Settings of the Litanies de la Vierge' ed. by David C. Rayl *. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4 (w scores); 'Actéon' H 481 1683-1685; 'Il faut rire et chanter: Dispute de bergers' H 484 1685; 'La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers' H 488 1683-84. Recordings: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 'Acteon': 1, 2; 'La Descente d'Orphée aux Enfers': 1, 2, 3; 'Pastorale de Noël' ('Pastorale sur la naissance de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ' H 483 1683-1685): 1, 2. Internet Archive. Reviews by Hitchcock. Analysis of 'O coelestis Jerusalem' (elevation motet 1680-89) by Jane Gosine: Introduction: 1, 2, 3; score; text; IMSLP. Further reading: Patricia Ranum: 1, 2, 3. Bibliography: Catherine Cessac at Philidor (PDF downloads): 1, 2; 'The Instrumental Music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier' by Hugh Wiley Hitchcock ('The Musical Quarterly' 1961) *; 'Portraits Around Marc-Antoine Charpentier' by Patricia M. Ranum *; 'New Perspectives on Marc-Antoine Charpentier' by Shirley Thompson (Routledge 2017) *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Marc-Antoine Charpentier

 Ave regina coelorum

     H 19

     Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr

     Emmanuel Mandrin

 Domine quinque talenta

     H 33

     Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles

      Olivier Schneebeli

 Magnificat

      H 73

      Les Arts Florissants

      Conductor: William Christie

     Christie Bass: Philippe Cantor

       Countertenor: Dominique Visse

       Tenor: Michel Laplénie

 Miserere

     Libretto: Psalm 51   H 157

     Ensemble Baroque Les Voyageurs

 Les Plaisirs de Versailles

     1682   H 480

     Les Arts Florissants/William Christie

 Precatio Pro Filio Regis

     H 166

    Ensemble Pierre Robert

    Direction & organ: Frédéric Desenclos

 Regina coeli, antienne

     H 32

     Les Demoiselles de Saint-Cyr

     Emmanuel Mandrin

 Te Deum in D major

     1690?   H 146

     Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia

    Conductor: Myung-Whun Chung


Birth of Classical Music: Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Marc-Antoine Charpentier

Posthumous 18th century

Source: Wikipedia
Birth of Classical Music: Alessandro Stradella

Alessandro Stradella   1680

Engraving by Louis Denis

Bibliothèque Nationale de France


Source: Italy On This Day
Born on 3 July 1643 [Wikipedia], Alessandro Stradella was an aristocrat educated in Bologna who wrote operas, oratorios and serenatas (serenades). 'Webster's' has the term "serenade" originating in 1649 from Latin "serenus" (serene). Most are familiar w the serenade as a romantic piece performed in open air in the evening for a lover at a window as compared to the aubade [c 1678 'Webster's'] performed in the morning. Stradella's serenatas were composed for performance outdoors in the evening as well, excepting for more elaborate orchestration. Stradella is also credited with the first concerto grosso circa 1675, his one and only to fit the bill before the term was first used by Aracngelo Corelli about 1681 as distinct from his smaller concertinos [*]. Stredella's father may have been a cavalier (knight) and governor of Vignola when Alessandro was born. Sources vary widely on just when he arrived in Rome from 1653 to 1654, but he is apparently on record as a singer at St. Marcello del Crocifisso Cathedral in 1655 ['Choral Repertoire' Dennis Shrock]. Probably beginning to study music soon, come 1658 he was a singer in the employment of Queen Christina of Sweden [All Music Blair Johnston], she having given up her throne at age 28 to live in Rome from 1654 to her death in 1689. Johnston and Shrock have Stradella writing his first composition for Christina in 1663, a motet called 'Chare Jesu Suavissime'. Come 1669 he was composing for the new theatre in Rome, the Teatro Torinona [Greene]. Among other of Stradella's skills, however, was getting into trouble. The first such occasion arrived in 1669 when a failed attempt to embezzle money from the Church had him leaving Rome briefly, returned by 1670. A public dispute with a cardinal in 1677 required leaving for the safety of Venice, he not to see Rome again. Stradella was soon hired in Venice by Doge Alvise Contarini [*] of the Contarini dynasty to tutor his mistress, Agnese Van Uffele. But Alessandro and Agnese ran off to Turin together instead. Contarini followed where he found assistance in the Church, Uffele forced to choose between becoming a nun or wedding Stradella, which the pair did on 10 October 1677 [*]. "You think?" Contarini soon thought, then had Stradella assassinated, or so he believed. Stradella survived and was in Genoa come early 1678. Uffele disappeared after those few moments for the annals of history. In Genoa Stradella composed for the Teatro Falcone [1, 2] and local nobility. Stradella's comic opera (opera buffa), 'Il Trespolo tutore' [1, 2, 3], premiered at Il Falcone in January of 1679. Come his opera, 'Doriclea', in 1681. He is thought to have composed 'Moro per amore' the same year, though it wasn't presented to the public until 1695, thirteen years after his death. Stradella was stabbed to death on 25 Feb 1682 at the Piazza Banchi. Once again concerning an affair, this time the cuckold was a member of the Lomellini family, his hitmen more successful than had been Contarini's. Between poking where he oughtn't have and otherwise living dangerously Stradella managed more than 300 works, including a minimum of six operas, 170 cantatas and 27 instrumental pieces. Leaving his manuscripts to an underage son, those were sold with the assistance of a friar to Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena, for 600 gold doubloons, now collected at the Estensian Library in Modena [*]. The image to the right is easily mistaken for Stradella as it is nigh universally done. Though the painter remains anonymous, that it is Francesco II, not Stradella, is confirmed by similar depictions, including a nigh identical engraving by Isabella Piccini published in 1690 [*]. Stradella was later the subject of Friedrich Wilhelm Riese's opera, 'Alessandro Stradella', premiering at the Stadttheater in Hamburg on 30 December 1844. References: Wikipedia; All Music; Dennis Shrock: 1, 2. Compositions w reviews: Hyperion. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio samples: 1, 2. Recordings of: discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; 'Alessandro Stradella: Two-Part Sinfonias' by Marcello Scandelli on violoncello, Michele Pasotti at archlute and Alberto Sanna on violin; 'La Doriclea' by Pomo d’Oro directed by Andrea De Carlo: 1, 2, 3. IA. Further reading: F. Marion Crawford; Rupert Hughes; Davide Mingozzi; Jonathan Sutherland. Bibliography: 'A Possible Date for Stradella's 'Il Trespolo Tutore'' by Carolyn Gianturco ('Music & Letters' 1979) *; 'Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682): A Thematic Catalogue of His Compositions' by Carolyn Gianturco & Eleanor McCrickard (Pendragon Press 1991) *; books by or about Stradella at Abe Books: 1, 2. Other profiles 1, 2, 3. Works below are oratorios with the exception of the serenates, 'La forza delle stelle' and 'Qual prodigio e ch'io miri?'.

Alessandro Stradella

 Ester Liberatrice del Popolo Hebreo

     1677

     Il Concento & Il Concento Chorus

     Ester : Silvia Piccollo

     Director: Luca Franco Ferrari

 La forza delle stelle

     1678

     Ensemble Mare Nostrum

     Andrea De Carlo

 Qual prodigio e ch'io miri?

     C 1675

     Alessandro Stradella Consort

      Estevan Velardi

 San Giovanni Battista

     1675

     Ensemble Aurora

     Enrico Gatti

     Battista: Andrea Arrivabene

 La Susanna [Part 1 1-15]

     Ensemble Aurora/Enrico Gatti

 La Susanna [Part 1 16-27]

     Ensemble Aurora/Enrico Gatti

 La Susanna [Part 2 1-9]

     Ensemble Aurora/Enrico Gatti

 La Susanna [Part 2 10-21]

     Ensemble Aurora/Enrico Gatti


Birth of Classical Music: Francesco II d'Este Duke of Modena

Francesco II d'Este - Duke of Modena

(Not Stradella)
  Baptized on 19 August 1648 in Arnstadt, Germany, Johann Michael Bach was younger brother to Johann Christoph (above). Of the Bach musical dynasty [1, 2, 3] he is the second of only eight addressed in this history. The brothers never worked together, but historically they announced the beginning of the end of Italian dominance in the baroque, that to shift to Germany while France gave it Continental flavors. Like Johann Cristoph, more is known about his music than his life. As his father, Heinrich Bach, was an organist he likely studied music including composition as a youth. Aryeh Oron at Bach Cantatas has him replacing his brother, Johann Christoph, at organ at the Arnstadt castle chapel in Thuringia in 1665. In 1673 Johann Michael was employed as an organist and town clerk in Gehren where he remained until his death. He is thought to have been a craftsman of musical instruments such as the harpsichord, dying on 27 May 1694. References: 1, 2, 3. Das Alt-Baschische Archiv: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Biblio: 'The New Grove Bach Family' by Christoph Wolff et al (W.W. Norton 1983). HMR Project.

Johann Michael Bach

 Ach, wie sehnlich wart ich der Zeit

    Cantus Cölln/Konrad Junghänel

 Der du bist drei in Einigkeit

    Organ: Franciscus Volckland

 Fürchtet euch nicht

     Vox Luminis

 Halt was du hast

     Vox Luminis

 Ich weiβ, dass mein Erlöser lebt

     The Academic Choir/Ivan Goran Kovacic

 Sei, lieber Tag, willkommen

     Vilnius State Choir

     Conducting: Linas Balandis

 Sei, lieber Tag, willkommen

     Riverside City College Chamber Singers

     Conducting: John Byun

 Unser Leben währet siebenzig Jahr

     Vox Luminis

 

 
  Baptized 23 February 1649 in Westminster, London, John Blow is this history's first look at an English composer since Renaissance musician, Thomas Weelkes (Classical 1), some seventy years prior. Blow was of major significance to the music of England as teacher to Henry Purcell at the Chapel Royal as of 1674. Blow himself had studied music as a boy as a chorister at the Chapel Royal as early as 1660, perhaps serving in that capacity earlier someplace else, as that placed him in the high employ of King Charles II. Among titles composed by him as a youth was 'Club Anthem' of 1664 when he was fifteen, written w Pelham Humfrey and William Turner [*]. In 1668 he succeeded Albertus Bryan as organist at Westminster Abbey [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. He was made gentleman at the Chapel Royal in 1673 and by 1678 he had earned a doctorate. The degree of doctor ("teacher") had been around for centuries, ever since the Catholic Church needed academicians to translate Latin. Blow was succeeded at Westminster in 1679 by Purcell. Either dismissed or resigning, he began to concentrate on writing songs about that time. He is thought to have composed his masque, 'Venis and Adonis' in 1683. The masque was something the predecessor to opera, developed in Italy in the 16th century out of a folk tradition in which masked dancers brought gifts to nobles on notable occasions. It eventually split into two types, the intermedio, a great theatrical production exclusive to the court, and the pageant, the public version. In 1685 Blow was appointed a private musician to James II. 1687 found him choirmaster at St. Paul's Cathedral. Blow was back at Westminster in 1695 upon the death of Purcell. He became Composer to the Chapel Royal in 1699, a newly created title. Blow composed fourteen Anglican services, but the anthem was the rabbit in his hat, writing more than a hundred of them. He died on 1 October 1708 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2; 'Six Songs'. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4. Other profiles *.

John Blow

 Chaconne in F major

    1687

     Harpsichord: Patrick Chevalier

 God spake sometime in visions

    Bach Collegium San Dieg

    Ruben Valenzuela

 Lift Up Your Heads

    Anthem

     L'Harmonie des Saisons

     Eric Milnes

  An Ode on the Death of Mr. Henry Purcell

     1695

 O pray for the peace of Jerusalem

    The Cappella Nicolai

    Michael Hedley

 Salvator Mundi

    Le chœur du King's College de Cambridge

 Venus and Adonis

    Masque    1683

     Theatre of the Ayre

     Elizabeth Kenny


Birth of Classical Music: John Blow

John Blow

Painting: Sir Peter Lely

Source: Saturday Chorale
Birth of Classical Music: Arcangelo Corelli

Arcangelo Corelli

Source: Bach Cantatas
Born on 17 Feb 1653 in Fusignano in the Duchy of Ferrara, Arcangelo Corelli was born at a time when mastery in baroque composition began its transition to northern Europe. Both Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel later studied his work, his concerti grossi in particular. In the meantime Corelli's love of violin kept Italy in the business of baroque. Leaving behind about sixty sonatas, though his chamber works are surely notable, they are his twelve concerti grossi which made the concerto grosso to the latter baroque what the symphony would be to the classical period. Corelli came from a family that had been purchasing land since the early 16th century so, though not of nobility, the clan was prosperous. Corelli is thought to have studied in Faenza and Luga before turning up in Bologna in 1666 at age thirteen to pursue the violin. He became a student at the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1670 at age seventeen [*]. He may have traveled in Germany before arriving in Rome in 1675 and visited again on later dates, though such is more suspected than certain. Corelli enjoyed a stellar career composing and performing for some of Italy's highest-ranking personalities, such Queen Christina of Sweden, foremost patroness of the arts in Rome upon her exile from Sweden at age 28 (1655). Corelli dedicated his 1681 'Op 1' of twelve trio sonatas to Christina. He dedicated his 1685 'Op 2' of twelve trio sonatas to Cardinal Pamphili for whom he had first performed in 1676 and would become employed again in 1687. His 'Op 3' of 12 more sonatas in 1689 was dedicated to Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena whom he was visiting at the time. Francesco II had purchased the collected manuscripts of Alessandro Stradella upon the latter's untimely death in 1682, acquired from Stradella's underage son. Corelli's 'Op 4' of twelve trio sonatas in 1694 was dedicated to Cardinal Ottoboni with whom he'd become employed in 1690 upon the Pamphili's relocation to Bologna. The twelve sonatas which make up Corelli's 'Op 5' [*] of 1 January 1700 went to Sophia Charlotte, Electress of Brandenburg. Corelli's last published work, 'Op 6' [*], consisted of twelve concerti grossi composed in the early 1680s but printed only posthumously in 1714. Corelli had died in Rome on 8 January 1713 with considerable wealth, worth about 120,000 marks with collections of art and fine violins. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: CCARH: Opp 1-6; IMSLP: Op 1, Op 2, Op 3, Op 4, Op 5, Op 6. Audio: 1, 2, 3; Opp 1-4 (MIDI files). Recordings: Op 1; Op 4; Op 5: 1, 2, 3, 4; Op 6; discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Internet Archive. Further reading: Bruce Lamott. Bibliography: 'Arcangelo Corelli: 'New Orpheus of Our Times' by Peter Allsop (Oxford U Press 1999); 'Corelli and the Poetics of Violin Music' by Alberto Sanna. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also chamber music; concerto grosso; sonata; trio sonata.

Arcangelo Corelli

   Op 4 No.4

     Sonata 1694

    Chatham Baroque et al

  Op 5 No.7

     Sonata 1700

     Teseoguitar

  Op 5 No.12   Part 1

     Sonata 1700

     The Trio Sonnerie

  Op 5 No.12   Part 2

    Sonata 1700

     The Trio Sonnerie

  Op 6 (Concerti Grossi)

     Pub posthumously 1714

     Europa Galante

     Fabio Biondi


 
Birth of Classical Music: Johann Pachelbel

Johann Pachelbel

Source: Ukulele Club
Born 1 Sep 1653 in Nuremberg, with Johann Pachelbel Germany would approach a monopoly on the baroque period. Pachelbel received training in his youth from composer, Heinrich Schwemmer. He matriculated into the University of Altdorf in 1669, the same year he took a position as organist at St. Lorenz Church. 1670 found Pachelbel at the Gymnasium Poeticum at Regensburg with a scholarship. In 1673 he was in Vienna working as a deputy organist at Saint Stephen's Cathedral. Nice as Habsburg Vienna was at the time, he left for Eisenach in Habsburg Germany in 1677, there appointed court organist to Duke Johann Georg I, also making acquaintance of some of the Bach family). In 1678 he was employed at the Predigerkirche in Erfurt where his association with the Bach family continued. During his twelve years in Erfurt where he made his name he taught Johann Christoph Bach (1671–1721, elder brother to Johann Sebastian; not Johann Christoph Bach 1642-1703). Pachelbel further had Johann Christian Bach (1640-1682) for a landlord (not Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782). Pachelbel may have composed his most famous work, 'Canon and Gigue for 3 violins and basso continuo', at Erfurt circa 1680 [1, 2, 3; see also canon]. In 1690 Pachelbel found patronage in Duchess Magdalena Sibylla as musician and organist to the court of Württemberg in Stuttgart. Unfortunately, he had to flee that position two years later. Stuttgart had already been subjected to the horrendous Thirty Years War [1, 2, 3, 4] between France and the Habsburgs which Johann Froberger had survived [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. That misery ending in 1648, now it was the Nine Years War between France and the Grand Alliance begun in 1688 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Removing himself to Gotha, Pachelbel became town organist there for a couple years, publishing the liturgical collection, 'Acht Chorale zum Praeambulieren', in 1693. In 1695 he was invited to become organist at St. Sebaldus Church in Nuremberg. He there published 'Musicalische Ergötzung', a collection of chamber music, as early as 1699. He also published 'Hexachordum Apollinis' in 1699, a set of six keyboard arias. Quite active during his latter years, Pachelbel also completed above ninety Magnificat fugues before his death in 1706, buried on 9 March in Nuremberg. Of Pachelbel's surviving works nigh half are chorales [1, 2]. Simply put, a chorale is the melody of a hymn. Chorales had been being composed since the early 16th century, their impetus being the removal of the Latin language from church music. One very famous instance of an early chorale is Martin Luther's, 'A Mighty Fortress', written about 1528, to which he also supplied the lyrics. A prolific composer, Pachelbel also wrote toccatas, fantasias and suites amidst more than 530 compositions. Though well esteemed during his lifetime, Pachelbel largely fell into neglect thereafter, his great fame during these times occurring of renewed interest in the 20th century. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Compositions: 1, 2, 3 (alt). Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4 (w audio). Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Biblio: 'Johann Pachelbel: Organist, Teacher, Composer, A Critical Reexamination of His Life, Works and Historical Significance' by Kathryn Jane Welter (Harvard University 1998). Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Per below, of the several Pachelbel cataloguing systems [1, 2, 3] that have been derived we list only Kathryn Welter's as of 1998 (PC) and Hideo Tsukamoto's as of 2002 (T).

