1. Bach, Johann Sebastian (b Eisenach, 1685; d Leipzig, 1750). Ger. composer and organist.
Son of Johann Ambrosius Bach, organist and town musician, J. S. Bach was orphaned at the age of 10 and went to live with his elder brother Johann Christoph at Ohrdruf where he had klavier and org. lessons. In 1700 was a chorister at St Michael's Church, Lüneburg, staying for 3 years, learning much from the organist-composer Georg Böhm. Organist at Arnstadt, 1703, and then Mühlhausen, 1707, when he married his cousin Maria Barbara Bach. In 1708 became organist in the Kapelle of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar, where he remained for 9 years, leaving in disappointment at not being appointed Kapellmeister in 1717. By this time he had comp. some of his finest org. works and church cantatas.
In 1717 appointed Kapellmeister at the court of Anhalt-Cöthen where the prince's interest was not in religious works but in instr. comps. From this period date his vn. concs., sonatas, suites, and Brandenburg concs. Also comp. many of his best klavier works at Cöthen, probably for his children's instruction. In 1720 his wife died and in Dec. 1721 he married Anna Magdalena Wilcken, 20-year-old daughter of the court trumpeter. Now dissatisfied with life at Cöthen, where the ruler's new wife showed little interest in mus., Bach applied for the cantorship at St Thomas's, Leipzig, in Dec. 1722. He was not selected, but the chosen candidate, Graupner, withdrew and Bach was appointed in May 1723, having in the meantime cond. his St John Passion in St Thomas's as evidence of his fitness for the post. Remained at St Thomas's for the rest of his life, not without several disputes with the authorities. During time there, comp. more than 250 church cantatas, the St Matthew Passion, Mass in B minor, Christmas Oratorio, Goldberg Variations, and many other works incl. his last, the unfinished Die Kunst der Fuge (Art of Fugue). In 1740 began to have trouble with his eyesight and in the last year of his life was almost totally blind... Click here to read more
2. Handel, George Frideric [Händel, Georg Friedrich] (b Halle, 1685; d
London, 1759).Ger.-born composer and organist (Eng. cit. 1726).
Son of a barber-surgeon who opposed mus. as his son's career though he permitted lessons from Zachau, composer and org. of Liebfrauenkirche, Halle. Handel studied law at Halle Univ., turning to full-time mus. when his father died. He went to Hamburg in 1703 where he joined the opera house under the composer Reinhard Keiser, playing 2nd vn. in the orch. His first opera Almira, written because Keiser lost interest in the lib., which Handel took over, was prod. there in 1705, being followed by 3 others. In 1706 Handel went to Italy in a prince's retinue, meeting Corelli, the Scarlattis, and other leading figures, and rapidly attaining mastery of It. style in opera, chamber mus., and vocal mus. He was acclaimed as a genius, the rival of his It. contemporaries. His opera Rodrigo was perf. in Florence in 1707 and Agrippina in Venice in 1709. The following year he was appointed court cond. in Hanover and was also invited to write an opera (Rinaldo) for London, where he quickly realized the possibilities for his own success and, after settling his affairs in Hanover, settled there permanently... Click here to read more
