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Historical Dictionary of Music of The Classical Period Bertil Van Boer
Historical Dictionary of Music of The Classical Period Bertil Van Boer
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vii
“Classical music” has two definitions, one narrower and referring to a glori-
ous period in musical history running from about 1730 to 1800, give or take
a decade or so on each end, and the other encompassing the entire span of
serious or “art” music (one can therefore speak of contemporary classical mu-
sic). Obviously, this book deals with the former, which explains its somewhat
cumbersome title. It focuses on some of the most glorious music composed
by some of the greatest composers during this time period—still among the
most frequently played music today.
After the necessary preliminaries, readers are immersed not only in the
handful of composers we know best, such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven,
but others we know less well like Gluck and C. P. E. Bach and dozens more
whose music we have likely never heard. One dimension of this major mu-
sical transition is therefore its sheer size and dynamism. Others include the
introduction of new forms and styles, new instruments and larger ensembles,
and countless innovations in every area, as composers and musicians learned
from one another and then made their own contributions. In fact, so much was
going on that this book can only hint at it all, although it does an excellent job
of covering the most significant aspects.
A substantial chronology covers the major events, thereby providing a feel
for the period. The introduction takes on some impossible tasks, such as when
exactly the “Classical period” was and what made it distinctive, and resolves
them amazingly well. The bulk of the material appears in the dictionary sec-
tion, with entries predominantly on people: not only composers but also sing-
ers and instrumentalists, patrons, and music publishers. There are also entries
on important technical terms, major centers of music-making, typical and
sometimes now-obsolete instruments, and various emerging musical forms,
including the novel symphony and triumphant opera with their many varia-
tions. These entries are on the whole short and to the point, since there is a lot
of ground to cover and other sources abound. This explains the importance of
the bibliography, since many readers will want to learn more; here they will
find access to many forms of information on related subjects.
This Historical Dictionary of Music of the Classical Period was written by
Bertil van Boer, whose career embraces music in many forms. He has taught
ix
Jon Woronoff
Series Editor
xi
others, such as prominent librettists. The criteria for inclusion into this work
are twofold: first, they must have been active during the 1730–1800 period;
and second, their music must conform to either a developmental or conven-
tional stage of some style we can call “Classical.” For those who are not
composers, there must be a significant musical connection. For example, both
Catherine II of Russia and Gustav III of Sweden are included, but Hapsburgs
Maria Theresia and Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Na-
tion are not. The reason is that both of the former also wrote librettos and per-
sonally oversaw their musical establishments, and while the latter certainly
had one of the most brilliant groups of musicians available to them in Vienna,
they functioned mainly as knowledgeable patrons, though both of course did
have some musical training, as befitted most nobility of the period. This set of
criteria omits major Baroque composers, and on the upper end, most people
born in 1780 or later. There are, of course, exceptions. Cross-references are
not meant to be completely exhaustive, and when they are used, they gener-
ally refer to the teachers or pupils of the composers in question; I have pur-
posefully omitted cross-references in the matter of genre or style, again, save
for a very few exceptions.
In listing compositions, a few of the most important works are mentioned if
one or more gained a wider reputation during their times (or ours), but in gen-
eral the procedure has been to limit these to an overview according to genres
(and not always in a particular order). In terms of each person’s musical style,
there is generally only a cursory indication; most composers or places were
influenced by others, but in many cases stylistic changes occurred as a result
of the various conditions and preferences of those for whom the music was
intended. Thus, a work written clearly in an Italian style for a cathedral in,
say, New Spain, is in its essence a variation of a foreign style, created for
local requirements, and based upon the familiarity of the composer and its
reception by the audience, which makes it sometimes quite different from any
normalized model or predecessor. For more popular figures, such as Joseph
Haydn or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the entries may seem particularly
sparse, but given that there is a monumental amount of iconic literature and
scholarship available, this has been a deliberate decision in order to maintain
the quick reference nature of this volume.