Johann Pachelbel

 Canon and gigue in D major

     1680?   PC 358   T 337

     Kanon Orchestre de Chambre

      Jean-Francois Paillard

 Chaconne in F minor

      PC 149   T 206

      Organ: Helmut Wlacha

 Christ lag in Todesbanden

     PC 393   T 371

     Johann Rosenmuller Ensemble

 Gelobet seist du, Jesu Christ

     Organ: Wolfgang Rubsam

 Toccata in C minor  

      1699?   PC 167   T 236

       Organ: Wolfgang Rübsam

 Vom Himmel hoch, da komm' ich her

      Organ: Daniele Tessaro


  Born in Verona on 22 April 1658, violinist and violist, Giuseppe Torelli, was brother to painter, Felice Torelli. Among Torelli's accomplishments was the development of the instrumental concerto alongside close rival, Arcangelo Corelli [*]. His youth obscure, consensus has Torelli leaving Verona for Bologna in the early eighties, perhaps appointed maestro di cappella (master of the chapel) at the Imola Cathedral as early as 1681. Torelli studied composition with Giacomo Antonio Perti before joining the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna [musical association: 1, 2] in 1684. He became Concert Master at the court of George Frederick II, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, in 1698. Well-noted for his trumpet concertos, composing more than thirty of them, Torelli died on 8 Feb 1709. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Scores. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; 'Complete Trumpet Concertos' w Nicol Matt conducting alongside trumpet by Peter Leiner and Thomas Hammes *. IA. Other profiles *. See also: concerto grosso; solo concerto. G numbers below are per Franz Giegling, 1949.

Giuseppe Torelli

  Concerto for Violin in E minor

      Op 8:9

     Collegium Musicum 90/Simon Standage

  Concerto Grosso in C major

      Op 8:1

      Koncert Orchestru Bona Nota

  Concerto Grosso in G minor

     'Christmas Concerto'   Op 8:6

      Collegium Musicum 90

  Concerto Grosso for Violin in F major

      Op 8:11

      Collegium Musicum 90/Simon Standage

  Sinfonia in D Major

      G 23

      European Chamber Soloists/Nicol Matt

     Trumpet: Thomas Hammes


Birth of Classical Music: Giuseppe Torelli

Giuseppe Torelli

Source: Alchetron
Birth of Classical Music: Henry Purcell

Henry Purcell

Source: Wikipedia
Born in 10 Sep 1659 in Westminster, London, Henry Purcell was England's major composer of the baroque, albeit we've already visited the Lawes brothers who implemented early baroque methods along their paths half a century earlier. Due largely to the Reformation and situations peculiar to being an island something segregated from continental Europe, music in England rather kept its own pace. While early baroque instrumentation was being developed and pursued in Italy the Brits preferred song like airs and, especially, the madrigal. Albeit Brits kept pace with the rest of Europe in matters of love and hate, and sex and war – which write the history of humankind along w religion (convenient conventional face of the spiritual), economics and technology – they yet far exceeded the rest of Europe in literacy of the common Joe. The printing press that had been invented by Guttenberg in Germany about 1440 didn't translate into concern that the common people know how to read and write until Elizabeth I (1558-1603) by whose end of reign nearly everyone in England was literate. England also exceeded the status quo on the continent with Purcell, a prolific composer of anthems, hymns, catches, odes, songs, suites, movements (sections), fantasies (free form) and sonatas in addition to not a little else. Purcell's father (Henry Sr.) was a musician, indeed, a gentleman of the Chapel Royal of King Charles II (1630-85). His father dying in 1664, Purcell was entered into the care of an uncle, also a gentleman, who had Purcell admitted as a chorister. He thereat began to study music and is thought to have begun composing at about age nine. In 1673 Purcell became assistant to an organ builder. He had studied under multiple music teachers, one of them John Blow, but now he was attending Westminster School, such that he became a copyist at Westminster Abbey in 1676. In 1679 he replaced Blow as organist at Westminster Abbey, five of his songs appearing the same year in John Playford's 'Choice Ayres and Songs to Sing to the Theorbo-lute or Bass-viol' [*]. The next year ('80) he published 'Fantasias and In Nomines' [in nomines: 1, 2, 3, 4]. 1682 found him appointed to the Chapel Royal as organist, and it was in that capacity that most his works were created until his death. Purcell published twelve 'Sonatas of III Parts' in 1683, dedicated to Charles II [*]. His first ode to St. Cecilia was performed in London that year on 22 Nov 1683 and published in '84, 'Welcome to All the Pleasures' [1, 2]. A decade later he composed his sacred work, 'Te Deum and Jubilate in D', in 1694 [scores: 1, 2]. He died the next year on 21 November 1695 and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Purcell's widow, Frances, published numerous of his works posthumously including 'A Collection of Ayres' [1, 2] and 'Ten Sonatas in Four Parts' [*] in 1697 and Books I and II of 'Orpheus Britannicus' in 1698 and 1702 [*; scores: 1, 2; text: songs, complete]. Z numbers for Purcell are per Franklin Zimmerman in 'An Analytical Catalogue of His Music' published by St. Martin's Press in 1963. See also Zimmernan's 'His Life and Times' (U of Pennsylvania Press 1983) and 'A Guide to Research (Garland 1989). References for Purcell encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Wikisource: 1, 2, 3; musical; John Runciman. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; 'Ayres & Songs from Orpheus Britannicus' Jill Feldman (soprano) *; 'Fantasies' by Les Voix Humaines *; 'Fantasias for the Viols' by Hesperion XX - Jordi Savall *; 'Te Deum and Jubilate in D' *; 'Ten Sonatas in Four Parts': King's Consort, Locke Consort, London Baroque, Retrospect Trio; 'Twelve Sonatas of Three Parts': King's Consort: 1, 2; London Baroque *; 'Welcome to All the Pleasures': 1, 2. Usage in modern soundtracks. Internet Archive. Further reading: Bach Cantatas; British Library; CLASSIC fM. Bibliographies: 1, 2; editions of works by Purcell: 1, 2, 3. Other profiles encyclopedic: 1, 2. musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Henry Purcell

  10 Sonatas in Four Parts

      1697   Z 802-811

      London Baroque

 Dido and Aeneas

       Opera   1688   Z 626

      Ricercar Consort & Collegium Vocale Gent

      Philippe Pierlot

 The Fairy Queen

     First Performance 1692:

     London: Dorset Garden

     Z 629

     Les Concert des Nations

     Jordi Savall

 Hear My Prayer, O Lord

       1682?   Incomplete   Z 15

      Choir of Clare College Cambridge

 The Indian Queen

       Opera   1695   Z 630

      Academy of Ancient Music

 King Arthur

       Opera   1691   Z 628

      Les Arts Florissants/William Christie


 
  Born in 1660 in Austria, Johann Joseph Fux very likely received musical instruction as a youth like most composers herein. At age twenty he enrolled at the Jesuit university in Graz where he likely studied music. His education w the Jesuits continued until at least 1683 at schools elsewhere located [Kingsbury ref 2]. From 1685 to 1688 Fux was organist at St. Moritz in Ingolstadt, Germany. He traveled to Italy for a time before stationing himself in Vienna during the early nineties. He was there appointed to the the court of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. He is known to have traveled to Rome in 1700 to study, but remained in service to Leopold I, then his two Habsburg successors, Joseph I and Charles VI, until his death on 13 Feb 1741. Fux was a popular and solid composer during the peak of the Baroque in Austria. His major claim to fame is the pedagogical tome, 'The Gradus Ad Parnassus' ('Steps to Mount Parnassus') [1, 2]. Written in Latin, it was published in 1725. K numbers for Fux are per the Ludwig von Köchel catalogue of of 1872, the same who indexed Mozart in 1862. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4. Internet Archive. Bibliography: Schenker Diary. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3.

Johann Joseph Fux

  Alma redemptoris mater

      1728?   K 186

      Capricornus Ensemble Stuttgart

     Conductor & trombone: Henning Wiegräbe

     Soprano: Lydia Teuscher

 Concentus Musicum

      K 331   'Turcaria'

      Armonico Tributo Austria/Lorenz Duftschmidt

 Missa Purificationis

     K 28

     Vorau Augustine Church Choir/Johann Pichler

 Miserere

    Musica Fiata/La Capella Ducale/Roland Wilson

 Overture in G minor

     1701   K 355

     Armonico Tributo Austria/Lorenz Duftschmidt

 Serenade in C major

    K 352

    Armonico Tributo Austria/Lorenz Duftschmid


Birth of Classical Music: Johann Joseph Fux

Johann Joseph Fux

Source: Wikipedia
Birth of Classical Music: Johann Kuhnau

Johann Kuhnau

Source: Bach Cantatas
Born on 6 April 1660 in Geising, Bohemia, in present-day Saxony, Johann Kuhnau presages the high Baroque in Germany, noted for his clavier (keyboard) sonatas, also writing such as cantatas as an author of sacred music. Along the the way he also translated texts from Hebrew, Greek, Latin, Italian and French to German and wrote humorous novels. He sang at the School of the Cross and the Church of the Holy Cross in Dresden as a child from about age ten, there commencing his study of foreign languages along w music. He fled the plague in Dresden at age twenty (1680), returning to Geising briefly, then leaving to study in Zittau before enrolling at Leipzig University (est. 1499) in 1682 to study law. In 1684 he succeeded August Kühnel as organist at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig leading to a double career as both an advocate and composer. in 1688 Kuhnau published his obscure 'Jura circa musicos ecclesiasticos'. Come Book 1 of his clavier exercises, 'Neuir Clavier-Ubing', in 1689 followed by Book 2 in 1692. In between arrived his comical novels of 1691, 'Musicus curiosus, oder Battalus' ('The Inquiring Musician': 1, 2) and 'Musicus magnanimus, oder Pancalus' ('The Magnanimous Musician' *). 'Frische Clavier Fruchte', a volume of seven sonatas, arrived in 1696 [1, 2; clavier by Jan Katzschke]. His satirical novel, 'Der Musickalische Quacksalber' ('The Musical Charlatan' *) saw publishing in 1700. Kuhnau's six Biblical sonatas, 'Musicalische Vorstellung einiger biblischer Historien', appeared in 1700 as well [*; organ by Richard Apperley: 1, 2, 3]. Kuhnau had also been appointed musical director at Leipzig University in 1700. From 1701 to 1722 he was Cantor at St. Thomas Church. He was also musical director at the Paulinerkirche (built 1231) in Leipzig. It was upon his death on 5 June 1722 that Johann Sebastian Bach succeeded him at St. Thomas. It was about that time that 'Lobe den Herrn, Meine Seele' was published [*]. Kuhnau had applied himself to a huge corpus of works numerous of which are lost. Among other accomplishments including those lost are 'Disputatio de Triade', 'Introductio ad Compositionem', 'Tractatus de Tetrachordo', 'Magnificat in C Major' and an opera titled 'Orpheus'. The earliest and principle source of knowledge about Kuhnau is from Johann Mattheson's 1740 'Grundlage einer Ehrenpforte' [1, 2, 3, 4]. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Recordings of: 1, 2, 3, 4. Bibliography: editions of Kuhnau *; 'The Dissemination of Music in Seventeenth-century Europe' ed by Erik Kjellberg (Peter Lang 2010) *; 'Johann Kuhnau: Sein Leben und Seine Werke' by Richard Münnich (Breitkopf & Härtel 1902) *; 'The Pianoforte Sonata: Its Origin and Development' by J.S. Shedlock (Good Press 2019) *; 'The Published Works of Johann Kuhnau' by Susan Jones Bruno *; 'Sarabande Vol 2' by Oskar Fleischer & Johannes Wolf (Breitkopf & Härtel 1901) *. Other profiles: 1, 2. See also the Kuhnau Project.

Johann Kuhnau

  Ach Herr, mich armer Sünder

     Harpsichord: Ernst Stolz

 Biblical Sonatas

     Organ: John Butt

 Ciacona in B

      Gabriel Isenberg

 Gott sei mir gnädig

     1705

     Currende/Erik van Nevel

 Magnificat in C Major

     Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra/Choir

      Organ/Conducting: Ton Koopmann

      Soprano: Deborah York

 Tristis est anima mea

     Dresden Kreuzchor/Rudolf Mauersberger


 
  Born on 2 May 1660 in Palermo in the island kingdom of Sicily, Alessandro Scarlatti was father of both composer, Pietro Filippo Scarlatti [*], and Domenico Scarlatti, with whom he shares equal importance to the baroque period. Among his accomplishments are above 600 sacred and secular cantatas largely for solo voice and continuo, about 30 chamber cantatas, 40 motets and the development of the Neapolitan school of opera. By "school" is meant not a literal organization such as one of Naples' conservatories [1, 2, 3, 4], but an approach to doing things that attracted other major composers and having a distinct affect on the greater scene in Europe. In Scarlatti's case that meant helping put Naples on the map as a major center of the theatrical arts to rival Rome and Venice. Scarlatti is thought to have moved to Rome with his sister in 1672 [Trenfo]. Though there is no documentation of such, he is said to have studied in Rome under Giacomo Carissimi who died in 1674. In 1678 he married and was appointed maestro di cappella at the Church of Saint Giacomo degli Incurabili attached to San Giacomo in Augusta. His 1679 opera, 'Gli Equivoci nell sembiante', won him the patronage of Queen Christina of Sweden [*] living in exile in Rome since 1654, there a foremost patroness of the arts until her death in 1689. During that time he was also worked in association with the Oratorio del Santissimo Crocifisso. Scarlati's position as Christina's private maestro di cappella was followed with another to the Viceroy of Naples, Gaspar Méndez de Haro [*], in 1684. Scarlatti was quite productive composing operas in that capacity until 1702 when he was employed at Ferdinando de' Medici's [*] private theatre near Florence. He also wrote operas while serving as maestro di cappella for Cardinal Ottoboni [*], as well as at the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore [*]. He visited Venice and Urbino before returning to Naples in 1708. 1718 found him producing operas in Rome again, also composing his 'Messa di Santa Cecilia' [1, 2] in 1720. His last opera, 'Griselda' [*], premiered at the Teatro Capranica [*] in 1721. He may have yet been working on his serenade, 'Erminia' [*], back in Naples when he died on 22 October 1725. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'Aspects of the Secular Cantata in Late Baroque Italy' by Michael Talbot (Routledge 2017). Operas. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; 'Messa di Santa Cecilia' by Maurice Abravanel & the Utah Symphony Orchestra [*]. Internet Archive. Further reading: 'Poetry and Patronage' by Kimberly Coulter & Hale Harris *; 'The Cantatas of Alessandro Scarlatti' by Rosalind Halton *; 'Mapping the Musical Genome the Scarlatti Family' by Luca Casagrande *. Bibliography: editions of Scarlatti: 1, 2; 'Regole per ben [son]are' (217 partimenti by Scaraltti published by Benedetto Cipriani 1754): 1, 2, 3, 4; 'Alessandro Scarlatti: His Life and Works' by Edward Joseph Dent (Edward Arnold 1905) *; 'The Operas of Alessandro Scarlatti' Vol I-IX (Harvard U Press 1974-85) *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also L'Associazione Domenico Scarlatti *.

Alessandro Scarlatti

 Carlo, rè d'Alemagna

    Stavanger Symphony Orchestra

    Fabio Biondi

 Concerti Grossi

     Accademia Bizantina

     Otavio Dantone

 Dixit Dominus

    English Concert Choir

    Trevor Pinnock

 Exultate Deo

    Bahamas National Youth Choir

 Folia

    Harpsicord: Beatrice Martin

 Partimento 209

    Harpsichord: Christian Rieger

 Stabat Mater

    Soprano: Gemma Bertagnolli

 

Birth of Classical Music: Alessandro Scarlatti

Alessandro Scarlatti

Source: Baroque Music
  Born in Leipzig on 14 Nov 1663, Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow was the son of a piper among Leipzig's town musicians and studied music as youth. Relocating with his family to Eilenburg in 1676, he may have  studied there w town organist, Johann Hildebrand [1, 2, 3, 4]. He became cantor and organist at the Marktkirche in Halle in 1684. Also called Liebfrauenkirche or Marienkirche, Zachow remained there his whole career. Though a minor composer in the annals of music history, Zachow was initial teacher to George Frideric Handel until the latter became employed at age 18 in 1702. Zachow died ten years later in Halle on 7 August 1712. References: Bach Cantatas; Hyeok Lee; Wikipedia: 1, 2, 3. Editions of works: WorldCat. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'Christmas Cantatas' w Constanze Backes (soprano). HMR Project. LV (Lohmann Verzeichnis) numbers for Zachow are per Heinz Lohmann's 1966 'Gesammelte Werke für Tasteninstrumente'.

Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow

  In dulci jubilo

    LV 34

     Organ: Einer von Weitem

 Medley

    Hab ich nur dich, mein Gott

     Ich mag den Himmel nicht

     Der Erden Stolz und Pracht hab ich schon

     Mein Gott, du bist mein Teil

     Accademia Amsterdam/Cappella Frisiae

     Soprano: Constanze Backes

 Preiset mit mir den Herren

     Berlin Capella Cantorum

 Siehe, ich bin bei euch alle Tage

      Das Kleine Konzert/Rheinische Kantorei

     Hermann Max


 
  Antonio Lotti was born in Venice on 5 January 1667, though his father was Kapellmeister at a church in Hanover, Germany. He began studying music under Giovanni Legrenzi in 1682, first employed as an alto singer at St. Mark's Basilica [*] in 1689. He very gradually moved upward through organ positions until finally becoming maestro di cappella in 1736, to die four years later on his birthdate of Jan 5, 1740. With the exception of a couple years producing three operas in Dresden (1717-19) Lotti remained in Venice his entire career. Lotti composed nearly thirty operas, though his sacred works are probably more esteemed, particularly larger concert works for choir and instruments including oboe, bassoon and trumpet. Those instruments are found in secular works as well, such as serenatas and sonatas. His 'Trio Sonata in A' was written for flute, continuo and oboe d'amore. Of particular note among Lotti's concert works are his Credos containing 'Crucifixus' motets for 4 to 10 voices. See 'Crucifixus a 8 voci' in his 'Credo in F' [*; audio: 1, 2; scores: 1, 2, 3]. Modern editions of Lotti's 3 and 4 voice motets and masses include the Breitkopf Thematic Catalogue and Annie Bank. The only book Lotti published during his lifetime, 'Duetti, terzetti, e madrigali a più voci' containing 18 works in 1705, had been for voice with continuo [1, 2], some composed circa 1700. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Catalogues of works: sacred: 1, 2; secular. Editions of Lotti: 1, 2; 'Duetti, terzetti, e madrigali a più voci': 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Internet Archive. Further reading: 'The Sacred Music of Antonio Lotti' Benjamin Byram-Wigfield (Open University 2016) *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4.