3. Haydn, Franz Joseph (b Rohrau, 1732; d Vienna, 1809). Austrian-born composer of pure Ger. stock.
The son of a farmer-wheelwright, Haydn showed immediate mus. precocity and at the age of 5 was given into the care of a Hainburg schoolmaster called Franck, who taught him the rudiments of mus. At 8 went to Vienna as choirboy at St Stephen's. When his v. broke at 17, he lived in poverty as a teacher and became accompanist and servant to the It. composer and teacher Porpora. He worked for two aristocratic patrons in 1750s, and in 1761 was engaged as vice-Kapellmeister at Eisenstadt, Hungary, by Prince Paul Esterházy. Haydn remained with the Esterházy household for 30 years, for both Prince Paul and his successor Prince Nikolaus, who reigned from 1762 to 1790, were passionate mus.-lovers. In 1766 Nikolaus built the palace of Eszterháza (modelled on Versailles) on the south side of the Neusiedlersee, spending the greater part of each year in this isolated home. Haydn's art benefited from this seclusion. ‘There was no one near to confuse me, so I was forced to become original’, he said. His duties were numerous; besides administrative work and caring for the court musicians, he cond. the orchestra, arr. and dir. operatic perfs., played in chamber mus., and produced a stream of works in many genres, incl. incidental mus. for plays, to please his patron. Haydn's fame spread from Eszterháza throughout Austria, Ger., and It. as his syms. were pubd. Fr. edns. of his works began to appear in the 1760s and later in London. In 1785 he was commissioned by Cadiz to compose an oratorio without words on the Saviour's 7 Last Words, and by the Parisian soc. Concert de la Loge Olympique to compose 6 syms. By this time he had become friends with Mozart, for whom he had the highest admiration. Their works from this date (1781) betray mutual influence. Haydn's life at Eszterháza ended in 1790 when Prince Nikolaus died and his successor dismissed the musicians, though leaving Haydn his salary and title. Haydn left the castle for Vienna where he accepted an invitation from the impresario J. P. Salomon to visit London. He stayed in England from 1 Jan. 1791 to the middle of 1792, being fêted, lionized, and entertained by royalty. He comp. syms. 93-98 on this visit, when he was deeply impressed by the 1791 Handel Fest. in Westminster Abbey. In July 1791 the hon. degree of D.Mus. was conferred on him by Oxford Univ. On his return to Vienna he bought a house there and accepted Beethoven as a pupil, an uneasy relationship for both great men. In 1794 he visited Eng. again, having been commissioned by Salomon to write 6 new syms. This 2nd visit lasted from Feb. 1794 to Aug. 1795 and was even more successful artistically and, especially, financially than the first. The Esterházy family had now reconstituted their mus. est., but Haydn comp. only for special occasions and was allowed to concentrate on his work as a composer. Between 1796 and 1802 he wrote 6 magnificent settings of the Mass. In 1797 he comp. his Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, which was adopted as Austria's nat. anthem. But his chief pre-occupation at this time was his oratorio Die Schöpfung (The Creation), f.p. privately in Vienna, 1798. This was followed by Die Jahreszeiten (The Seasons), f.p. 1801. From then on, Haydn's health began to fail and, though he made several more public appearances, he died during the Fr. occupation of Vienna... Click here to read more
4. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus] (b Salzburg, 1756; d Vienna, 1791). Austrian composer, keyboard-player, violinist, violist, and conductor.
Son of Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister to Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Mozart showed exceptional musical precocity, playing the klavier at 3 and composing at 5. His elder sister Maria Anna (1751-1829) was also a brilliant kbd. player and in 1762 Leopold decided to present his children's talents at various European courts. They first visited Munich and Vienna in 1762. Wolfgang was now able to play the vn. without having had formal teaching. In 1763 a longer journey began, from Munich, Augsburg, Frankfurt, and other cities to Cologne, Brussels, and Paris. They spent a fortnight at Louis XV's court at Versailles. In Apr. 1764 they arrived in London and were received by George III. While in London, Wolfgang studied with Abel, comp. with J. C. Bach, and singing with the castrato Manzuoli. He wrote his first 3 syms. in London. After visits to Holland and Switzerland, the Mozart family returned to Salzburg in Nov. 1766. Further visits to Vienna were made in 1767 and 1768 and Mozart comp. 2 operas, La finta semplice and Bastien und Bastienne. In Dec. 1769, Leopold took Mozart to It. where the boy's genius was everywhere acclaimed. He was taught by Martini and met Nardini, Jommelli, and Burney. In Rome he heard Allegri's Miserere and wrote it out from memory. His opera Mitridate, Rè di Ponto was successfully prod. in Milan in Dec. 1770. Two further visits to It. speedily followed, but the new prince-archbishop of Salzburg was less well-disposed