Other entries include the most visible public concerts, orchestras (such as
Mannheim), “schools” defined as groups of composers who flourished un-
der specific patronage, societies, and individual terms relating to genre and
style. Many of the last are cursory by design, given that nomenclature was
often slippery and definitions sometimes contradictory. Certain occupations
are also mentioned if they pertain particularly to this period, but in general
generic terms, such as “conductor” or “choreographer,” have been avoided.
there is some information that a new spelling is preferred for Haydn’s remote
Hungarian castle workplace. I have retained “Esterháza” for “Esterház,” the
spelling by which it was known up through the 20th century. In an era of
inconsistent orthography, it is often better known by its modern standardized
equivalent.
This work could not have been completed without the help of several
friends and colleagues from the Society for Eighteenth-Century Music, who
pointed me in a number of directions that were useful. These include Doug-
las Lee, John Rice, Sterling Murray, Drew Davies, Beverly Wilcox, Paul
Corneilson, Estelle Joubert, Pater Lukas Helg of Kloster Einsiedeln, and
numerous others. I would also like to recognize Jon Woronoff of Scarecrow
Press, who was patient and understanding as the work grew in the telling. I
appreciate his advice and comments on drafts and in the huge editing process.
I can only hope that this work might inspire others to explore the wide world
of Classical period music, the surface of which has only been scratched.
GENERAL
xv
1728 The first ballad opera, The Beggar’s Opera, premiers in London.
Benedetto Marcello publishes his cantata Cassandra in Venice as an exem-
plar of drama in music.
1730 The Riddarhuskonserter are founded in Stockholm by Johan Helmich
Roman.
1733 War of the Polish succession begins.
1734 Fire destroys the musical archives at the Capilla Real in Madrid.
1735 Charles of Bourbon drives out the Austrians from Naples and estab-
lishes close musical ties to Spain, which sends students to the various conser-
vatories. First ballad opera performed in Charleston, South Carolina.
1736 Giovanni Pergolesi dies suddenly near Naples.
1737 The Teatro San Carlo opens in Naples.
1738 The Hamburg opera closes after bankruptcy.
1739 Reinhard Keiser dies in Hamburg.
1740 Frederick II becomes king of Prussia and brings musical establish-
ment to Berlin to form the Berlin School. Maria Theresia becomes head of
the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation in Vienna, but her accession
is disputed. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann and Carl Graun, and Johann
Philipp Kirnberger move to Berlin.
1741 Christoph Willibald von Gluck’s first opera Artaserse premiered in
Milan; John Immyns founds the Madrigal Society in London; Antonio Viv-
aldi and Johann Joseph Fux die in Vienna.
1742 George Frederick Handel’s Messiah premieres in Dublin. A Ger-
man version of the ballad opera The Devil to Pay is performed in Berlin and
Hamburg by the Schönemann troupe. Ranleigh Gardens summer concerts are
begun in London. Italian opera is inaugurated in Berlin with Carl Graun’s
Caesare e Cleopatra. An opera house opens in Mannheim.
xix
1770 The Liebhaberkonzerte are begun in Berlin and the Concert des
Amateurs is established in Paris. Padre Sojo establishes the Chacao School in
Caracas, Venezuela, New Spain. Giuseppe Tartini dies in Padua.
1771 Johann Kirnberger publishes his Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in Ber-
lin. The Royal Academy of Music is founded in Stockholm. Charles Burney
publishes his The Present State of Music in France and Italy. Johann Adolph
Hasse’s last opera seria Ruggiero premieres in Milan.
1772 Gustav III becomes king of Sweden and begins planning the Royal
Opera. The Tonkünstlersozietät is founded in Vienna.
1773 Christoph Wieland and Anton Schweitzer compose a German serious
opera, Alceste, for Weimar. The Royal Opera in Stockholm is inaugurated
with Francesco Uttini’s Thetis och Pelée. Charles Burney publishes his The
Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Provinces.
Joseph Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa premieres at Esterház.
1774 Johann Friedrich Reichardt becomes Kapellmeister in Berlin. Goethe
publishes Die Leiden des jungen Werthers. Antonio Salieri becomes court
composer in Vienna. Gluck arrives in Paris to produce Iphigénie en Aulide.