Antonio Lotti

  Crucifixus a 6 voci

      Marta Guassardo

  Crucifixus a 8 voci

      Matthew Curtis

  Crucifixus a 10 voci

      Le Macadam Ensemble

  Giuramento amorosa

      Madrigal   Il

      Complesso Barocco/Alan Curtis

      Sopranos:

      Elena Cecchi Fedi & Roberta Invernizzi

  Missa sapientiae in G minor

      Balthasar Neumann Ensamble

     Thomas Hengelbrock

  Missa del sesto tuono

      Lotti Chamber Choir

  Trio Sonata in A

      Allegro

      Gan Eden Ensemble


 
  Born in Paris on 10 Nov 1668, François Couperin (Francois the Grand or Great) takes up the Baroque in France a generation or so after Jean-Baptiste Lully. As a unit of the Couperin musical dynasty, Francois was nephew to Louis Couperin, brother of his father, Charles, organist at the Catholic Church of Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais [*] until his death when Francois was age ten. Couperin became organist at the same church in 1685-86 when he was 17-18 years old. While there he published 'Pièces d'Orgue' in 1690, that containing two masses, 'Messe pour les Paroisses' (for parishes) and 'Messe pour les Couvents' (for convents) [*]. In 1693 Couperin became organist of the Chapelle Royale under King Louis XIV (aka le Roi Soleil or Sun King). Among the duties of the Chapelle Royale was to give weekly concerts to the court, oft on Sundays, Couperin said to be virtuosic on such occasions with several instruments. The first book he published while employed to Louis was 'Premiere livre de pièces de clavecin' consisting of Ordres 1 to 5 in 1713 [*]. 'Second livre de pièces de clavecin' consisting of Ordres 6 to 12 appeared in 1716-17 [*]. Included in the latter book as Ordre 10:6 is a rondeau in D major titled 'Les Bagatéles' ('The Trifles'). The first known bagatelle  appeared in 1692 as No. 6 of 'Suite à 3 in C major' (Suite 1) by Marin Marais [1, 2, 3, 4]. Publishing several books of harpsichord music to as late as 1730, Couperin is well-known for his manual, 'L'art de toucher le clavecin' ('The Art of Harpsichord Playing'), issued in 1716 [1, 2, 3, 4]. Among the more influential composers to later musicians, Couperin died in Paris on 11 Sep 1733. His image to the right is a posthumous engraving by Jean Jacques Flipart in 1735 after an earlier painting by André Bouys. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4 (MIDI files), 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bibliography: editions of Couperin at Abe Books; 'Couperin, François (1668–1733)' by G.T. Kurian; WorldCat. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4.

François Couperin

  Les Concerts Royaux

     Comp 1714   Pub 1722

     Le Concert Des Nations/Jordi Savall

  Domine, salvum fac regem

     Monique Zanetti/Michael Laplénie

     Direction: Bernard Coudurier

  First Book for Harpsichord

      1713   Ordre 1 of 5

     Harpsichord: Roc Vela

  Fourth Book for Harpsichord

     1730   Ordre 25 of 20-27

      Harpsichord: Riho Noma

  Les Nations

      1726

      La françoise   Suite 1 of 4

      Flute: Sebastian Wittiber

      Oboe: José Luis Garcia Vegara

  Second Book for Harpsichord

       1716   Les Bagatelles   Ordre 10.6

       Harpsichord: Davitt Moroney

  Third Book for Harpsichord

       1722   Ordre 18 of 13-19

       Harpsichord: QinYing Tan


Francois Couperin

Francois Couperin

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Birth of Classical Music: Louis Marchand

Louis Marchand

Source: Gallica
Born in Lyon on 2 Feb 1669, Louis Marchand arrived to Earth of a musical family, his grandfather a music teacher, his father an organist who also refurbished them. Marchand's family moved to Nevers in 1684. Accounts differing, Marchand may or may not have become organist at Nevers Cathedral at age fourteen. He was living in Paris by the time he was twenty, there to obtain employment at the Church of Eglise Saint-Jacques (Church of Saint-Jacques du Haut-Pas), documented in a marriage contract of 1689 to one Marie Angelique Denis, daughter of an organ builder [Wikipedia; some sources don't have him at Saint-Jacques until 1691]. Marchand would work at numerous churches in Paris throughout his career including the Church of St. Honoree [*] from 1703 to 1707. Prior to that he is thought to have published Book 1 of his 'Pièces de Clavecin' in 1699 [1, 2]. That was republished in 1702 by Christophe Ballard along with Book 2 of 'Pièces de Clavecin' [IMSLP: 1, 2; digital copies: 1, 2]. One date that holds true in all sources during that period is 1701, the year Marie Angelique divorced him for beating her and spent the next several years putting claim to half his earnings. She apparently acquired the assistance of King Louis XIV (Sun King) who agreed, leading to the anecdote that during the performance of a mass at the Royal Chapel at Versailles, there appointed to organ in 1708, he stopped halfway through, explaining to Louis that since his wife received half his salary she may finish the mass. Marchand's virtuosic abilities seemed to win him grace from various unpleasant behaviors. Howsoever, it was during Marchand's time w Louis that the latter completed the fifth rebuilding of the Royal Chapel in 1710 [1, 2, 3]. Marchand took his work on a concert tour of Germany between 1713 and 1717, during which time Louis XIV died in 1715, succeeded by Louis XV. Marchand's return to France is said to have been hastened by a scheduled keyboard contest w JS Bach in Dresden in September of 1717 [1, 2]. The story circulates that he left Dresden the morning of the scheduled duel due to fear that Bach would outperform him. That account originating in Germany differs from others which relate other reasons for missing his appointment w Bach. Either way, it remaining unknown how he compared to Bach, Marchand returned to his position as organist at the Cordeliers Convent in Paris where he remained, also teaching for an income, until his death on 17 Feb 1732. Évrard Titon du Tillet's 'Le Parnasse Francois' was published later that year in which he included his contemporaneous biography of Marchand. In the portrait to the left Marchand wears a powdered wig (peruke, periwig), such coming into fashion about 1655 when Louis XIV, a king Baroque if ever one was (Louis XV the poster child of Rococo), began the fad to hide hair loss. It quickly came into fashion whether one was bald or not and prevailed throughout the eighteenth century until it began to fade from style by the nineteenth. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Editions of Marchand: 'Pièces d'Orgue' Book IV (<1729): 1, 2; 'Pièces Choisies pour l'Orgue' Livre premiere: ('Plein Jeu') François Boivin (1732?) *; Mme. Boivin (M. de Brotonne 1740 Bibliothèque Nationale de France): 1, 2; Pierre Gouin (Les Éditions Outremontaises 2012) *; 'Traité de Contrepoint Simple' Richard Briflot (Bar-le-Duc 1739): 1, 2; WorldCat. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3; 'Pièces de clavecin 1702' by Blandine Verlet (harpsichord). Bibliography: 'A Forgotten Virtuoso' Geoffrey B. Sharp ('The Musical Times' 1969) *; 'Le Parnasse Francois' by Évrard Titon du Tillet (1732): 1, 2 (fascimile); 'Quarterly Magazine of the International Musical Society' Vol 6 (Breitkopf & Härtel 1905) *; 'Zeitschrift' Vol 6 International Musical Society (Breitkopf & Härtel 1904) *. See also: 1, 2; Mademoiselle Boivin (Elisabeth-Catherine Ballard): *; HMR Project.

Louis Marchand

 Pièces de Clavecin

    Book 1: Suite in D Minor   Pub 1699

     Harpsichord: Ketil Haugsand

 Pièces de Clavecin

     Book 2: Suite in G Minor   Pub 1702

     Harpsichord: Ketil Haugsand

 Pièces d'Orgue

    Book 1   Comp c 1700   Pub 1732 or 1740

     Organ: Michel Chapuis

 Pièces d'Orgue

     Book 1 No.11: Fond d'Orgue

     Organ: Luca Raggi

 Pièces d'Orgue

    Book 3: Grand Dialogue   Comp 1696

     Organista: Davide Paleari


 
Birth of Classical Music: Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni

Tomaso Albinoni

Source: Edition HH
Born on 6 June 1671 in Venice, Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni was born to a prosperous but not inexhaustibly rich paper merchant. He likely studied singing and violin while young, but not a lot is known about him with the exception that he emerged into the world as a self-described dilettante. In medieval Europe the two main forces behind music, largely in France, had been the Catholic Church (sacred in association with Notre Dame) and troubadours seeking the patronage of royalty (secular). The secular aspect behind the Renaissance, albeit involving gods, was its humanistic reawakening of the ancient classical, as in matters Greek. By Albinoni's time there had emerged a merchant class which neither Church nor monarch could brush off anymore. In those ranks arrived the independently wealthy who needed not work, a station once reserved for land-owning aristocrats. Of that class came the dilettante, that is, one whose delight or devotion was the arts. Among the greatest examples of a dilettante dedicated to culture lived over in Rome at the time of Albinoni's birth, the exiled Queen of Sweden, Christina, a foremost patroness of the arts who surrounded herself with them. Albinoni presented himself as a dilettante to distinguish himself from professionals who worked at music for a living. Though Albinoni's family industry of stationers was small change compared to Christina, it could support Albinoni's musical proclivities if need to as late as 1721 when old debts put it out of business. By that time Albinoni had long since been pocketing profits from books and the staging of operas. Albioni dedicated his Opus 1, 'Sonate a Tres', to Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni in 1694. He produced his first opera in 1694 as well: 'Zenobia'. The next several years saw the increase of his popularity throughout Italy as he traveled to stage his productions. His Op 2. 'Sinfonie e Concerti a Cinque', appeared in 1700 dedicated to Charles IV, Duke of Mantua. Op 3, 'Balletti a Tre', arrived the next year in dedication to Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Albinoni later directed a couple operas in Munich for Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria. Albinoni's ten opuses were ten published books, nine of instrumental works, one for solo voice with continuo. Albinoni died in Venice on 17 Jan of 1751 of diabetes. Albinoni highlights the role of Venice during the Baroque due largely to vocal operas and cantatas, though his vocal works are not so esteemed as his instrumentals including sinfonias, concerti, balletti and sonatas. Music for chamber (camera) described one instrument or voice with continuo. Big name contemporaries of his were such as Lotti and Vivaldi, insuring that Baroque wouldn't be a European spectacle minus Venice, maintaining its position as a cultural center acquired during the Renaissance. A main source of knowledge about Albinoni had been handwritten manuscripts held at the Dresden State Library until they were destroyed during the World War II bombing of Dresden. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Bibliography: editions of Albioni: 1, 2; 'A History of Baroque Music' by George Buelow (Indiana U Press 2004); Oxford U Press. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. The serenata, below, is a kind of cantata.

Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni 

  12 Concerti a cinque

      1735   Op 10

      I Musici

     Roberto Michelucci

  12 Concerti a cinque

      1715   Op 7

      Berlin Chamber Orchestra

  12 Concerti a cinque

      1722   Op 9

      The Academy of Ancient Music

     Christopher Hogwood

  Il Concilio de' Pianeti

      First performed 1729   Serenata a tre voci

      Ensemble Strumentale Albalonga

      Annibale Centrangolo

  Sinfonie e Concerti a cinque

      1700   Op 2

      Rome Instrumental Ensemble/Giorgio Sasso


 
  Born in Thal near Eisenach, Germany, on 14 Feb 1677, Johann Ludwig Bach is among numerous reasons that "Baroque" and "Bach" are nigh synonymous. Johann Ludwig was third cousin to Johann Sebastian Bach of the Bach musical dynasty [1, 2, 3]. He left Eisenach for Meiningen at age 22 where he became a court musician to Prince Bernhard I. He there gradually became kapellmeister which position he kept throughout his career. It is in Meiningen that he composed the 39 works found in the Johann-Ludwig-Bach-Verzeichnis called the "JLB" catalogue [1, 2, 3]. Ludwig's works were early confused to be by J.S. Bach as found among the latter's manuscripts. It isn't known that Johann Ludwig published any works and no compositions properly ascribed to him saw light until the mid nineteenth century per sixteen of his cantatas in Johann Theodor Mosewius' 1852 'Johann Sebastian Bach's Matthäus-Passion', that a correction of titles that he mistakenly ascribed to Sebastian in a publication of 1845 [*]. The JLB catalogue begins with 17 cantatas edited by Alfred Dorfel in the 41st volume of 'Bach-Gesellschaft Ausgabe' published by the Bach Gesellschaft in 1894. Ludwig wrote numerous other works not found in the JLB such as his 'Missa in G Major' catalogued as BWV Anh 167. (BWV numbers assigned to J.S. Bach are per Wolfgang Schmieder's 'Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis' first published in 1950. "Anh" (anhang) designates spurious additions to the catalogue such as lost, doubtful or determined, since then, to belong to another composer, like Johann Ludwig. "BNB" designations in the BWV describe works copied by Sebastian for his own purposes.) The Johann-Ludwig-Bach-Verzeichnis begins with 'Gott ist unser Zuversicht' as JBL 1 per Dorfel (1894) from earlier Mosewius (1852). Titles include such as 'Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen' JLB 21 composed in 1704, 'Mache dich auf, werde licht' JLB 9 composed in 1711 and 'Allein Gott in der Höh sei ehr' JLB 38 composed in 1716, that a version of the eponymous Lutheran hymn by Nikolaus Decius in 1523. Johann Ludwig died on 1 May 1731 among the more obscure of the Bachs, though deemed a sufficient enough composer for Johann Sebastian to transcribe and employ his works among his own. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions: 'Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen': 1, 2, 3; 'Missa in G Major' BWV Anh 167 ('Messa a 8 voci reali e 4 ripiene'). Scores: 1, 2, 3. Editions of JL Bach: 'Denn du wirst meine Seele nicht in der Hölle lassen' 1852: 1, 2; 'Messa a 8 voci reali e 4 ripiene coll'accompagnamento di due orchestre' in G major (Breitkopf e Härtel 1805): 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 3. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Other profiles: HMR Project.

Johann Ludwig Bach

 Allein Gott in der Höh sei Eh

     JLB 38   1716

     Ex Tempore/Florian Heyerick

 Das ist meine Freude

     JLB 28

     Choir of Clare College

     Timothy Brown

 Mache dich auf, werde Licht (Arise, Shine)

     JLB 9   1711

     Camerata Düren/Peter-JC Eich

  Unsere Trübsal die zeitlich und leicht ist

     JLB 33

     Budafoki William Byrd Énekegyüttes


Johann Ludwig Bach

Johann Ludwig Bach

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Born on 4 March 1678 in Venice (then a republic apart from Italy), Antonio Vivaldi was Italy's Baroque supernova. He composed a galaxy of concertos, as well as sinfonias, sonatas and above 50 identifiable operas. Giovanni's father had been a barber turned professional musician with whom Vivaldi publicly performed as a child. Early records find Vivaldi the maestro di violino at the Ospedale della Pietà at age 25, an esteemed orphanage and music school where Johann Rosenmüller had taught about twenty years earlier. He was ordained a priest the next year in 1703, acquiring the nickname of "The Red Priest" due that he (and his family) was a flaming redhead. Though Vivaldi remained a priest, it's thought he withdrew from the duties of that station due to severe asthma. Vivaldi remained at the Ospedale della Pietà more than thirty years, eventually being appointed maestro de concerti in 1716. He wrote his most famous work, 'The Four Seasons' ('Le quattro stagioni'), about 1716-17. Those were the first four of twelve concertos titled 'The Contest between Harmony and Invention' ('Il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione'), eventually published in 1725 as Op 8 [1, 2, 3; sonnets by Vivaldi for voice]. Vivaldi exchanged Venice for Mantua in 1718, employed as maestro di cappella by Mantua's governor, Philip of Hesse-Darmstadt. Between 1721 and 1725 he worked in Milan and Rome before returning to Venice. By that time Vivaldi's reputation throughout Europe was shimmering. He had performed for Pope Benedict XIII in Rome and now, 1728, he was knighted by Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI. In 1730 Vivaldi journeyed to Prague with his father. Soon returned to Venice, he there spent nigh the next decade until moving to Vienna for unclear reasons in 1740. Unfortunately, shortly upon arriving to Vienna his protector, Charles, died, leaving him both broke and among that unique group of humans whose genius wasn't financial savvy, as Vivaldi died in poverty on 28 July 1741. Vivaldi had composed 46 operas written for both court and public. (The first opera is generally credited to Jacopo Peri as of 1597. Opera moved from entertainment exclusively for aristocrats forty years later, the first public opera house, the Teatro San Cassiano, opening for business in 1637 in Venice.) Of Vivaldi's more than 500 concertos, 230 were for violin, the remainder other instruments. His sonatas number around ninety. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3; didactic *; musical: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: Opus/RV; multiple catalogues cross-referenced: 1, 2. Operas. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; BBC: 1, 2. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; 'The Four Seasons' Op 8: Louis Kaufman (violin); Nemanja Radulović (violin); Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute); Red Priest; Arnie Roth (violin); Vladimir Spivakov (violin); Venice Harp Quartet. Vivaldi in modern soundtracks. Further reading: Project Anima Veneziana; music publishing in Baroque Europe; Vivaldi. Bibliographies: books by and about Vivaldi: international, UK, US; 'Vivaldi: The Four Seasons' by Paul Everett (Cambridge U Press 1996) *; 'Antonio Vivaldi: The Red Priest of Venice' by Karl Heller (Hal Leonard Corporation 1997) *; 'Vivaldi: Voice of the Baroque' H.C. Robbins Landon (U of Chicago Press 1996) *; Oxford. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. RV numbers below are per Danish Vivaldi scholar, Peter Ryom.