towards the Mozarts and in 1777 Mozart left on a tour with his mother, Leopold not being well enough to go. They visited Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim (where he heard the famous orch.) and arrived in Paris in 1778. Mozart's mother died there in July of that year. No longer a Wunderkind, Mozart had less appeal for the Parisians, who were engrossed in the Gluck-Piccinni controversy. Unable to obtain a court post, Mozart returned to Salzburg where he spent the next 2 years as court and cath. org. amid growing hostility to the archbishop. In 1780 the Elector of Bavaria commissioned an opera from Mozart (Idomeneo), prod. in Munich, Jan. 1781. On Mozart's return to Salzburg he had a final confrontation with the archbishop and resigned. He went to Vienna, where he married Constanze Weber in Aug. 1782, a few days after the first perf. of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The last 9 years of his life were a juxtaposition of financial troubles with an astonishing outpouring of masterpieces in almost every genre. In 1785 he frequently played the va. in str. qts. with Dittersdorf and Haydn. To the latter, who regarded Mozart as the greatest composer he knew, Mozart dedicated 6 str. qts. in the autumn of 1785, when he also began work on Le nozze di Figaro. He frequently appeared as soloist in his own kbd. concs. Although Figaro was rapturously received in Vienna in 1786, it was taken off after 9 perfs., but was the rage of Prague when prod. there in 1787. During his visit to the Bohemian capital, Mozart's Sym. in D (K504, No.38) received its f.p., thereafter being known as the ‘Prague Sym’. He was subsequently commissioned to write an opera for Prague for the following autumn. The result was Don Giovanni, written in a few months while the 2 str. quintets in C major and G minor and Eine kleine Nachtmusik were also composed. In the same year Leopold Mozart died at Salzburg. The new opera was a success in Prague, but initially failed in Vienna, where it was prod. with some extra numbers in May 1788. A month later Mozart began to compose the first of his 3 last syms., completing them between 26 June and 10 Aug. In 1789, under severe financial pressure, he played a conc. in Dresden on the way to Berlin. He visited Leipzig, playing Bach's org. at St Thomas's. In Berlin King Friedrich Wilhelm II, a cellist, commissioned 6 str. qts. of which only 3 were written. In the autumn Emperor Joseph II of Austria commissioned a new comic opera, Così fan tutte, which was prod. early in 1790. Joseph died shortly afterwards, but Mozart's hope of being appointed by Leopold II Kapellmeister in place of Salieri was not fulfilled. In 1791 he was approached by the actor-manager Schikaneder with a view to composing a fairy-tale opera on a lib. concocted by Schikaneder. Die Zauberflöte was almost completed by July, the month in which Mozart received a commission to compose a Requiem for an anonymous patron (Count F. von Walsegg who wished to pass it off as his own). Mozart deferred work on it to compose an adaptation of Metastasio's La clemenza di Tito for Leopold II's coronation as King of Bohemia in Prague in Sept. This prod. was supervised by Mozart, who returned to Vienna, wrote the cl. conc., cond. the f.p. of Die Zauberflöte, and then resumed work on the Requiem. But his health, which had been deteriorating for some time, now became critical and he died on 5 Dec., leaving the Requiem to be completed by his pupil Süssmayr. He was buried in accordance with the Emperor Joseph II's regulations, with others who had died at the same time, and the location of his grave remains unknown. The circumstances of Mozart's death have given rise to many sensational theories, none proved, and there is much medical speculation on the cause of death... Click here to read more
5. Beethoven, Ludwig van (b Bonn, 1770; d Vienna, 1827).
Ger. composer and pianist who radically transformed every mus. form in which he worked. His paternal family were of Flemish stock, his grandfather having emigrated to Bonn where he became Court Singer to the Elector. Beethoven's father also became Court Singer, but was a coarse, drunken man, hopeful of exploiting his 2nd child Ludwig's mus. talents. Beethoven's early mus. education came from his father and several mediocre teachers. In 1779 he became a pupil of Christian Gottlob Neefe and his ass. as court organist in 1784. In 1786 he visited Vienna and may have extemporized for Mozart. On return to Bonn he found an understanding patron in Count Waldstein. For 4 years he was a violist in the court th. orch. in addition to other duties. In 1792 Haydn, visiting Bonn, saw some of Beethoven's early comps. and invited him to study with him in Vienna. There, despite his brusque and often uncouth manner, he was patronized by the aristocracy and lived for 2 years (1794-6) in the home of Prince Lichnowsky. His fame was entirely that of a virtuoso improviser at the kbd. Lessons from Haydn proved unsatisfactory and Beethoven went for theory to Schenk and later to Albrechtsberger and Salieri. His Op.1, 3 pf. trios, was pubd. 1795 and had immediate success.