Niccolo Jommelli dies in Naples.
1775 American War for Independence begins. Georg Benda writes mono-
drama Ariadne auf Naxos for Gotha. Hanover Square Rooms concert series
begins in London.
1776 Charles Burney publishes the first volume of his General History of
Music. The Ancient Concerts sponsored by the Academy of Ancient Music
begin in London. John Hawkins publishes his History of Music.
1777 The Accademia de’Cavalieri begins concerts in Naples. Günther von
Schwarzburg by Ignaz Holzbauer premieres in Mannheim.
1778 Elector Carl Theodor moves his court to Munich as elector of Bavaria,
taking with him most of his orchestra. The Teatro a la Scala opens in Milan.
Joseph II founds the German National Singspiel in Vienna. Abbé Georg Jo-
seph Vogler publishes his Betrachtungen einer Mannheimer Tonschule.
1779 Opera house at Esterház burns. The Gluck-Piccinni feud erupts with
performances of the former’s Iphigénie en Tauride and the latter’s Roland.
1780 Mozart writes Idomeneo for Munich.
1781 Mozart arrives in Vienna; opera house at Esterház reopens. Joseph
Haydn publishes his Opus 33 string quartets. The Loge Olympique concerts
are inaugurated in Paris. Johann Adam Hiller becomes the first conductor of
the new Gewandshaus orchestra in Leipzig.
If there is one period in music history that lies in the background of our mod-
ern concept of classical music and yet is difficult to grasp in its entirety, it
is the Classical period. The research is mammoth, and there is an awareness
that it may probably be the first “modern” period of today’s music, and still
there are aspects that seem to defy precise definition. The concepts that drove
the 19th century all appear during the very short time span of its existence,
the foundations for the technological marvels of later eras were laid, new
forms of government appeared as a fundamental sea change occurred from
the earlier hierarchy based upon feudal fealty to some sort of more egalitarian
system, and in the arts there was an emerging awareness of people, their emo-
tions and foibles, that drove substantial changes in how culture was practiced
and viewed. It was called variously the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of
Reason, the Age of Revolution, the Age of Empire, and a number of other
epithets that encompass some of these changes but fail to grasp the enormity
of what occurred during the period. Indeed, various trends, labeled Galant,
Empfindsamkeit, Sturm und Drang, Rococo, Gothic, Classicism, and so forth,
are all active terms that imply a rapid systemic change that perhaps would
be difficult to encompass in any sort of single term. Add to this a global per-
spective particularly during the last half of the century and one is confronted
by a historical colossus, something which in its Hydra-like aspects requires a
complex musical world to match.
There are two main questions that confront one when coming to terms
with music in the Classical period. The first is to determine what occurred
during this dramatic era in terms of musical style and trends; the second is to
see how the ebb and flow, perhaps even the diffusion, of music happened on
a global scale. There can be no doubt that this was perhaps one of the most
fruitful compositional periods in history, and in comparison with other times,
it would seem that there was a market for music of all sorts in virtually every
place, even some where living conditions were extremely nascent or primi-
tive. In order to begin to answer these questions, it is necessary to make some
definitions regarding the period itself.
in the future, and how one describes the works of Franz Schubert, who died
only a year after Beethoven, or Carl Maria von Weber depends upon whether
their music is Classical or simply rooted in Classical tradition. One may sub-
scribe to one or the other view, but here too there is a certain sense of overlap
in composers such as Weber or perhaps even Giaocchino Rossini, where, like
the composers at the beginning of the period, they knew of a newly emerging
style but preferred to write in the old.
This leaves the other parameters, both social and cultural, as possible deter-
minants. While 1740, the year when Frederick the Great of Prussia and Maria
Theresia of the Holy Roman Empire became heads of their respective states,
does have some significance due to their involvement in musical develop-
ment, if the new style emerged from Italy, then the beginning must go at least
a decade earlier when composers such as Giovanni Pergolesi, Giovanni Sam-
martini, and Antonio Brioschi were already defining both Classical form and
genres. At the upper end, perhaps the treaties of Vienna and Ghent in 1814
were pivotal historical points, for not only does Europe undergo the first of
the many political reconfigurations of the century, it is also a time when the
Americas were finally freed, or in the throes of being free, from European
political suzerainty.