Antonio Vivaldi

 Bajazet

    Opera RV 703

     Europa Galant/Fabio Biondi

 Concerto in A Minor for Two Violins

     Pub 1711   RV 522

      Violin l: Aisslinn Nosky

      Violin r: Fiona Hughes

 Concerto in E Minor

     Pub 1729   RV 277   Op 11 No 2

      New York Baroque Incorporated

      Violin: Monica Huggett

 The Contest

     Concerto Op 8 No. 1: La primavera

     Pub 1725   RV 269

      Baroque Festival Orchestra

      Violin: Alexander Pervomansky

  The Contest

     Concerto Op 8 No. 2: L'estate

     Pub 1725   RV 315

      Penn State Baroque Ensemble

      Violin: Aisslinn Nosky

  The Contest

      Concerto Op 8 No. 2: L'estate

       Pub 1725   RV 315

       Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

       Violin: Mari Silje Samuelsen

 The Contest

      Concerto Op 8 No. 3: L'autunno

      Pub 1725   RV 293

     Bremer Barocorchester

      Violin: Mari Silje Samuelsen

 The Contest

      Concerto Op 8 No. 4: L'inverno

      Pub 1725   RV 297

     Voices of Music

      Violin: Cynthia Miller Freivogel

 The Contest

      Concerto for Oboe  Op 8 No. 9

      Pub 1725   RV 454

       Orchestra Barocca Zefiro

      Oboe: Alfredo Bernardini

  La Stravaganza

      Op 4   Pub 1716

      12 concertos for violin

      L'Arte dell'Arco

      Violin: Federico Guglielmo

       See *


Birth of Classical Music: Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Engraving: François Morellon la Cave

Source: Bach Cantatas
  Born on 16 Oct 1679  in Louňovice pod Blaníkem, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), Jan Dismas Zelenka was among the more extraordinary of Baroque composers, hailing from an area of Europe hit especially hard during the Thirty Years War [1, 2, 3, 4] that ceased in 1648 with the Peace of Westphalia [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]. Born thirty years into the rebuilding of Prague, Zelenka was to let Europe know that Czech music was not only arriving, but in an especially powerful way. His father was an organist and school teacher. Zelenka was later taught music at the Clementinum, a Jesuit college in Prague. His instrument the bass viol, Zelenka's first compositions were oratorios written while attending that school. He was employed by one Baron von Hartig in Prague before joining the Dresden royal orchestra in 1710. He played the double bass and earned 300 thalers a year, a solid middle class income at the time. With the exception of a trip to Italy, and later Prague, Zelenka remained in Dresden throughout his life. He passed away on 23 Dec 1745 of dropsy. Notable Czech composing during the Baroque was largely sacred. Opera hadn't been the phenomenon in Bohemia as it had been in the rest of Europe. Zelenka was no different, his contribution to the Baroque arising from out of the parameters of Catholic deployment, yet hardly unaware of his more secular contemporaries while challenging the limits of church music. Zelenka was and remains an indisputable master of counterpoint and harmony as Bohemia's version of his close contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach, in Germany. His known works number 249, including thirteen litanies and more then twenty masses. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Scores: 1, 2. Editions of Zelenka: Abe Books; 'Missa Gratias agimus tibi' ZWV 13 1730 (Carus-Verlag 1983 Stuttgart) IA (Internet Archive). Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 (MIDI files). Recordings of: discos 1, 2, 3; w reviews. Discussion. Further reading: 'Reflections and recent findings on the life and music of Jan Dismas Zelenka' ed by Jirí Kroupa (Clavibus Unitis 4' Association for Central European Studies 2015) (alt); 'The “Czech Bach”' by Robert Reilly; w photos of extraordinary Baroque church interiors. Biblio: 'Jan Dismas Zelenka: seine geistlichen italienischen Oratorien' by Susanne Oschmann (Schott 1986); 'Jan Dismas Zelenka: A Bohemian Musician at the Court of Dresden' Janice Stockigt (Oxford U Press 2000); numerous. Other profiles: *. ZWV numbers below are per Wolfgang Reich, 1985.

Jan Dismas Zelenka

  Litaniae Lauretanae

     ZWV 152   'Salus Infirmorum'   1744

     Tafelmusik Choir/Kammerchor Stuttgart

  Litaniae Xaverianae

     ZWV 155   1727

      Ensemble Inégal/Adam Viktora

  Missa Dei Fili

      ZWV 20   1740-41

      Collegium Vocale Ghent

      Freiburg Baroque Orchestra

  Missa Omnium Sanctorum

       ZWV 21

       Collegium 1704/Václav Luks

  Missa Sanctissimae Trinitatis

      ZWV 17   1736

      Musica Florea/Marek Štryncl

     Soprano: Anna Hlavenková

  Missa Votiva

       ZWV 18   1739

      Kamerchor Stuttgart/Barockorchester Stuttgart

        Frieder Bernius

  Te Deum in D major for two choirs

      ZWV 146   1731

      Collegium 1704/Václav Luks

      Sopranos: Hana Blazikova & Dora Pavlikova

  Il Serpente di Bronzo

     ZWV 61   Sacred cantata   1730

     Ensemble Inégal


 
  Born on 24 March 1681 in Magdeburg, Germany, Georg Philipp Telemann somewhat exists in the background to J.S. Bach who more hogs the show, but he joins his close contemporary in taking baroque to its apex in Germany. Telemann is thought to have begun singing, playing organ and composing at age ten. He'd written an opera, 'Sigismundus', at twelve. He also studied music theory and notation about that time, in addition to composing for choirs and town musicians. Telemann had been a law student at the University of Leipzig when he decided to switch to music. This is said to be due that a fellow student discovered a composition by Telemann, a setting for 'Psalm 6', which was then performed. The impressed mayor of Leipzig then commissioned Telemann to compose for the city's two main churches, St. Nicholas and St. Thomas. Now with a career, Telemann formed a collegium musicum (college musical society) of about forty members with which he gave public performances. In 1702 Telemann was appointed director of the Opernhaus auf dem Brühl where he also employed college musicians for opera. In 1705 Telemann became kapellmeister for the court of Count Erdmann II of Promnitz in Sorau (now Żary, in Poland). He wrote more than 200 overtures during this period even as it was disrupted by the Great Northern War. In 1708 Teleman entered into the service of Duke Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Eisenach, whence he became kapellmeister in 1709. In 1712 Telemann became musical director for the city of Frankfurt and kapellmeister at the Barfüsserkirche, also composing for St. Catherine's. Telemann started publishing his works in 1715, two years prior to becoming kapellmeister for the city of Eisenach. In 1721 he is found working at the Gelehrtenschule des Johanneums in Hamburg, also appointed musical director of that city's five main churches. Between 1725 and 1740 Telemann published more than forty books which found their way throughout Europe. Unfortunately, Telemann's second wife, Catherine, as of 1714 (his first, Amalie, had died in 1711), was a gambler who nearly drove him to bankruptcy but for the financial assistance of friends. The couple finally separated in 1736. The next year he left Hamburg for Paris where he concentrated on publishing the 'Nouveaux quatuors' that year [the Paris quartets; IMSLP; audio; the Quadro Amsterdam]. Returning to Hamburg in 1738, Telemann's great burst of the last few decades began losing fuel. Though he continued composing until his death in Hamburg on 26 June 1767 (outliving the death of his eldest son by twelve years), as Telemann aged his last couple decades or so were spent at a more relaxing pace. Telemann composed an astronomical amount of work, more than 3000 pieces, much relatively complex, which made his a household name throughout high Baroque Europe. His early grooming for law may have contributed to Telemann being an early instance of intellectual rights, he pursuing exclusivity of rights to publish his work upon discovering unauthorized books of his music being published in Paris during his stay there in 1737. Amidst Telemann's oeuvre are concerti, overtures, above 1000 cantatas and 600 suites. His first opera, 'Narcissus' TWV 21.5, appeared in 1701 w libretto by Johann Christian Rau after Apostolo Zeno. Though Telemann may have composed more than fifty operas Wikipedia lists only 33 w known premiere years, the last given as 'Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Comacho' or 'Don Quixotte, der Löwenritter' TWV 21.32 in 1761 w libretto by Daniel Schiebeler [*]. Among Telemann's more significant works are his settings for the Passion [of Jesus in church music]. The Passion in church services amounts to the reading of an account of the Crucifixion [1, 2] from one of the four Gospels during Holy Week. Originating as early as the fourth century, it began to be intoned by at least the eighth. By the 16th century the Passion had become an important musical element in church services, eventually coalescing with the oratorio [1, 2]. Telemann composed both Passions liturgical (herein w cap) and passions as oratorios (herein no cap). Of the latter, his initial premiered in 1716 as 'Der für die Sünde der Welt gemarterte und sterbende Jesus' TWV 5.1 with libretto by Barthold Heinrich Brockes. His last of six arrived in 1763 as 'Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele' TWV 5.2 w libretto by himself. Wikipedia commences its list of liturgical Passions w his first for Matthew, 'Wenn meine Sünd' mich kränken' TWV 5.7, in 1722. Forty are traced to as late as 1767 per a Passion from Mark, 'Christe du Lamm Gottes' TWV 5.52. Other of Telemann's notable works were his fantasias w 'Fantasias pour le Clavessin' (harpsichord) TWV 33 of 1732-33 his most cited [audio; scores: 1, 2. 3]. References for Telemann: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Compositions: 1, 2 (alt); operas; P(p)assions; TWV. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Editions of Telemann: 1, 2; P(p)assions. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Discographies: 1, 2, 3, 4. Further reading: Classic Cat; Habsburger Verlag. Bibliography: 1, 2. Other profiles: 1, 2. Per below, the chalumeau was predecessor to the clarinet [*]. TWV numbering is from the 'Telemann-Werke-Verzeichnis' [1, 2] of Martin Ruhnke.

Georg Telemann

  Concerto

     TWV 52:C1

      For 2 Chalumeaux and 2 Bassoons

      La Stagione Orchestra

 Concerto for 2 violins & bassoon

     1740?   TWV 53:D4   D major

      Collegium Musicum 90

 Concerto for 3 violins in F major

     1733   TWV 53:F1

      Musica Amphion/Pieter-Jan Belder

  Concerto for 4 Violins in D major

     TWV 40:202

      Musica Antiqua Koln/Reinhard Goebel

  Concerto for 4 Violins in G major

     TWV 40:201

      Chamber Orchestra of St. Petersburg

      Director: Lev Shinder

  Concerto for Oboe d'amore

      TWV 51:G3

       English Chamber Orchestra

       Oboe: Thomas Indermühle

 Concerto for Recorder and Flute

      TWV 52:E1

       Flute: Karl-Heinz Passin

       Recorder: Reiner Gebauer

 Concerto in F major

    TWV 54:F1

     Trumpet: Ludwig Güttler

 Divertimento in B flat major

    1767   TWV 50:23

     Música Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel

 Oboe Concerto in E minor

     TWV 51:E1

      Oboe: Heinz Holliger


Birth of Classical Music: Georg Telemann

Georg Telemann

Aquatint: Valentin Daniel Preisler

Source: Wikimedia Commons
  Born on 28 Sep 1681 in Hamburg, Johann Mattheson was a multi-faceted talent whose father was a tax collector. Mattheson began appearing in female opera roles in 1696. He began singing tenor upon his voice changing. He eventually began conducting rehearsals and composing until becoming cantor at St. Mary's Cathedral in 1715. He left that position in 1728 due to increasing deafness. Fluent in English, Mattheson then served as a diplomat, often sailing abroad. He combined that with tutoring for the duration of his life, though not without writing 88 books (biographies, music theory, treatises, etc.) relevant to which Mattheson is considered by some to be the original music critic, a distinction he shares with Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His first published work was the satire, 'Das neueröffnete Orchestre', in 1713 [facsimile]. Like other composers he was buried in a church, St. Michael's in Hamburg, upon his death on 17 April 1764. References: 1, 2, 3. Scores. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Discographies: 1, 2, 3. Biblio: editions of Mattheson: facsimiles; print: 1, 2, 3; 'Mattheson, Johann' George Buelow. Other profiles 1, 2. It was during Mattheson's lifetime that the piano was invented. At first called the fortepiano [1, 2, 3, 4], Medici documents indicate its arrival in 1700, that would be due to a harpsichord builder named Bartolomeo Cristofori [1, 2] who was Keeper of the Instruments for Grand Prince Ferdinando de' Medici of Tuscany. Three pianos that Cristofori made in the 1720s yet exist. Cristofori's piano, however, was too crude to become immediately popular. Not until
1725 did Mattheson translate a 1711 critique of Cristofori's pianoforte by Scipione Maffei (who named it), which article in Mattheson's periodical, 'Musica Critica', was a likely catalyst provoking the instrument's improvement in Germany by organ builder, Gottfried Silbermann, who began building pianos in the thirties. Receiving the approval of J.S. Bach, denied to Cristofori's instrument, though Bach continued composing for harpsichord his promotion of Silbermann's instrument led to improvements such that by 1800 the piano was well along its way to replacing the harpsichord. The first composition written specifically for pianoforte is identified as Lodovico Giustini's 1732 'Sonate da cimbalo di piano e forte' Op 1. The first major composer thought to have composed for pianoforte is Domenico Scarlatti for the Queen of Spain who owned five Cristofori pianos.


Johann Mattheson

  12 Suites

   Aka 'Harmonisches Denckmahl'

    1714

     Piano: Fabiomassimo Castelluzzo

 Arie des Ivan

    Berlin Philharmonic

    Tenor: Manfred Schmidt

  Der Brauchbare Virtuoso

     2nd of 12 sonatas

     1720

     Trio Corelli

  Mein Leben ist hin

    From 'Die unglückselige Cleopatra'

    Opera   Premiere 1704

    Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra

     Soprano: Isabel Bayrakdarian

  Sarabande

     No. 5 of Suite No.11 in C major

     No later than 1714

     René Sanhueza Gaete

  Schlafe Wohl (Sleep Well)

     Matthew Leese


Birth of Classical Music: Johann Mattheson

Johann Mattheson

Engraving: Johann Jacob Haid

Source: Academic
  Christoph Graupner was born on 13 Jan 1683 in Hartmannsdorf, Germany. James Reel at All Music has him studying singing with organist, Nikolaus Kuster, as early as age eight. He attended the University of Leipzig to study law first, then music, before joining the orchestra of the Hamburg Opera in 1705 to play harpsichord. Young Georg Handel played violin in that orchestra at that time as well. Come Graupner's first opera of about ten in 1707, his 'Dido, Konigin von Carthago' [Wikipedia]. In 1709 Graupner left for the court of Hesse-Darmstadt, becoming hofkapellmeister in 1711. He there worked until going blind in 1754, in the meanwhile his last opera showing up as early as 1719, 'Adone' [Wikipedia]. Blind the last six years of his life, Graupner died on 10 May 1760 in Darmstadt. Dispute as to ownership of Graupner's manuscripts between heirs and the court, heirs losing, saw his work fall into obscurity until a reawakening of interest in the 20th century. Graupner had been an exceedingly prolific composer, leaving about 2000 pieces of surviving work, nigh three quarters of which are spiritual cantatas. There are no known portraits of Graupner due that, being a modest Lutheran, he'd not sit for such the vanity, making him the ghost of high Baroque excepting the glow of his work in general. GWV numbers in Graupner are per the thematic 'Graupner-Werke-Verzeichnis' of 2005, edited by Oswald Bill and Christoph Grosspietsch [*]. References: 1, 2, 3. Compositions (numbers GWV): cantatas (1101-1176); chamber pieces (202-219, 707-724); concertos (301-344, 725-728); harpsichord pieces (101-150, 701-706, 801-857); operas; orchestral suites (401-485, 729); symphonies (501-612, 730); complete GWV. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Editions of Graupner: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Further reading: interview w Geneviève Soly. Bibliography: 1, 2. Archive of extant works. Other profiles: 1, 2. See also the Christoph Graupner Society.