Apart from occasional visits to the countryside Beethoven passed the rest of his life in Vienna. For 30 years he prod. mus. of all kinds in a steady flow. His first public appearance in Vienna was as soloist in his Bb major pf. conc. in 1795. His 3rd Symphony (the Eroica), besides being a work of revolutionary import because it greatly extended the possibilities of symphonic form, was significant because it was originally ded. to Napoleon Bonaparte. Beethoven erased the dedication when he heard that Napoleon had proclaimed himself emperor. In 1805 his only opera Fidelio, originally called Leonore, was performed but withdrawn for rev. after 3 perfs. and given the following year in a 2-act version. His 5th and 6th (Pastoral) Syms. were f.p. at the same concert in 1808 and the 7th appeared in 1813, the year before the successful prod. of the further rev. Fidelio. In 1817 and 1818 he began work on his 9th Sym., which departed from all precedent by including a choral finale for solo vv., ch., and orch., and the Missa Solemnis. These were perf. in 1824. From 1824 to 1826 he comp. the last 5 of his 17 str. qts... Click here to read more
6. Mendelssohn, (Jakob Ludwig) [Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy] (b Hamburg, 1809; d Leipzig, 1847).
Ger. composer, pianist, organist, and conductor. Grandson of Moses Mendelssohn, philosopher, and son of banker Abraham who added Bartholdy to his surname when he became Protestant Christian. Felix was 2nd of 4 children, eldest being Fanny Mendelssohn, almost as good a pianist as her brother. His first pf. lessons were from his mother and in Berlin he was taught harmony by Karl Zelter. Boy prodigy as pianist, making public début at 9. In 1819 his setting of Ps. 19 was sung by Berlin Singakademie. In 1821 Zelter took him to Weimar to visit Goethe, a warm friendship developing between the 72-year-old poet and the boy of 12, who was already a prolific composer. His comic opera, Die Hochzeit des Camacho was completed 1825 and produced 1827. In 1826, at age 17, he comp. the ov. to A Midsummer Night's Dream, adding the remainder of the incidental mus. 16 years later. Attended Berlin Univ. 1826-9, and finally determined upon mus. as a profession. In Mar. 1829, he cond. Bach's St Matthew Passion at the Singakademie (its f.p. since Bach's death in 1750), one of his many services to the Bach revival. Visited Eng. 1829, giving one of f.ps. there of Beethoven's ‘Emperor’ conc. From the outset he received adulation from Eng. public. Before leaving, toured Scotland and was inspired by scenery to write Hebrides ov. Toured Ger., Austria, and It. in next 2 years, composing 2 syms. and publishing first book of Lieder ohne Worte. Further visits to London 1832 and 1833 (when he cond. f.p. of his Italian Sym.).
Appointed cond., Lower Rhine Mus. Fest., Düsseldorf 1833-6 and cond. of Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch. 1835-46. Married 1837 and in next few years wrote several of his finest works, incl. Lobgesang, the Variations Sérieuses, and vn. conc. Organized new cons. of mus. at Leipzig, becoming dir. when it opened in 1843 as well as teaching pf. and comp., with Schumann as associate. Made 8th visit to Britain 1844, and returned in 1846 to cond. f.p. of oratorio Elijah at Birmingham Fest. Last (10th) visit was in 1847, when he conducted Elijah in London, Manchester, and Birmingham, and played for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Severe overwork, combined with the shock of his sister Fanny's sudden death in May 1847, led to his own death in Nov. of that year... Click here to read more