For music, the older court or church dominance was replaced by the munic-
ipal concert hall/opera house or the private salon as venues for which works
could be written. For composers, this marked a change to an arrangement that
was less secure than the old court system but offered more lucrative ways
of making a living. Add to this the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution,
particularly in the field of transportation, and accessibility to composers and
music becomes a significant factor in marking a sea change around this time.
Given these rather nebulous boundaries, a definitive chronology based upon
historical data must remain an elusive target, with arbitrary limits established
as required.
It used to be that the music of the Classical period, however chrono-
logically problematic, was inevitably defined by only a handful of major
figures, the so-called great masters whose importance seems to have been
determined already as the 19th century dawned. E. T. A. Hoffmann may not
have been the first but was certainly one of the most persuasive proponents
of a triumvirate consisting of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, which in turn
led to the equating of the music of the entire period with a Viennese Classi-
cal style.2 Important other figures such as Christoph Willibald von Gluck or
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach were often ranked as secondary in importance,
acknowledging their contributions as “forerunners” of the triumvirate, and
the remaining relegated to the status of Kleinmeister, a word that seems by
its very nature to be rather derogatory.3
In a number of modern general histories of the period, this view has re-
mained. For example, Philip Downs’s Classical Music for the Norton series
is subtitled The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven with five of nine
chapters devoted to these composers. In Reinhard Pauly’s Music in the Clas-
sical Period, each chapter written on genres seems inevitably to devolve
into a discussion of their works, and they are the only ones singled out for
individual chapters all on their own. Charles Rosen’s The Classical Style and
Leonard Ratner’s analysis of form in his Classic Music focus heavily upon
these composers, while Giorgio Pestelli’s text is titled The Age of Mozart and
Beethoven, with poor Haydn even left out of top billing. Finally, the titles of
two out of the three monumental volumes on the period by Daniel Heartz
(Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School from 1995 and Mozart, Haydn, and
Early Beethoven from 2009) continue the trend, even though in both of these
studies a more objective and universal content can be discerned.
Needless to say, this overwhelming focus, whether titular or contentual,
has evoked a response, ranging from the antithetical Vergessen Sie Mozart!
Erfolgskomponisten der Mozart-Zeit (Forget Mozart! Successful Compos-
ers of the Mozart Era; never mind the irony of the title here) by Wolfgang
Antesberger to attempts to relocate the 18th century into either a generic or
social context, as can be seen in the aforementioned Man and Music edited
by Zaslaw or the various often exhaustive studies on the oratorio by Howard
Smither, the sonata by William S. Newman, or the soon-to-be published and
long-anticipated study of the 18th-century symphony in the series begun by
A. Peter Brown (and now concluded by editors Mary Sue Morrow and Bathia
Churgin with over 20 individual authors involved in the compendium).
Each of these studies, and others as well, have begun the task of leveling
the playing field of 18th-century music, showing that the plethora of styles
and trends, within which each of the triumvirate was of course an integral
participant, were all contributors to a greater whole, a kaleidoscopic world of
Classical period music that was global in form and substance.
This in turn requires a broader view of the music of the period than that
focused entirely upon three out of hundreds of composers active at the same
time. In other words, one simply cannot define the music of the Classical
period as being equated, dominated, or even focused upon any individual,
let alone a single city, no matter how prosperous a musical establishment it
had. If the great masters approach no longer is appropriate, the development
of musical style may be a more productive avenue to follow in defining the
period.