Christoph Graupner

   Gott sei uns gnädig

      1741   GWV 1109/41

      Chorus: Ex Tempore

     Orchestra: Mannheim Hofkapelle

     Conductor: Florian Heyerick

  Merk auf mein Herz und sieh dorthin

       1743   GWV 1111/44

       Chorus: Ex Tempore

      Orchestra: Mannheim Hofkapelle

      Conductor: Florian Heyerick

  Partita in A major

      GWV 149

      Harpsichord: Fernando De Luca

  Sinfonia in F major

     1752?   GWV 571

     Siegbert Rampe


 
  Born on 17 April 1683 in Crössuln (now Krauschwitz), Johann David Heinichen was another composer helping to lend credibility to the notion that Germany fairly owned the latter Baroque period, he an important link w Venice also vying for that spot. Heinechen's father was a cantor and pastor. After graduating from Thomasschule in Leipzig, where he studied music, Heinichen matriculated into the University of Leipzig in 1702. Qualified to practice law in 1705-06, that he did in Weissenfels (meanwhile marrying) until 1709 when his first known opera, 'Der angenehme Betrug oder der Carneval von Venedig', was performed. In 1711 he published his first treatise in music theory, 'Grundliche Anweisung', in which he presented his circle of fifths [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10], a geometrical representation of the 12 pitches of the chromatic scale [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. The first circle of fifths [1, 2, 3] had appeared sometime in the 6th century BC per the Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, upon his discovery of 12 pitches and the octave intervals [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; see also the Pythagorean scale: 1, 2]. Another circle of fifths appeared twenty-one centuries later in Nikolay Diletsky's 'Grammatika Musikiykago Peniya' of 1679 [*] to far less fanfare than Heinichen's thirty-two years later. Heinichen might have easily continued his career in Germany when he was compelled toward destinations south, traveling in Italy and, especially, Venice. While in Italy he was employed as of 1712 by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen in Rome. Moving onward to Venice, two of his operas appeared in 1713, 'Mario' and 'Le passioni per troppo amore' [facsimile]. While in Venice he met Augustus III of Poland in 1716 who helped him acquire employment with his father at the court of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, in Dresden. Heinichen was there appointed Kapellmeister in 1717, sharing that position w Johann Christoph Schmidt [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. His 'Mass in D Major' S 9 arrived in 1721 [digital copy; audio; score], that a second version of his first 'Mass in D Major' which begins the Seibel catalogue [1, 2] as S number 1. (The Seibel catalogue doesn't represent the entirety of Heinichen's oeuvre.) Heinichen published his second volume of music theory, 'Der General-Bass in der Composition', in 1728 [IMSLP; reviews: Sandra Mangsen; Derek Remes; Philip Russom; David Schulenberg]. He died the next year on 16 July 1729 in Dresden of tuberculosis at age forty-six. He had been a prolific composer during his relatively brief career, writing concerti grossi, concerti, works for orchestra, sonatas for chamber, keyboard solos, arias for operas, 62 cantatas per S, other liturgical works like Psalms in Latin and vernacular, lamentations, responsories, 58 Masses per S, et al ad infinitum. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4. Scores: 1, 2; Vespers. Editions of Heinichen: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Discos: 1, 2, 3. Further reading: Andrew Hartman. Biblio: 'Thorough-Bass Accompaniment according to Johann David Heinichen' by George Buelow: U of California Press 1966. Collections: Dresden Catholic Court Church *. Other profiles *. S numbers below are per Gustav Adolph Seibel's 'Das Leben des Königl' (Breitkopf & Härtel 1913) [1, 2].

Johann David Heinichen

  Concerto grosso in G major

     S 213

 Concerto grosso in G major

      S 214

      Il Fondamento/Paul Dombrecht

 Concerto grosso in G major

      S 215

      Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel

 Mass 11 in D major

      S 6

      Dresdner Barockorchester

     Hans-Christoph Rademann

      Soprano: Christine Wolff

 La Pace di Kamberga

      S 19   Oratorio

      Batzdorfer Hofkapelle/Daniel Deuter

 Requiem in E flat major

      S 18

      Das Kleine Conzerte/Herman Maxx

     Soprano: Maria Zadori

 Violin Concerto in A minor

      International Baroque Players

      Violin: Johannes Pramsohler

 Warum toben die Heiden in D major

      S 39   Vernacular psalm

      Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel

     Bass: Raimund Nolte


 
  Born on 25 Sep 1683 in Dijon, Jean-Philippe Rameau was to high Baroque in France what JS Bach, born two years later, was in Germany. His triad of expertise was composition for harpsichord, music theory and operas. Rameau's father worked as an organist at churches around town. He was otherwise Jesuit-educated and likely studied music for a brief period in Milan before becoming an itinerant organist and violinist. In 1706 Rameau published his first volume of compositions, 'Premiere livre de pièces de clavecin' RCT 1, in Paris. A suite of nine pieces in A minor, that begins the RCT (Rameau Catalogue Thématique) of Sylvie Bouissou and Denis Herlin published in Paris in 2007 [1, 2]. Between 1709 and 1722 he worked as an organist at churches in Dijon, Lyon and Clermont, also composing a good number sacred motets and secular cantatas. It was early during that period between 1710 and 1714 that he composed his setting, 'In convertendo Dominus' RCT 14 in either Dijon or Lyon. In church liturgy the 'In convertendo Dominus' refers to text in either the Latin Psalter 125 or the King James Psalm 126. The revised version of 'In convertendo Dominus' saw publishing in 1751. Back in Paris in 1722, he there published his 'Traité de l'harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels' the same year [1, 2, 3, (alt), 4, 5]. Come 'Pièces de clavecin avec une méthode' [*] in 1724 consisting of 'Suite in E minor' RCT 2 and 'Suite in D major' RCT 3 along with 'Menuet en Rondeau' RCT 4. Rameau composed for stage for the first time in 1723, RCT 36, a lost work of incidental music for an opéra comique by Alexis Piron called 'L'endriague'. Come 'Nouvelles Suites de Pièces de Clavecin' in 1727 consisting of 'Suite in A minor' RCT 5 and 'Suite in G major' RCT 6 [*]. Rameau was fifty years of age when his first opera was performed in Paris in 1733, an unsuccessful tragedie called 'Hippolyte et Aricie' RCT 43 [1, 2, 3, 4] that saw revision 1742. By 1733 Rameau had found patronage in Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière [*] as well, which he enjoyed for the next twenty years. Along the way arrived his 'Pièces de clavecin en concerts' in 1741 consisting of 5 chamber concerti [1, 2]. Rameau's last opera to see public performance was 'Les Paladins' RCT 51 in 1760 [1, 2, 3]. He composed 'Les Boréades' in 1763 [1, 2, 3], probably for private performance at the Choisy-le-Roi but not publicly staged until 1770, six years after Rameau's death on 12 Sep 1764 [*]. References encyclopedic: Encyclopedia; Wikipedia: 1, 2; Wikisource; World Heritage; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Prose works in music theory: 1, 2; 'Observations on our instinct for music, and on its principle' (1754): 1, 2. Editions of works: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: IMSLP; Wikipedia: ballets, operas, pièces de clavecin; various. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4. Audio: BBC; Classical Archives; . Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; 'Orchestre De Louis XV: Suites D'Orchestre' by Le Concert des Nations directed by Jordi Savall: 1, 2. Further reading: corps sonore (theory of harmony developed from studies in acoustics by Joseph Sauveur): Geoffrey Burgess, B. Glenn Chandler; music theory various: 1, 2, 3. Biblio: Abe Books; 'Rameaus Langer Schatten: Studien zur Deutschen Musiktheorie des 18 Jahrhunderts' by Ludwig Holtmeier (Georg Olms Verlag 2017; reviews: Thomas Christensen: *; Christophe Guillotel-Nothmann *); 'Jean-Philippe Rameau: His Life and Work' by Cuthbert Girdlestone (Courier Corporation 1969, 2014). Other profiles: Catholic: 1, 2; encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; musical: 1, 2, 3. With the exception of 'La Dauphine', all selections below are from Rameau's operas.

Jean-Philippe Rameau

 La Dauphine

    1747

    Harpsichord: Andre Alberto Gomez

 Les Indes galantes (The Gallant Indies)

    1735

 La Naissance d'Osiris

     [Part 1]

     [Part 2]

     [Part 3]

     1754

      Capella Savaria/Mary Terey-Smith

 Les Paladins

    Ouverture    1760

     Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

    Conducting: Nicholas McGegan

 Platée

     Prologue/Act I

      1745   Revised 1749

      Les Musiciens du Louvre

 Les Surprises de L'amour

     1748   Revised 1757

      Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski

 Zaïs

      Overture   1748

      Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski

      Album: 'Rameau: Une Symphonie Imaginaire'


Birth of Classical Music: Jean-Philippe Rameau

Jean-Philippe Rameau   1728

Painting: Jacques Aved

Source: Baroque Music
Birth of Classical Music: Bohuslav Matej Cernohorsky

Bohuslav Cernohorsky

Source: Sheet Music DB
Christened on 16 Feb 1684 in Nymburk, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic), Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský was a baroque composer of largely sacred music (motets and other choral works) and organ pieces (fugues, toccates). From 1700 to 1702 he studied philosophy in Prague, then became a Franciscan in 1704, a priest in 1708. In 1710 he was banned from Czech domains for traveling to Rome, invited by the Franciscan order there, without Franciscan consent in Prague. In 1715 he was in Assisi as an organist at the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi, also studying counterpoint with Giuseppe Tartini while in Assisi. Once it was legal he went to Prague and taught music, Josef Seger and František Tůma among his pupils. He was banned yet again upon dispute with the Friars Minor (Franciscans) in 1731, this time because he denied them his family inheritance. Which found Cernohorský back in Italy, now as an organist in Padua. He died in Graz, Austria, on 1 July 1742. Due much to the Thirty Years War [1, 2, 3, 4] which had hit Bohemia and Prague especially hard, Czech music had been something set aback decades before Cernohorský arrived on the scene. Prague had lost an estimated two thirds of its population as a result of the Thirty Years War, concerning which the Peace of Westphalia [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] found Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III moving his court to Vienna with a large portion of Prague's population following him. Thus emptied, redevelopment required decades. Therefore, if Cernohorský wasn't a major composer, he was nevertheless a major Czech link to the Baroque during a period when Prague was beginning to prosper again. He joins Zelenka at the vanguard of a long list of Bohemian composers that would altogether rival the rest of Europe's. As well, though Catholic influence was especially strong in Vienna and Venice, both major centers of baroque music, Cernohorský helped raised the ante of Catholic involvement in baroque to further rival Protestant Germany. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Scores: 1, 2. Editions. Audio. Discography.

Bohuslav Černohorský

 Fugue in D major

     Organ: Neva Krysteva

 Fugue in F major

     Organ: Jaroslav Vodrážka

 Precatus Est Moyzes

     Brixiho Chamber Ensemble/Marek Müller


 
  Born on 22 June 1684 Pistoia, Tuscany, Francesco Onofrio Manfredini studied violin in Bologna under Giuseppe Torelli and composition under Giacomo Perti at the Basilica of San Petronio. He was the father of composer, Vincenzo Manfredini (1737-99). About 1700 Manfredini joined the orchestra of the Church of San Spirito in Ferrara, returning to San Petronio in 1704 where he published his Op 1 of 12 chamber concertos. He joined the Accademia Filarmonica (a musical society) in Bologna in 1709, the year he published his twelve church sonatas compositions, a set of twelve chamber sonatas. 1711 found him in the employ of Prince Antonio I of Monaco. In 1727 he became maestro di capella at St. Philip's Cathedral in Pistola, where he kept until his death on Oct 6, 1762. Much of Manfredini's oeuvre is thought to have been destroyed, there little more than 43 published works and manuscripts surviving. References: 1, 2, 3. Lavori. Scores. Editions: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4. Other profiles: 1, 2.

Francesco Manfredini

  12 Concerti   Op 3

     1718

     1718   Concerto grosso in D minor

      Orquestra Ars Musicae de Mallorca

      Les Amis de Philippe/Ludger Rémy

  12 Sinfonie da chiesa   Op 2:1

     1709   Sinfonia in F major

     Capricornus Consort Basel

  12 Sinfonie da chiesa   Op 2:2

     1709   Sinfonia in D minor

     Capricornus Consort Basel

  12 Sinfonie da chiesa   Op 2:12

     1709   Sinfonia in D major

     Capricornus Consort Basel


 
  Born on 5 March 1685 in Halle, Germany, it is with George Frideric Handel that we begin to refer to Great Britain: England and Scotland forging the Treaty of Union during his lifetime in 1706 to become the United Kingdom in 1707. Ireland would follow in 1800 w problems between Protestant England and Catholic Ireland present from the incipiency of that combination [1, 2]. As for Handel, he joins Johann Sebastian Bach as a major composer at the height of Baroque w the exception that he left Germany for England at age 30 where Henry Purcell, England's only major baroque composer (less so the earlier Lawes brothers), had died fifteen years before when Handel was ten years of age. The triad of major players in the baroque were Italy where it began and maintained eminence, followed by Venice and Germany. Baroque definitely flourished in Catholic France as well, though France, an empire decidedly in of and to itself, was at odds against the Holy Roman Empire throughout the period. The first Holy Roman Emperor had been French per Charlemagne in 800 AD, a complex weave for the next eleven centuries to the point of becoming its adversary and Napoleon's final vanquishing of the Empire in 1806. In England meanwhile, the baroque had taken a little longer to catch on in a place already set apart, as an island, from the rest of Europe, and with its own ways such as the highest literacy rate of the general population in Europe and its preference for song to baroque instrumentation. To visit England was more like a trip to a foreign country than to Poland. Even Spain, now a monarchy for the last couple hundred years since Isabella and Ferdinand, was overall more baroque, and very much so, than England, the latter a European odd ball during a period when France didn't intend to play second fiddle to the Holy Roman Empire. But for Purcell, England occupies frugal space on the map of the elaborate baroque in comparison to its continental centers, making its acquisition of Handel all the more significant, bearing witness to the alliance between England and Germany as Protestant nations as well. Handel's father had been a barber-surgeon to the courts of both Saxe-Weissenfels and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. Despite being groomed for a career in law and being forbidden to tinker with musical instruments, Handel is said to have learned to play harpsichord and organ as a child in secret. An early performance for Duke Johann Adolf I of Saxe-Weissenfels was thus surprising: he wasn't supposed to be able to play at all, much less well enough for his father to relent and agree that Handel study under Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow at the Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen in Halle. By age 13 Handel was skilled enough to perform for Frederick I of Prussia. He began to study law at the University of Halle in 1702 while working as an organist, but quit in 1703 to play harpsichord and violin in the orchestra at the Oper am Gänsemarkt theatre in Hamburg. Handel premiered his first two operas, 'Almira' HWV 1 [1, 2, 3] and 'Nero' HWV 2, in January and February of 1705, the latter entirely lost like his later opera of 1708, 'Florinda' HWV 3 [1, 2], of which only scraps exist. In 1706 Handel took a trip to Italy to compose for the Medicis, especially opera. He composed his first oratorio in 1707, 'Il trionfo del tempo e del disinganno' ('The Triumph of Time and Disillusion') HWV 243a, w libretto by Benedetto Pamphili. Handel revised that in 1737 as 'Il trionfo del Tempo e della Verità' ('The Triumph of Time and Truth') HWV 46b. Handel was blind by the time of its 1757 revision so his participation in that was minimal [1, 2]. Handel's 'La Resurrezione' HWV 47 followed in 1708 [1, 2, audio], performed in Rome on the Easter Sunday of 8 April. In 1710 he became Kapellmeister to German Prince George, Elector of Hanover (to become King George I of Great Britain and Ireland in 1714). But he got ants in his pants that same year, forcing him to take his opera, 'Rinaldo', to London for its premiere on 24 February 1711, that the most frequently performed opera during his lifetime [1, 2, 3, audio]. IMSLP has that as HWV 7a, HWV 7b a later revision as of 1731. In 1712 Handel was earning £200 (about $300) a year from Queen Anne. He also found patronage in Richard Boyle, Earl of Burlington and Cork. In 1717 Handel became composer to the Duke of Chandos at his Cannons estate. The Cannons was a project begun by the Duke in 1713 to the purpose of architectural, artistic and landscaping splendor at a cost of £200,000, equivalent to £27,220,000 today (nigh 41 million dollars). Forty years later it ceased to exist, being demolished and even its bricks sold, due to twists of fortune with the South Sea Company that left its owner, the Duke's son, Henry, in ruins as well. In the meantime Handel founded the Royal Academy of Music in 1719 (not to be confused with the latter Royal Academy of 1822). It was 1723 when he became an English subject and began renting his place at 25 Brock Street in Mayfair, London, where he stayed the remainder of his life. Handel found time to write settings for several texts by B.H. Brockes in 1724-26, resulting in nine German arias catalogued as HWV 202-210 [HVW 202]. Handel later put a few texts by Charles Wesley to music about 1747, HWV 284-286, perhaps for Priscilla Rich. Handel composed his anthem, 'Zadok the Priest' HWV 258 [1, 2, 3], for the 1727 coronation of King George II. With text from 1 Kings 1:38–40 employed, concerning the anointing of King Solomon, that has been performed at every British coronation ever since. Earlier settings for 'Zadok the Priest' used in coronation anthems had been composed by Thomas Tomkins for King Charles I in 1626 and Henry Lawes for King Charles II in 1661. Handel's 'Alexander's Feast' HWV 75 arrived in 1736 [1, 2, 3], that an ode in honor of St. Cecilia w libretto by Newburgh Hamilton borrowed from John Dryden's 'Alexander's Feast' of 1697 w music, score now lost, by Jeremiah Clarke. Dryden had been England's first poet laureate, a station he occupied from April 1668 to January 1688, that an an honor created by Charles II. Handel's oratorio, 'Saul' HWV 53, premiered in London in 1739 [1, 2, 3, 4, audio]. Come his opera 'Imeneo' HWV 41 on 22 Nov 1740 [1, 2, 3, 4] w an Italian libretto by Rolli. It was also 1741 when his last opera to be performed in public appeared in London, 'Deidamia' HWV 42 [1, 2, 3]. In summer of '41 Handel went to Dublin to perform hospital benefits for Duke William Cavendish of Devonshire where he began work that same year on his oratorio, 'Messiah' HWV 56, in 1741, that premiering in Dublin in '42 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, text]. On 17 March 1749 Handel presented his oratorio, 'Solomon' HWV 67 [1, 2, 3, 4, audio]. The first performance of his suite for wind instruments, 'Music for the Royal Fireworks' HWV 351, followed on 14 April 1749 [1, 3, 6; audio: 1, 2]. A carriage accident in 1750 at age 65 saw Handel notably faltering into old age, that soon followed by going blind. He was working on his oratorio, 'Jeptha' HWV 70 [1, 2, 3], when he couldn't continue beyond 13 Jan of 1751, as noted by himself on his score [audio: 1, 2]. Handel underwent cataract surgery, which may have done more harm than good as he is thought to have been completely blind by the time 'Jeptha' saw delayed performance at the Covent Garden Theatre (Royal Opera House) on 26 February 1752. Handel was blind the last seven years of his life before dying on 14 April 1759. Buried in Westminster Abbey w more than 3000 attending his funeral, Handel had run three commercial opera houses until 1741. He'd never married, leaving behind seventy paintings rather than progeny. Along w 42 operas, 29 oratorios and the ten hymns mentioned above Handel composed 120 cantatas amidst a host of other works. His trips had made him the most important musical link between England, Ireland, Germany and Italy during high Baroque. Handel's fame today is due much to the esteem of major composers during his time, thereafter never permitted to fade away. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Chronologies: 1, 2. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4; anthems; cantatas; concerti grossi; concerti for organ: 1, 2; English songs; hymns; Italan arias; Italian duets; keyboard; Latin church music; operas; orchestral: 1, 2; oratorios; sonatas for solo; sonatas for trio; wind ensemble. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Editions of Handel: Friedrich Chrysander (Breitkopf und Härtel 1858); Drexel 5856; Hallische Händel-Ausgabe: 1, Händel-Gesellschaft (1858/1902); WorldCat; 'English Songs' (facsimile of unidentified edition presented to the Library of Musical Antiquities Society by Vincent Novello in 1849). Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; cylinder; MIDI. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; w reviews; operas; 'Deidamia': Brewer Baroque Chamber Orchestra w the Rudolph Palmer Singers *; Il Complesso Barocco directed by Alan Curtis *; Concerto Köln directed by Ivor Bolton *; 'Imeneo' by Europa Galante directed by Fabio Biondi; 'Jeptha' by the Sixteen directed by Harry Christophers; 'Saul' by the Junge Kantorei w the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra directed by Joachim Carlos Martini: audio, review; 'Solomon' by the Junge Kantorei w the Frankfurt Baroque Orchestra directed by Joachim Carlos Martini: audio, review; 'Il trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno' by the Early Opera Company directed by Christian Curnyn. Further reading: Handel's art collecting, letters, will; CLASSIC fM; interview w Sarah Bardwell; interviews by Charlotte Higgins; Ian Howell. Biblio: 'Dance in Handel's London Operas' by Sarah Yuill McCleave (U of Rochester Press 2013) *; 'Handel' by Edward J. Dent (2005) *; 'The Life of Handel' by Victor Schœlcher (1857) *; 'Messiah: Fifty Expository Discourses' John Newton (1786) *; 'An Account of the Visit of Handel to Dublin' by Horatio Townsend (Barrister 1852) *. Other profiles: 1, 2. See also the Handel Institute. Per below, 'Almira' was Handel's first opera. 'Messiah' and 'Solomon' are oratorios, alike opera, but for music rather than stage. HWV numbering is per the 'Händel-Werke-Verzeichnis' of Bernd Baselt published in three volumes from 1978 to 1986.