In terms of questions of style and genre, both the old and the new styles,
forms, and structures are often comingled and mutually influential. When one
views the overall stylistic developments of any given period, the issue of pro-
gressive development becomes a crucial one; the one question that frequently
occurs is whether “forward-looking” music is a harbinger of things to come
or an anomaly, born out of a particular set of circumstances. The same goes
for whether a particular composition or style is to be deemed progressive (or
perhaps even revolutionary) or anachronistic. Add to this mix the issues of
performance practice—and by this is limited here to the development of per-
formance circumstances, venues, and participation—and the waters become
indeed murky. Is a composer writing in 1790 for an orchestra consisting of
strings only less advanced than one who begins to add trombones to a brass
section of a quartet of horns and pair of trumpets, for example? Is the re-
discovery of Bach promoted in Vienna in the 1780s by Baron Gottfried van
Swieten (and espoused with some nonchalance by Mozart, at least before he
perused Bach’s manuscripts while on a trip to Leipzig in 1789) a deliberate
anachronism in terms of performance practice, or is it a back-to-the-future
approach that might be deemed a true revival?
There can be no doubt that an almost infinite variety of possibilities for the
creation and performance of music existed during the Classical period. Virtu-
ally all of the modern traditional genres were either developed or perfected
during the era, and there was an ample creative spark that led to new sorts
of genres, styles, or variations thereof. It is often taken for granted that clar-
ity and symmetry were the hallmarks of the period; for instance, the careful
melodic and harmonic contrasts, as well as the expanded binary structure,
of what used to be termed sonata form (and now generally can be described
merely as the sonata principle). Formal clarity was certainly an important
aspect of the music of the period, but it was subject to considerable variety
and creativity. Reading through Heinrich Koch’s description of sonata form,
for example, reveals more of a how-to method than an artistic way of solving
issues of contrast, and his examples are both dry and pedantic. To be sure, he
does provide a description that seems to work in general terms, but this does
not explain the unwritten adherence to this principle by many composers of
the period, nor does it allow for the variance that composers employ when
using it.
Genres themselves are somewhat indefinite, although to be sure nomencla-
ture was not standardized. A sonata could be virtually anything, from what
we might consider a “standard” three-movement work for a single instrument
with keyboard accompaniment to a larger piece such as a piano trio or a single
solo instrument. A symphony may have been standardized for the most part
into either three or four movements, but there are symphonies that range from
a single movement with slow introduction (the so-called Sinfonia da chiesa
with examples from Joseph Martin Kraus to Niccolò Zingarelli) to perhaps
as many as nine movements, such as the characteristic symphonies by Jean
It seems clear that one must approach the music and those who wrote it from
several perspectives during the era. First, there are the economic factors that
become all the more important in how music develops, is composed, and is
disseminated. Second, there is a sea change in the lives and occupations of the
composers themselves, which involves the dissolution of the social structures
that provided for employment in earlier times. Third, there is the matter of
taste, for conservative traditions or for novelty that drives the musical de-
velopment and expansion. Finally, there is the growth of the medium itself,
here defined as the creation of new institutions wherein music is performed,
restriction of rules that confine or limit its growth, development of the en-
semble, and the principles that define how music is to be used and for what
purposes. These are intertwining aspects, but all are an integral part in how
one is to view the period.
The economic factors during the Classical period were crucial to the devel-
opment of music. Composers had a variety of outlets for their works, ranging
from the more traditional commissions and requirements of their employ-
ment to the ability to publish and even distribute their own music. As with
earlier eras, if a composer was employed by a court, there were inevitable
duties and responsibilities that came with the position. In terms of musical
composition, it entailed writing works for special occasions (either for his
own patron or those associated or related), everyday events, or as required
for the maintenance of their musical establishments. A person like Joseph
Haydn, for example, as an employee of the Esterházy family, was obliged
to compose works to display the talents of his musicians (concertos, concert
arias), works to entertain his employer (symphonies, operas, divertimentos,
sonatas, etc.), works for the local churches (Masses, motets), special commis-
sions for his prince (baryton works), and anything else that was needed. He
also was able to independently accept special commissions as his fame grew
(the so-called Paris symphonies, the concertos/divertimentos for lire organiz-
zate, the Seven Last Words) but also arrange for publication of sets of works
(string quartets) by publishers or by subscription. Publishers even opted on
occasion to become exclusive printers of special sets, such as the sonatas and
Morgengesang by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who handled the subscriptions
and sales himself.