George Frideric Handel

 Almira

     Sanerà la piaga un dì   1705   HWV 1

     Fiori Musicali   Soprano: Ann Monoyios  

 Concerti Grossi Op 6 1-12

     1739-40   HWV 319-330

     The Avision Ensemble

 Minuet in G minor

      HWV 434:4

      Piano: Cubus

  Messiah

     1742   HWV 56

     Arnold Schoenberg Choir

     Erwin Ortner

      Ensemble Matheus

      Jean-Christophe Spinosi

 Music for the Royal Fireworks

     1749   HWV 351

     English Chamber Orchestra

     Raymond Leppard

 Solomon

     Arrival of the Queen of Sheba

     1748   HWV 67

     Budapest Strings

 Water Music Suites 1-3

     1717   HWV 348-350

     Paul Kuentz Orchestra

 Zadok the Priest

      Coronation anthem   1727   HWV 258

      BBC Symphony Orchestra & Symphony Chorus

     Sir Andrew Davis

 

Birth of Classical Music: George Handel

George Handel

Painting: Balthasar Denner

Source: Wikipedia
Birth of Classical Music: St. Thomas Church

St. Thomas Church

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Born on 31 March in Eisenach, in 1685, Johann Sebastian Bach represents the height of Baroque not only in Germany but the whole of Europe as the key figure in the Bach musical dynasty [1, 2, 3]. For such as Mozart, JS Bach is where music began. Johann Sebastian was a cousin once removed of earlier Johann Christoph Bach and Johann Michael Bach, they preceding him by a couple generations. Bach's father, Johann Ambrosius, was director of Eisenach's town musicians, he raising Bach in the study of violin, harpsichord. Bach learned clavichord from his elder brother, Johann Christoph. As all his uncles were musicians, he learned organ from one of them, also named Johann Christoph. At age fourteen he attended St. Michael's School in Lüneburg for two years. Upon graduating in 1703 he was appointed court musician to the chapel of Duke Johann Ernst III in Weimar for several months, then became organist at St. Boniface's Church in Arnstadt. 1707 found him organist at St. Blasius's Church in Mühlhausen where Bach married. He wasn't to work there long though, for in 1708 he responded to an invitation from the Duke of Weimar to become court organist. It's during this period in Weimar that Bach began making his name, appointed konzertmeister (music director) in 1714. It was about that time, 1714-1717, that he composed his six 'English Suites' BWV 806–811 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Not called that at the time, nor is it known when he actually wrote them w sources lending possibilities from as early as 1713 to as late as 1725. Like many of Bach's works, they weren't published until after his death. IMSLP shows them published in 1805-13 by Trautwein in Berlin. Bach Cantatas has them individually published from 1812 to as late as 1841 by a French publisher. Soon after his 'English Suites' Bach's career was interrupted by detention in jail for nigh a month [1, 2] followed by a new position as kapellmeister to the court of Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. It was about that time, 1717-1718, that Bach may have authored the bulk of his six 'Brandenberg Concertos' BWV 1046-51 [1, 2, 3] possibly begun as early as 1713. Bach Cantatas has them all composed in 1721. IMSLP has them composed individually from 1718 to 1721. Dedicated to the Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt, BWV 1046 in F major was a revision of 'Sinfonia in F major' BWV 1046a composed in 1718 and first published in 1885 [IMSLP]. Bach Cantatas and IMSLP have them eventually published in Leipzig in 1850-52. In 1722 Bach authored what he might have begun in 1713 as well, Book I BWV 846–869 [1, 2, 3] of 'Das Wohltemeprierte Clavier' (‘The Well-Tempered Clavier’) BWV 846–893. Consisting of 24 preludes and fugues in all 24 keys, the significance of that book first published in 1801 in Wien concerns the tuning of instruments and requires a knowledge of temperament [1, 2; equal 1, 2; mean; well; equal versus well; Bach and: 1, 2, 3, 4]. It was also about 1722, perhaps earlier, that he began composing his six 'French Suites' BWV 812-817, completed in 1725 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. In 1723, Bach was appointed Cantor of Thomasschule (boarding house and school) at St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, a position he kept for the remaining twenty-seven years of his career. It was 1723 when he composed his first version of settings for the 'Magnificat' BWV 243.1 previously catalogued as BWV 243.a [1, 2, 3]. The BWV directory begins at BWV 1 per 'Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern', a cantata in F major written in 1725, first published, again posthumously, in 1851 [1, 2, 3, text]. In 1733 Bach changed the key of his earlier 'Magnificat' from E-flat major to D major, producing a second version catalogued as BWV 243. Come Book II, BWV 870–893 [1, 2, 3, 4], of 'The Well-Tempered Clavier' within the range of 1739-44, first published in 1801. His 'Goldberg Variations' saw ink in 1741, the last of his four-part Clavier-Übung (keyboard exercises) published collectively the same year. They are called the 'Goldberg Variations' because he may have written them for virtuoso, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg [1, 2, 3]. Bach is thought to have written 'Die Kunst der Fuge' ('The Art of Fugue') BWV 1080 in 1742-46, revised 1748–50 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]. Bach completed his well-known 'Mass in B minor' BWV 232 in 1749 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6] before passing away on 28 July 1750. Not one of those artists who died without a dime, Bach owned a library of 52 books, including Martin Luther and Josephus. Books weren't cheap in Bach's time. A book could cost the average laborer the majority of a week's salary, roughly the equivalent of a McDonald's employee purchasing a Chromebook today. Public libraries [libraries] were established so that people too poor to purchase books, yet largely items for the well-to-do, could read. Bach also owned at least seven harpsichords and several other string instruments. Summarily, as a composer of sacred and secular music, Bach has been most greatly hailed for concerti, choral works, organ and harpsichord, his contrapuntal fugues in particular. He gave stellar performances as a clavier player, virtuosic improvisation a conspicuous factor in much of his work. References: 1, 2, 3, 4; extensive: 1, 2, 3. Timelines: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4, BWV 1-1120; w reviews; Bach Digital: search; cantatas: 1, 2; cantatas sacred; cantatas secular; chamber; choral harmonies; fugues; harpsichord concertos BWV 1052–1065; inventions & sinfonias BWV 772–801; keyboard & lute; motets: 1, 2; orchestral; ochestral suites; organ: 1, 2; partitas: 1, 2, 3, 4; sacred music in Latin. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'The Art of Fugue' *; four–part chorales *; 'Magnificat' *; 'Mass in B Minor' BWV 232 *. Publications: 1, 2. Editions: Bach Gesellschaft begun 1851: 1, 2, 3; Neue Bach-Ausgabe begun 1954 by the Johann Sebastian Bach Institute: 1, 2; orchestral; 'The Well-Tempered Clavier': Book 1 (Peters 1963); Book 2 (Peters 1971); Books 1 & 2: 1, 2; WorldCat. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Netherlands Bach Society (NBS): search; organ by James Kibbie [1, 2]: 1, 2; piano by various; 'Brandenburg Concertos'; 'Goldberg Variations' by Murray Perahia (piano); 'Magnificat' by NBS; 'Mass in B Minor' BWV 232 by 'NBS; 'The Well-tempered Clavier' Book 1 (alt) by Kimiko Ishizaka (piano); Book 2 by Céline Frisch (clavier); Books 1 & 2 by Chris Breemer; MIDI files: 1, 2, 3; 4; 'Brandenburg Concertos'; 'The Well-Tempered Clavier'; harpsichord by John Sankey. Recordings of Bach: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 'The Art of Fugue' BWV 1080: 1, 2; 'French Suites'; 'Complete Cantatas' by the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra directed by Ton Koopman: Vol 1-22, Vol 3, Vol 6; 'English Suites' BWV 806–811: Andrew Rangell (piano), Masaaki Suzuki (harpsichord); 'French Suites' BWV 812-817: Murray Perahia (piano), Ilton Wjuniski (harpsichord). Collections: Bach Archive: 1, 2, 3, 4. Further reading: Bach Cantatas ('Magnificat'): 1, 2; British Library; Jeremy Denk ('Goldlberg Variations'): 1, 2; Don O. Franklin ('The Libretto of Bach's John Passion'); Musicolog; Sergio Martínez Ruiz ('Well-Tempered Clavier'); Timothy Smith ('The Canons and Fugues of J. S. Bach'); Seth Colter Walls (Bach & Glenn Gould). Bibliography: 1, 2, 3, 4; 5; 'Bach-Jahrbuch': 1, 2; Bach's Nekrologue; 'Ueber Johann Sebastian Bach's Leben, Kunst und Kunstwerke' by Johann Forkel (1852) *; 'J. S. Bach and the German Motet' by Daniel Melamed (Cambridge U Press 1995) *; 'Johann Sebastian Bach: His Work and Influence on the Music of Germany' by Philipp Spitta (Novello & Co 1873/80) *; 'Johann Sebastian Bach' PediaPress; Peter Williams; 'Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician' Christoph Wolff (Oxford U Press 2002) *; 'The New Grove Bach Family' (W.W. Norton & Co. 1983) *. See also: the Bach Network; students of Bach. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Per below, Sean Jackson plays 'Toccata and Fugue' on organ as Bach originally intended. The entry underneath is Leopold Stokowski's string arrangement for the 1940 Disney film, 'Fantasia'. Bach's Brandenburg Concertos are also interpreted by Pau Casals in Early Modern. BWV numbering is per the 'Bach-Werke-Verzeichnis' [*] first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue now numbers above the 1,126 works that it listed in the 20th century. Another numbering system is the BC (Bach Compendium) of H.J. Schulze and C. Wolff in 1985.

Johann Sebastian Bach   

  Brandenburg Concertos 1-6

     1721   BWV 1046-1051

       Münchener Bach-Orchester

       Karl Richter

 Cello Suites 1-6

      1717-23   BWV 1007-1012

      Cello: Jaap ter Linden

  English Suites

      C 1714-17   BWV 806-811

      Piano: Murray Perahia

  French Suites

      C 1714-17   BWV 812-817

      Harpsichord: Pieter-Jan Belder

 Harpsichord Concerto No. 4 in A major

       1738   BWV 1055

       The English Chamber Orchestra

       Raymond Leppard

 Jesu, der du meine Seele

      1724   BWV 78

      Soprano: Ingrid Schmithüsen

     Collegium Vocale

     Philippe Herreweghe

 Magnificat

      Magnificat in E-flat major   1723   BWV 243a

 Mass in B Minor

      1749   BWV 232

      Netherlands Bach Society

      Van Veldhoven

 Matthäus-Passion

      Part 2   First performance: 1727   BWV 244

      Amsterdam Baroque Choir

      Cappella Breda Boys

       Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

       Ton Koopman

  Minuet in A minor

       1725   BWV Anh.120 (dubious)

      Piano: Cubus

 Orchestral Suites 1-4

       No.1 in C major   1718?   BWV 1066

       No.2 in B minor   1738–39   BWV 1067

       No.3 in D major   1731   BWV 1068

       No.4 in D major   1725   BWV 1069

       Les Concert des Nations/Jordi Savall

  Toccata and Fugue in D minor

       Organ: Sean Jackson

  Toccata and Fugue in D minor

       From the film 'Fantasia' 1940

       Philadelphia Orchestra

       Leopold Stokowski

  Das Wohltemperirte Clavier

       Book I & II   BWV 846–893

       1722 Köthen   1742 Leipzig

       Harpsichord: Christine Schornsheim

 

Birth of Classical Music: Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Painting: Elias Haussmann

Source: Barokin Musiikki
Birth of Classical Music: Domenico Scarlatti

Domenico Scarlatti

Source: Opi Wiki
Born 26 October 1685 in Naples, Domenico Scarlatti was an influential late baroque composer at root to the galant and classical styles, he bridging to them both. As the son of Alessandro Scarlatti, he had a heady act to follow, and excelled. One cause of Scarlatti's significance is his connection to Spain. Spain had produced a few composers during the Renaissance (Tomás Luis de Victoria), but it was something in the suburbs like Poland, the core of musical activity in France, Germany, Italy, Venice and England to lesser degree. With Scarlatti it's late Baroque and a hundred years since these histories have visited Spain, which was and remains, unless its moved lately, more than a thousand miles from Germany. Despite the Habsburg Holy Roman Empire allied with Spain these were two different worlds. The distance of Poland and Spain from Europe's main cultural hot spots doesn't imply, however, that they lagged behind the rest of Europe. Both were well abreast as cultural centers in themselves. Viewing Portugal as a smaller version of Spain, Scarlatti's traveling south of the Pyrenees to there arrive in 1719 was nevertheless a main event in musical history. Scarlatti had worked as a composer and organist in Naples as early as 1701. A few years later his father sent him to Venice, he not raising his head again until 1709 in Rome in service to Queen Marie Casimire, she in exile from Poland. Casimire commissioned seven operas from Scarlatti, his first a pastorale called 'La Silvia' premiering on 27 Jan 1710. His second, 'Tolomeo e Alessandro', was staged on 19 January 1711. His last before her departure in flight from debt to France was 'Amor d'un'ombra e gelosia d'un'aura' (aka 'Narciso' *) performed at her private theatre in Jan 1714. Scarlatti wrote his 'Christmas Cantata' in Rome in 1714, that among about 800 cantatas most of which are of unknown date. Scarlatti had become employed at the Cappella Giuiia at St. Peters in 1714, appointed maestro in December, which position he held until 1719. It was probably during that period that his setting for 'Iste Confessor' appeared as well as a couple 'Miserere's ('Psalm 51'), his 'Magnificat' and his 'Stabat Mater'. The 'Magnificat' is a canticle (text from the Bible) of Mary setting music to verses from the gospel of 'Luke'. Scarlattie may have crossed the Channel to London in 1715 to stage 'Narciso' at the King's Theatre [1, 2]. Scarlatti exchanged his position at St. Peter's for an appointment as tutor to Barbara of Portugal in Lisbon in 1719.  He left that position for Rome in 1727 where he married one Maria Caterina Gentili on 6 May 1728 w whom he would have five children. Moving to Seville in 1729, 1733 found him in service to Barbara again, this time in Madrid, she now married into the Spanish royal house, to become Queen in 1746. Scarlatti found little argument in service to Barbara for the remaining quarter century of his career. Born during the same year as Scarlatti (26 October 1685) were Handel (5 March), J.S. Bach (31 March) and Lodovico Giustini on 12 December. Albeit originating when all were about fifteen years of age, none but Giustini composed for piano, the instrument yet too imperfect for the others. Giustini is credited with the first known compositions specifically for piano rather than harpsichord per his '12 Sonate da Cimbalo di piano e forte' published in Florence in 1732. Scarlatti's connection to piano is by virtue of Barbara who would own five pianos among twelve keyboard instruments at the time of her death in 1758. Scarlatti was no doubt familiar with the early piano, its existence likely of some affect in his composing, but it wasn't yet capable of what a harpsichord could do so he wrote keyboard pieces for harpsichord or organ only. He is commonly recorded on piano by virtue of his familiarity with the instrument at the court of Barbara. The piano was called it a "gravicembalo col piano e forte" ("keyboard instrument with soft and loud" by its inventor, Bartolomeo Cristofori, who presented his instrument to Ferdinando de' Medici of Tuscany in Florence in 1700. Gravicembalo translates to harpsichord in Italian. Three pianos that Cristofori made in the 1720s yet exist. Despite the first piano arriving in 1700, its development toward the instrument that would replace the harpsichord took perhaps a hundred years. Haydn composed for piano as early as the 1760s, Beethoven as a teenager in the 1880s, and Mozart used the instrument during the last decade or so of his career before his death in 1791. These were lighter and lesser developed instruments than the grand piano which Steinway introduced in America in 1840. A particularly nice marker of piano finally coming of age after a century of development by various in succession is Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' written for piano in 1801, not nearly so romantic on a harpsichord. Beethoven loved the piano for which composed, ever looking for someone who could make a better instrument. Another generation and piano had put harpsichord where you could see it in your rearview mirror. None of Scarlatti's oeuvre is addressed so much as his sonatas principal in scholarship. Scarlatti published his 'Essercizi per Gravicembalo' ('Exercises for Harpsichord') in 1739. That begins the Kirkpatrick catalogue with 'Sonata in D minor' as K 1. The last of thirty pieces in that book was his famous 'Cat Fugue' (Fugue in G minor) K 31. A second book was published that year with the edition of twelve more sonatas to total 42. They are much Scarlatti's 550 keyboard sonatas [Kirkpatrick] written for Barbara in Madrid that illuminated the court of Spain during the late baroque period. All seventeen of Scarlatti's sinfonias are found in manuscript inscribed sometime between 1750 and 1790, composed c 1750 to 1756. To go by Wikipedia, among Scarlatti's latest datable operas was 'I portentosi effetti della madre natura' composed in 1752. Scarlatti had written his first 'Salve Regina' as early as 1712. His second is thought to have been his final complete composition arriving 1756 or 1757. As for numbering systems, there are four, the earliest, CZ, getting indexed by composer, Carl Czerny, at an unidentified time; L by Alessandro Longo in 1905; K by Ralph Kirkpatrick [1, 2] in 1953 and P by Giorgio Pestelli in 1967. See also CZ-L-K-P; L; L-K-P; Kirkpatrick v primary sources. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4; musical: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: ballets; chamber; harpsichord; piano (discograohy); sonatas: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; voice: 1, 2. Scores. Editions: 'Twenty-Two Pieces for Piano' ed by Giuseppe Buonamici (1895); Sonatas 1-555. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; sonatas: Claudio Colombo (piano); various: 1, 2. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Kirkpatrick; '52 Sonatas' by Lucas Debargue *; 'Salve Regina' by the Orquestra Barroca de Sevilla directed by Nicolau de Figueiredo *. Discussion: Bach Cantatas; guitar. Further reading: Christopher Hail: the cataloguing of Scarlotti: 1, 2; Scarlotti's contemporaries; Siegfried Holzbauer (blog); 'Mapping the Musical Genome: The Scarlatti Family' by Georg Predota *; 'The Guitar and Domenico Scarlatti' by Rafael Serrallet *; 'The Keyboard Tuning of Domenico Scarlatti' by John Stankey *; 'The Mercurial Maestro of Madrid' by Robert White *. Biblio: Abe Books; 'El avance hacia la idiomatización del lenguaje pianístico a través de la edición de Clementi de las sonatas de D. Scarlatti (1791)' by Laura Cuervo Calvo: 1, 2; 'Domenico Scarlatti' by Ralph Kirkpatrick (Princeton U Press 1953); 'The Keyboard Sonatas of Domenico Scarlatti and Eighteenth-Century Musical Style' by W. Dean Sutcliffe (Cambridge U Press 2008): review. Collections. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also Associazione Domenico Scarlatti. Per below, with the exception of 'Essercizi per Gravicembalo' the entire list of sonatas is performed by harpsichord master, Scott Ross.

Domenico Scarlatti

 Essercizi per Gravicembalo

     K 1-15   Published 1739 in London

     Harpsichord: Scott Ross

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 49-66

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 94-112

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 113-125

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 126-139

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 140-155

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 156-172

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 173-188

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 189-203

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 217-229

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 230-243

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 244-257

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 258-267

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 268-286

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 289-301

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 302-317

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 356-371

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 372-391

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 392-409

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 410-427

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 428-448

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 449-467

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 468-484

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 485-500

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 501-519  

  Harpsichord Sonatas K 520-539  

 Harpsichord Sonatas K 540-555


Birth of Classical Music: Bartolomeo Cristofori

Bartolomeo Cristofori

Inventor of the Piano

Source:  Musica En El Mateo


Birth of Classical Music: Cristofori Grand Piano 1720

Cristofori Grand Piano   1720

Source: The Met



Birth of Classical Music: Johann Mattheso

Florence, Italy   Circa 1700

Birthplace of the Pianoforte
  Born on 17 August 1686 in Naples, Niccolò Porpora (Nicola Antoine) was a graduate of the Naples Conservatory of Music, Poveri di Gesù Cristo. His first opera, 'Agrippina', was produced in 1708 for the royal court in Naples. His 'Berenice', was performed for Carnival in Rome in 1718. Though Porpora came by a number of opera patrons in his early years, and collaborated with the famed librettist, Metastasio, he remains better regarded as a voice teacher at the Naples Conservatory, training several big names. Perhaps in 1725 Porpora arrived in Venice, composing and teaching until 1748 when he became kapellmeister to the Elector of Saxony in Dresden. In 1752 he left for Vienna where he taught young Franz Joseph Haydn, who remembered him as an "ass" and "rascal" (not a term of affection in Porpora's time) but a master musician, especially as to composition and song. Naples received Porpora's return in 1759. He there died on 3 March 1768. Too poor to pay for his funeral, a concert given to raise the funds. The prima donnas and primo uomos he had trained, however, lived like, well, prima donnas. The soprano, especially, was the rock star of Porpora's day and, like baseball players today there was much ado about opera singers accumulating more wealth than commensurate with their real worth. What one hears with Porpora is the fade of the Baroque, its last flickering before the douter descends on the period. Porpora wrote cantatas, instrumentals and various sacred works in addition to perhaps four dozen operas. He was known to be highly literary, a poet, and able to read and write in multiple languages. References encyclopedic: 1, 2, 3, 4; musical: 1, 2, 3, 4. Operas. Editions: in compilations. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio. Discographies: 1, 2. Collections: British Library. Further reading: 'Nicolò Porpora and the Cantabile Cello' by Rosalind Halton. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4. See also LiederNet. Per below, Metastasio is librettist of 'Semiramide Riconosciuta'.

Niccolò Porpora

  Cello Concerto in G major

      Movements 1-2 of 4

      Sometime 1733-36

       L'Ensemble 415/Chiara Banchini

      Cello: Gaetano Nasillo

  Cello Concerto in G major

      Movements 3-4 of 4

      Sometime 1733-36

      L'Ensemble 415/Chiara Banchini

      Cello: Gaetano Nasillo

 Polifemo

      Opera   Act 2 Aria 3   'Dolci fresche aurette'

      First Performance 1735 London

     Coloratura mezzo-soprano: Vivica Genaux

 Salve regina in F major

      1744

     Orchestra da camera del Teatro del Giglio di Lucca

     Gianfranco Cosmia

 Semiramide Riconosciuta

     Opera   First Performance 1729 Venice

     Accademia Bizantina

     Stefano Montanari

     Libretto: Metastasio



Birth of Classical Music: Niccolo Porpora

Niccolo Porpora

Source: Into Classics
Birth of Classical Music: Johann Georg Pisendel

Johann Pisendel

Source: Bach Cantatas
Born on 26 Dec 1687 in Cadolzburg near Nuremberg, Johann Georg Pisendel is but one more reason Germany dominated the latter Baroque period of music. As a violin master, he composed largely for that instrument. Pisendel's father was a cantor and organist. At age nine Johann Georg became a choirboy in Ansbach where he probably studied violin under Giuseppe Torelli. He was hired to play violin in the court orchestra in Dresden, but left for Leibniz in 1709 where he became a member of Georg Telemann's Collegium musicum (a musical society). Returning to Dresden in 1712, Pisendel joined the court orchestra once again and remained with it the rest of his life. Studying composition under Johann Heinichen in 1718, he became Concert Master in 1728 until his death on 25 November 1755. Pisendel's compositions had been highly influential to other composers during his day, less so in modern times, particularly after the loss of Shrank I and Shrank II in the bombing of Dresden during World War II. Schrank I was a major collection of manuscripts produced in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Shrank II housed manuscripts from the eighteenth century. The Schrank II has since been reconstructed to contain nearly 1,750 works, numerous by Pisendel. References: 1, 2, 3, 4. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3; 'Violin Sonatas' by Tomasz Aleksander Plusa (violin). Other profiles: 1, 2.

Johann Georg Pisendel

  Sinfonia in B flat major

      Batzdorfer Hofkapelle

     Daniel Deuter

  Sonata for Violin Solo in A minor

     Baroque violin: Anton Steck

  Violin Concerto in D major

     Freiburger Barockorchester

     Gottfried von der Goltz

  Violin Concerto in G Minor

     Violin: Roman Totenberg

  Violin Sonata in D major

     Baroque violin: Martina Graulich

  Violin Sonata in E minor

     Harpsichord: Christian Rieger

     Baroque violin: Anton Steck


 
  Born in 1690 in Florence, Francesco Maria Veracini was a violin virtuoso, master of the chamber sonata of which he wrote above three dozen in addition to numerous works for voice, orchestra and a few operas. He was taught violin mostly by his uncle, Antonio Veracini. His father ran a music school established by his grandfather. His family also ran a painting studio, owning several expensive works as art collectors. Relevantly, it was during the Baroque that musicians came to rely less on nobility for patronage, as during the Renaissance, and more on commercial enterprise, particularly notable in the construction of theatres to sell seats for opera. A contemporary of composer and violinist, Carlo Ambrogio Lonati, Veracini's first known solo violin performance was a Christmas mass at San Marco in 1711. The first known performance of one of his own compositions was a violin concerto the following year in Venice. In 1714 Veracini left for London where he performed during opera intermissions at the Queen's Theatre, England's major venue. In 1717 he acquired the patronage of Prince Friedrich August of Poland, as a result of dedicating a set of 12 sonatas and a collection of six overtures to him in 1716. It's said that Augustus paid Veracini an unusually high salary. Becoming engaged in the project of building a new opera theatre for August at the Zwinger palace in Dresden, Veracini went to Venice to recruit vocalists in 1719. His first collection of sonatas was published in 1721. Though the incident wants clarity, in 1722 Veracini leapt from a second-story window in Dresden, due some enmity between him and other musicians, causing him to break either a foot, leg or hip that left him with a limp the rest of his life. That incident probably helped persuade him toward less stressful employment in a church in Florence the next year. In 1733 Veracini returned to London to perform and compose opera, his first, 'Adriano in Siria', to premiering in 1735. His last opera, 'Rosalinda', was there performed in London in 1744. Upon his return to the continent in 1745 he was involved in a shipwreck that claimed his property including two prized Stainer violins named Peter and Paul. He delivered concerts in Pisa until 1750 when he moved to Turin, about the time he published his pedagogical 'Il trionfo della pratica musicale' ('The Triumph of Musical Practice') Opus 3 [1, 2]. Veracini departed Turin in 1755, to return to his birthplace, Florence, there to die on 31 Oct 1768, working as maestro di capella at both San Pancrazio and San Gaetano. As for violins, among the earliest prominent luthiers had been the Amati family, making violins in Cremona, Italy, since the mid 16th century. The Guaneris began producing violins in the mid 17th century, also in Cremona. Jacob Stainer (1617–1683) had been an Austrian luthier whose violin was the treasure to own before the more powerful design of the Stradivari. Another highly reputed luthier during Veracini's time was Carlo Bergonzi. References for Veracini: 1, 2, 3, 4. Chronology. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Editions. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; sonatas: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3; 'Overtures' by the Musica Antiqua Köln directed by Reinhard Goebel (No. 1-4 & 6) *. Bibliography: 'The Life and Works of Francesco Maria Veracini' by John Walter Hill (UMI Research Press 1974). Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. References for major luthiers: Amati: 1, 2, 3; Bergonzi: 1, 2; Strad website: 1, 2; Tarisio website: 1, 2, 3; Guaneri: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7; Stainer: 1, 2, 3, 4; Stradivari: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Francesco Maria Veracini

  Overture No 1 in B-Flat Major

     1716

     Musica Antiqua Köln/Reinhard Goebel

 12 Sonate accademiche

     1744   Op 2   No 5 in G minor

      Clavicembalo: Marco Mencoboni

     Violin: Luigi Mangiocavallo

      Violincello: Claudio Ronco

 12 Sonate accademiche

     1744   Op 2   No 12 in D Minor

     Harpsichord: Lars Urlik Mortensen

     Violin: John Holloway

     Violoncello: Jaap Ter Linden

 12 Sonate a violino o flauto solo e basso

     1721   Op 1   No 1-7

     Violin: Enrico Casazza


Birth of Classical Music: Francesco Veracini

Francesco Veracini

Source:
Figaro
Birth of Classical Music: Johann Joachim Quantz

Johann Quantz

Source: Expedition Audio
Born on 30 Jan 1697 in Oberscheden, Germany, flautist Johann Joachim Quantz was another prize in the musical dominion that was largely Germany's in the latter Baroque. Quantz' father was a blacksmith who wanted him to follow in his profession, but died when Quantz was young, Johann to end up with an uncle. Johann studied several musical instruments, preferring oboe and violin. Quantz studied with Zelenka in Vienna in 1717 before switching to flute in Dresden in the employ of Augustus the Strong of Poland. Augustus paid Quantz to study in Rome, Naples and Paris from 1724 to 1727. He also studied with Handel in England before returning to Augustus in Dresden. Quantz continued in Dresden after the death of Augustus in 1733 until receiving a position with Frederick the Great of Prussia in 1741. Quantz had been giving lessons to Frederick twice a year since 1728. Famous in his own time as a flute composer and virtuoso, since then it is his pedagogical book, 'Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen' ('On Playing the Flute'), published in 1752 that musicologists in particular have appreciated [1, 2, 3, 4, digital copy], giving insight into the music of the period. Quantz died in Potsdam Germany, on 12 July 1773. He had composed arias, lied and orchestral works, but his flute concertos number nearly three hundred, and his flute sonatas more than two including trio sonatas. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Chronology. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2. Publication digital copies. Editions: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5; Quantz Project. Discos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Bibliography. Further reading: Feike Bonnema. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. Per below, QV numbers are per Horst Augsbach 1997.

Johann Joachim Quant

  Flute Concerto in A minor

     QV 5:38 Vivace

     Baroque Flute: Mary Oleskiewicz

     Budapest Concerto Armonico

     Miklós Spányi

  Flute Concerto in D minor

     QV 5:81

     Budapest Concerto Armonico

     Miklós Spányi

     Baroque Flute: Mary Oleskiewicz

  Flute Concerto in G minor

     QV 5:196

     Les Buffardins

  Flute Sonata in B flat major

     QV 1:162

     Flute: Dorothee Kunst

     Lute: Susanne Peuker

  Flute Sonata in D major

     QV 1:33

     Flute: Mary Oleskiewicz


 
Birth of Classical Music: Francesco Vallotti

Francesco Vallotti

Source: Wikipedia
Born in Vercelli on 11 June 1697, Francesco Antonio Vallotti wasn't a major composer, writing only sacred music in Italy at a time when opera had long since been the main venue of musicians who aspired to fame. Relevantly, it was during the Baroque that musicians began to shift from seeking patronage from royalty to commercial ventures like opera or wealthy, though not necessarily aristocratic individuals. It is during the Renaissance that commercial enterprise began its rise toward rivalry w royalty in terms of wealth, thus power. During the Baroque period such as mining, precious metals from the Americas, banking and trading derivatives would prove early capitalism the answer to not being luckily born. That would lead from a few rich whilst the most poor to a few rich whilst some middle class (bourgeoisie) whilst the most poor. Among the largest companies on the globe were in shipping, driving the colonial expansion of Europe. The British East India Company [1, 2] had been chartered in 1600 as The Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies. That was three years after the staging of the first opera in 1597, Jacopo Peri's 'Dafne', and two years before Gulio Caccini published his work 'Le Nuove Musiche' ('The New Music') in 1602, the latter the year of the founding of the Dutch East India Company [*]. Come the Dutch West India Company [*] in 1621. The Portuguese East India Company [*] had been formed as early as circa 1500 but was a royal monopoly until 1628. The burgeoning of commerce that preceded the Industrial Revolution, however, was not without gamble, evidenced by the South Sea Company Bubble of 1720 nine years after its founding [1, 2, 3, 4]. [See also commercial growth of Europe: 1, 2, 3, 4.] Howsoever, if royal patronage or commercial endeavor both came with risks, working for the Church was relatively more secure, which is how Vallotti got along, becoming a Franciscan in 1716, a priest in 1720. He assumed a position as organist at St. Antonio's in Padua in 1722, then maestro in 1730, which station he kept throughout his career for the next half century. Vallotti's best-known work was in music theory arriving in 1779 to address counterpoint, harmony and a system of tuning called Vallotti temperament: 'Della scienza teorica, e pratica della moderna musica libro primo' [1, 2]. He died the next year on 10 Jan 1780. Vallotti composed largely psalms, hymns, responsorials and other liturgical works. Responsorial singing, incidentally, between a cantor and congregation, had well preceded Jesus, it a Jewish development to sing the psalms of David [Jewish Music Resource Center]. Compare responsorial to antiphonal. References for Vallotti: 1, 2. Vallotti temperament: Carey Beebe (pdf); Wikipedia. Scores: 1, 2. Recordings of: 'Le Lamentazioni Del Profeta' by the Ensemble Festa Rustica directed by Giorgio Matteoli' *. HMR Project. Bibliography: Sven Hansell.

Francesco Antonio Vallotti

Le Lamentazioni del Profeta

     1737-43

     Ensemble Festa Rustica/Giorgio Matteoli

    Soprano: Rosita Frisani

  O Vos Omnes

     Responsorial sung as a motet

     Concierto Coro Institucional Pontificia Universidad

 

 
Birth of Classical Music: Johann Adolph Hasse

Johann Adolph Hasse

Source: Wikimedia Commons
Born in Bergedorf, Germany, on 25 March 1699, Johann Adolph Hasse joined the Hamburg Opera in 1718. He took a singing position at the court of Brunswick the next year. While there he produced his first opera seria, 'Antioco', in 1721 with libretto by Apostolo Zeno and Pietro Pariati. Hasse left Germany in 1722 to destinations in Venice and Italy before arriving in Naples about 1724, there to premiere his serenata commissioned by a banker, 'Antonio e Cleopatra' [1, 2], in 1725. His next opera, 'Sesostrate', premiered on 13 May 1726, the first of several for royalty in Naples, Naples under jurisdiction of Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI at the time. 'Sesostrate' had been performed for the 9th birthday of Princess Maria Theresa at the Teatro San Bartolomeo in Naples, commissioned by the Duke of Brunswick (Lower Saxony). Among Hasse's more popular pieces was his 'La Contadina' of 1728 containing two intermezzi (intermissions inserted into operas). Other among his Neapolitan operas was 'Attalo, re di Bitinia' [*], premiering in May of '28, followed by 'L'Ulderica' [*] and his comedy, 'La sorella amante' [*], in 1729. Hasse's last of eleven operas performed in the first of two periods in Naples also premiered in 1729, 'Il Tigrane' and 'L'Emma'. Hasse left Naples in 1730 to visit the Carnival of Venice. The opera that he there premiered in February, 'Artaserse' [1, 2, 3], was his first w librettist, Metastasio. Among the various librettists with whom Hasse worked (Pallavicino, Pasquini, et al) Metastasio was the major. Wikipedia has them collaborating on 39 operas to as late as 'Il Ruggiero' in 1771 with Metastasio borrowing from Ariosto's original text. Hasse's visit to Venice was that time long enough to stage another opera in May of 1730, 'Dalisa' [*] w libretto by Domenico Lalli after Nicolò Minato. Circa 25 June he married the soprano, Faustina Bordoni [1, 2]. Leaving Venice to work in Vienna briefly in 1731, Bordoni and Hasse arrived to the court of Augustus II in Dresden [1, 2, 3] where Hasse became kapellmeister that year. His opera seria, 'Cleofide', premiered on 13 Sep 1731 [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The libretto for that was by Michelangelo Boccardi after Metastasio's 'Alessandro nell'Indie'. Soon departing Dresden, though to return, Hasse spent nigh the rest of his entire career on tour to theatres in locations like Turin, Rome, Venice, Naples, Pesaro and Warsaw. IMSLP has Hasse premiering his 'Didone Abbandonata' [*] at the Hubertusburg in Saxony on 7 Oct 1742, in Saxony on 4 Feb 1743. It was Venice again in '44 for 'Semiramide Riconosciuta'. It was Dresden again for the premiere of 'La Spartana Generosa' on 14 June of 1747. It was also '47 in Dresden that the new position of Oberkapellmeister was created for Hasse, Nicola Porpora appointed Kapellmeister. In 1750 Hasse visited Paris to stage his earlier 'Didone Abbandonata'. Another trip to Venice witnessed 'Il ciro riconosciuto' [1, 2] staged in 1751. Due to the Seven Years War [1, 2] fought between England and France in both Europe and North America the court in Dresden was relocated to Warsaw, Poland, in 1756. He was back in Naples in 1758 to stage a third version of Metastasio's 'Demofoonte' [*] first performed in 1748 in Dresden, revised for the Carnival of Venice in '49. Hasse's patron, Augustus III of Poland, died in 1763. His successor, Frederick Christian, found himself faced with financial ruin as a result of the Seven Years War [1, 2] which ended that year. Choosing between frivolity and frugality, he released Hasse from service with two years pay but no pension. Hasse moved to Vienna the next year, as popular as ever there. 'Partenope' w a libretto by Metastasio premiered in September 1767, eleven year-old Mozart in attendance. 'Piramo e Tisbe' [*] arrived in Sep of '68 w libretto by Marco Coltellini. Empress Maria Theresa (nine-year old princess above) commissioned 'Il Ruggiero' [1, 2] to premiere in Milan in latter 1771, libretto by Metastasio after Ludovico Ariosto. By that time Hasse was above seventy years of age and his slightly younger contemporary, Christoph Willibald Gluck, was pulling Vienna's strings. So he left Vienna in 1773 to teach and compose sacred music in Venice, there to remain for the next ten years. Notable in the brief account above is how much traveling Hasse did. From the troubadour to this day, with exceptions like the Church, joining a symphony orchestra or remaining local, it's been largely travel that makes a musician's career and travel that wears a musician out (touring). The stars of Hasse's day, such as prima donnas like Faustina and primo uomos, generally tenors, didn't die in automobile or airplane accidents like rock n roll stars in the 20th century. But it was a bumpy ride to haul oneself and one's effects overland by coach. The great commercial expansion that occurred in Europe during the Baroque period had been assisted by improvements in roads and development of the coach [1, 2, 3, 4]. If you were a horse, of course, you could prefer at least an apple to have to pull one of even these carriages. See also travel and the coach in Austria-Germany, England, Russia: 1, 2; carriages: 1, 2. Just how Hasse traveled overland during different periods of his life isn't identified. He never went to Russia so the troika [1, 2] can be eliminated. He married Faustina in 1730, prior to which he might easily have gotten about during his twenties on horseback or by walking many a mile. Howsoever, Hasse put away his traveling shoes the last ten years of his life while composing for the Ospedale degli Incurabili [*], dying in Venice on 16 Dec 1783 [*]. Faustina had preceded him in Nov of '81. Along w operas Hasse composed oratorios, cantatas, ballads and instrumentals. Albeit a heavyweight during his lifetime for about forty years, with Gluck overtaking from close behind, Hasse had little posthumous influence. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Operas: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Editions: 1, 2. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3; 'Antonio e Cleopatra' by Ars Lyrica Houston directed by Matthew Dirst: 1, 2; 'Didone Abbandonata' by the Hofkapelle Munchen directed by Michael Hofstetter *, review; 'Piramo e Tisbe' by the Academia di San Rocco directed by Mario Merigo *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3. See also the Hasse Project.

Johann Adolph Hasse

 L'Armonica

     Cantata   1769

     Concilium Musicum Vienna

     Paul Angerer

     Soprano: Ursula Fiedler

 Alcide al Bivio

     Opera

     First performance 1760 Vienna

     Ensemble La Stagione Frankfurt

     Favorit-und Capellchor Leipzig

     Michael Schneider

  L'Eroe Cinese

    Opera

    First performance 1753 Hubertusburg

    Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

    Ton Koopman

  Harpsichord sonata in G major

    Harpsichord: Luca Guglielmi

  Miserere in D minor

    'Misere' / Movement 1 of 6

     Coro Femminile Euridice

    Architorti'

    Massimo Lombardi

  Recorder Sonata in B flat major

    Harpsichord: Luca Quintavalle

    Recorder: Daniel Rothert

  Zenobia

     Opera

     First performance 1761 at the Carnival of Vienna

     Warsaw Chamber Opera


 
  Born on 27 Oct 1703 in Wahrenbrück, Germany, Johann Gottlieb Graun was older brother to Carl Heinrich Graun. The part of the Holy Roman Empire (HRE) into which Johann had arrived was the Margraviate of Brandenburg. As this remarkable map of the development of the Holy Roman Empire to the emergence of the German Empire in 1871 shows, the Holy Roman was a complex conglomerate ever embattled, ever in flux. Graun would live through six Holy Roman Emperors from Leopold I [1, 2, 3] at the time of his birth to Josephus II [1, 2] when he died. At the time of Johann's birth France had long since departed from the HRE and become its major adversarial rival. At the year of Johann's birth Louis XIV, the longest reigning monarch in European history, had been Sun King of France since age four for the last 60 years and with twelve more to go. He had begun to reign personally in 1661 at age eighteen. At its other front the HRE had for centuries been facing not only a dangerous rival, but an outright enemy for reasons of religion in the Ottoman Empire from which Austria had recently reacquired Hungary in 1699. The Habsburg victory at the Battle of Senta in 1697 had put the Ottoman threat largely to rest as the Empire declined into remission, hemmed off as well by Eastern Orthodox Russia. Over in Spain the War of Spanish Succession would be fought for thirteen years from 1701 to 1714 during Johann's childhood, that involving England and France. Clement XI [1, 2, 3] became the 243rd Pope in 1700 and would remain to 1721. It was also 1700 to 1721 that Russia and Sweden fought the Great Northern War (GNW) ending to Russia's favor. Like the War of Spanish Succession, that was also a complicated weave involving the rest of Europe, particularly a little closer to Johann's home insofar as Frederick I had named himself (the first) King of Prussia in 1701 and allied himself w Russia toward Sweden's defeat in the GNW. As for England, both the Tory and Whig parties had been recently formed in 1678 to become major rivals well into the 19th century. As well, England and Scotland became Great Britain in 1707 under the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14). Such were something of the greater world that had formed or was in progress as Johann studied under Johann Pisendel in Dresden and Giuseppe Tartini in Padua before becoming a konzertmeister in Merseburg in 1726. He hired on with Frederick II [Wikipedia] in 1732 and became Konzertmeister of the Berlin Opera in 1740. Johann wrote numerous works for violin, particularly sonatas and concerti like 'Violin Concerto in D Minor' GWV C:XIII:75 published circa 1735-50 [*, audio]. Also writing symphonies and overtures such as 'Suite in a-moll' GWV C:XI:16 composed at an unknown time [score], he composed for viol da gamba and flute as well. Johann and brother, Carl, each fell into such obscurity that many of their works can't be dated, though both were highly regarded musicians in their day. Johann's brother, Carl, was more popular with vocal works like operas while Johann drew applause for instrumentals as a violin virtuoso. Johann died on 28 October 1771 eleven years after his brother, Carl, in 1759. References: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Editions. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'Concertos' by the Weiner Akademie directed by Martin Haselbock. Other profiles: 1, 2. Graun's trio sonatas below are thought to have been published between 1725 and '35. GWV numbers are per 'Graun-Werkverzeichnis' by Christopher Henzel (Ortus Musikverlag 2006) following earlier directories by Carl Heinrich Mennicke and Monika Willer.

Johann Gottlieb Graun

   Concerto for 2 Violins in G major

     GWV C:XIII:84

     moderntimes_1800

  Concerto for Violin and Viola da Gamba

     GWV A:XIII:3   C minor   Allegro

     Frankfurt Capella Academica

  Trio Sonata in A major

     GWV A:XV:13   Allegro

     In collaboration w Carl Graun

     Les Amis de Philippe

  Trio Sonata in C minor

     GWV A:XV:19   Allegro ma non molto

     Les Amis de Philippe

  Trio Sonata in D major

     GWV Cv:XV:100   Allegro

     In collaboration w Carl Graun

     Les Amis de Philippe

  Trio Sonata in E major

     GWV A:XV:27   Allegro

     In collaboration w Carl Graun

     Les Amis de Philippe

  Violin Concerto in C minor

     GWV C:XIII:68

     moderntimes_1800


 
  Born on 7 May 1704 in Wahrenbrück, Carl Heinrich Graun was younger brother to Johann Gottlieb Graun, with whom he went to Dresden in 1714 where they received a Lutheran education and sang in both the choir of the Dresden Kreuzkirche and the chorus of the Opernhaus am Zwinger. Between sacred music and opera Graun went the latter, his five-act 'Polydorus' premiering in 1726. Carl became Konzertmeister of the Berlin Opera in 1740. On 7 December 1742 he premiered his opera, 'Cesare e Cleopatra', at the Königliches Opernhaus in Berlin [1, 2]. Frederick II wrote the libretto for 'Montezuma' that premiered at the same theatre on 6 January 1755 [1, 2, 3]. Carl's oratorio, 'Der Tod Jesu', premiered on 28 March the same year [ 1, 2; audio: 1, 2]. 'The Death of Jesus' was a setting for the Passion w libretto by Karl Wilhelm Ramler. Carl died four years later on 8 Aug 1759 eleven years before his brother, Johann in 1771. Though Carl composed instrumental works that was more Johann's department, he a violin virtuoso  while Carl's major claim to popularity was vocal works such as operas above. References: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Compositions. Scores: 1, 2, 3. Audio: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2; 'Cleopatra Cesare' by the Concerto Köln directed by René Jacobs *; 'Montezuma' by the Kammerchor Cantica Nova & Deutsche Kammerakademie w Johannes Goritzki * 'Montezuma' by the Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin conducted by Hans Hilsdorf w direction by Herbert Wernicke * 'Der Tod Jesu' by the Arcis-Vocalisten München & Barockorchester L'arpa festante w Thomas Gropper *. Other profiles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. GWV numbers below are per 'Graun-Werkverzeichnis' by Christopher Henzel (Ortus Musikverlag 2006) following earlier directories by Carl Heinrich Mennicke and Monika Willer.

Carl Heinrich Graun

  Demofoonte

     1746   'Misero pargoletto'

      GWV B:1:13   Opera

      Librettist: Metastasio

     Cecilia Bartoli

     Album: 'Sacrificium'

   L'Orfeo

     1752   'Mio bel nieme'

      GWV B:1:25   Opera

      Le Concert d'Astrée

      Emmanuelle Haïm

     Counter tenor: Philippe Jaroussky

   Te Deum

      Basler Madrigalisten

      L'Arpa Festante

      Friitz Naf

   Der Tod Jesu

       1755   Passions-oratorium

       Die Durlacher Kantorei

      Das Karlsruher Barockorchester


 
  Born in Kostelec nad Orlicí, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic near Poland), on 2 August 1704, Baroque composer František Tůma had a parish organist for a father. He likely studied at the Jesuit seminary, the Clementinum, before studying under Bohuslav Matěj Černohorský in Prague as a chorister. He is thought to have become a vice-kapellmeister in Vienna in 1722. In 1731 he became Compositor und Capellen-Meister to Count Franz Ferdinand Kinsky, High Chancellor of Bohemia. He soon after also studied counterpoint in Vienna with Johann Joseph Fux. In 1741 Tůma accepted the position of Kapellmeister to the widow of Emperorr Karl VI, granting him a pension upon her death in 1750. He thereafter composed in Vienna, also performing with the bass viol and theorbo (basically an exceedingly developed lute). Upon the death of his wife in 1768 he changed his scenery to the Premonstratensian monastery of Geras in southern Austria. He returned to Vienna in time to die in the convent of the Merciful Brethren at Leopoldstadt on 30 Jan 1774. Among his sacred works he left about 65 masses, 29 psalms and 5 settings of the Stabat Mater (Sorrowful Mother). References: 1, 2, 3. Scores: 1, 2. Editions: 'Stabat Mater' for organ & SATB w figured bass (1802? also containing Hasse); WorldCat. Audio: 1, 2. Recordings of: Discogs; 'Sinfonias, Partitas & Sonata' by the Antiquarius Consort Praga *. HMR Project.

František Tuma

 Partita in D minor

    Prague Chamber Orchestra

  Sinfonia in A major

    Prague Chamber Orchestra

  Sinfonia in B flat major

     Dance Suite in A major

     Prague Chamber Orchestra

  Sonata in E for 2 Trombones

    Bratislava Chamber Soloists

    Trombones:

    Albert Hrubovcak & Jan Hrubovcak

  Te Deum

    Musica Figurata/Martin Lily

  Trio Sonata in A minor

    Concerto Italiano

    Rinaldo Alessandrini


Birth of Classical Music: Frantisek Tuma

Frantisek Tuma

Source: Expedition Audio
Birth of Classical Music: Franz Benda

Franz Benda

Source: Radio Swiss Classic
Baptized 22 Nov 1709 in Benátky nad Jizerou, Bohemia, Czech violinist Franz Benda was elder brother to musicians, Johann Georg Benda, Georg (Jiří) Antonín Benda and Joseph Benda, sons of the weaver, Jan Jiri Benda [1, 2, 3]. His sister, Anna Franziska, was an operatic soprano. Benda was a chorister as a child in Prague and Dresden. Upon starting to play violin he joined a group of strolling musicians until 1730, going to Vienna to study under Carl Graun. In 1732 he entered into the service of Frederick II [Wikipedia] with whom he remained until Benda's own death in 1786. The 'New International Encyclopedia' of 1905 states that Benda performed some 50,000 "concertos" during a forty year period with Frederick. That's above 1,200 a year, 100 per month, three per day, thus dubitable. Benda was, nevertheless, retained by Frederick because he was among the finest violinists in Europe at the time. One finds Benda reinforcing Bohemia's bid to the Baroque begun a generation earlier by Jan Dismas Zelenka. Czech music was emerging in Europe upon some delay due largely to war in the Bohemian vicinity, having come to Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III taking a good portion of Prague's population to Vienna with him upon the Peace of Westphalia [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9] in 1648. All combined, Prague had lost two thirds of its population to either sword or attrition as of the Thirty Years War [1, 2, 3, 4] and the region didn't rebuild in a day. When Frederick II invaded Prague in 1744, it was but a three-day siege only as destructive as needful, life going on much as before. Frederick was a minimalist commander in that regard, his interests in building rather than razing. He was among the better enemies to have even if you were a Pole, Frederick, a German, owning a considerable bias and disgust concerning the unenlightened Polish. But the gradual rebuilding of Prague brought with it inclusive rivalry with the rest of Europe. As for Benda, he had composed largely duets, concertos, sonatas and capriccios for violin as well as symphonies. He died on 7 March 1786, Frederick following in August. References: 1, 2, 3. Compositions: 1, 2. Scores: 1, 2. Editions. Audio: 1, 2. Recordings of: discos: 1, 2, 3, 4; 'J.A. Benda | F. Benda' by Josef Suk (viola) & Ariane Pfister (violin) w the Suk & Prague Chamber Orchestras directed by Christian Benda *. Other profiles: 1, 2. L numbers below are per Douglas Lee, 1984. All concertos below are performed by Ars Rediviva, conducted by that ensemble's founder, Milan Munclinger.

Franz Benda

  Flute Concerto in A minor

     L 2:16

     Ars Rediviva Ensemble/Prague

     Conducting: Milan Munclinger

     Flute: András Adjordán

  Flute Concerto in E minor

     L 2:4

     Ars Rediviva Ensemble/Prague

      Conducting: Milan Munclinger

      Flute: András Adjordán

  Flute Concerto in E Minor

     L 2:4

     Slovak Chamber Orchestra

     Conducting/violin: Bohdan Warchal

     Flute: Eugenia Zukerman

  Flute Concerto in G major

     L 2:11

     Savaria Baroque Orchestra

     Directior: Pál Németh

     Traverso: Vera Balogh

  Sinfonia in C major

     L 1:1

     Tříkrálový Koncert Orchestru


 
 

This section concerning the history of Baroque music is suspended with Franz Benda.

 

 

 

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