As a result, publishers such as Artaria in Vienna, Breitkopf in Leipzig,
Hummel in Berlin and Amsterdam, Boyer in Paris, and many others, with or
without royal privilege, flourished as outlets for composers. Even the lack
of copyright, which saw numerous misattributions for the sake of a better
market, did not stop composers from pursuing this avenue with increasing
fervor. When added to the growth of the private salon society, with its niche
market for small chamber works performable by amateurs, opportunities for
economic advantages became legion. Nor were the more common manu-
scripts neglected. Copy shops such as Johann Traeg in Vienna and Breitkopf
both maintained substantial catalogues of works that could be copied off upon
demand at reasonable prices, and both professional and amateur composers
were not opposed to using this as a means of making some extra money.
When one adds distribution to this system, then a growing reputation meant a
growing market for one’s music, and no matter where one was bound, often
this was part of the necessary luggage, whether it was Santiago de Chile or
Bounty Bay, whether a distant cathedral or a penal colony.
With respect to the economic factors, it is interesting to note that compos-
ers and musicians were also less restricted in their choice of occupations and
employers than in prior periods. A musician could change employers, and
many did so frequently sometimes without undue difficulties. For example,
Franz Xaver Richter was allowed to apply for and obtain the post of Kapell-
meister in Strasbourg by his erstwhile employer, Elector Carl Theodor in
Mannheim. Johann Adolph Hasse occupied two posts simultaneously from
about 1734: Kapellmeister at the Saxon court in Dresden and maestro di
cappella at the Ospedale degli Incurabili in Venice. And in the case of Abbé
Vogler, his various positions in Paris, Stockholm, Munich, and Darmstadt
were all part of his own desire to spread his fame, and for each of these, as
well as his self-made post in Mannheim at the Electoral court, he was able
to negotiate favorable terms without application or scrutiny, such as occurred
frequently in Spain and Portugal, where church maestros di capillas had to
undergo rigorous (and sometimes rigged) examinations for their posts.
Part of this freedom was a part of a new view by the rulers, particularly of
the subsections of the Holy Roman Empire, who were not only often closely
related but vied with each other for the reputations of their musical establish-
ments. The Bourbon kings of Spain were thus able to offer lucrative employ-
ment to Luigi Boccherini or Gaetano Brunetti, not to mention their monopoly
over performers such as Farinelli for over a decade. Gustav III of Sweden was
able to persuade not only Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler but also several other
Germans such as Johann Friedrich Grenser, Joseph Martin Kraus, and Christian
Haeffner to relocate to Stockholm, while his cousin, Catherine the Great of
Russia, convinced a veritable stream of famous Italian opera composers, such
as Giovanni Paisiello, Giuseppe Sarti, Vincent Martin y Soler, and Domenico
Cimarosa, to grace her court at St. Petersburg. The major appointments also
brought a large number of others, who, even if they did not achieve the top po-
sitions, nonetheless were able to find respectable employment with some of the
lesser nobility. Ernest Wanžura, for example, found a position at court, while
Count Schaffgotsch used Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf both as a musician and
as a state bureaucrat. Often these included posts as ordinary musicians, such
as Joseph Fiala at Salzburg and the court of Oettingen-Wallerstein. In the best
cases, the rulers gathered around them a group of musicians who were meant
to achieve significant musical developments; here one can note not only Gustav
and Catherine, both of whom had more nationalist agendas, but also Frederick
the Great, who patronized the so-called Berlin School made up of Carl Heinrich
and Johann Gottlieb Graun, C. P. E. Bach, Johann Kirnberger, and others, as
well as making his own musical contributions.
In addition, during the period, church music—particularly in the Catholic
countries—required increasingly complex musical establishments, and com-
posers could find occupations in the many churches and cathedrals through-
out Europe with or without being members of the clergy. Carlo Monzi or
Johann Simon Mayr would raise the standards in Bergamo, while Mozart and
Michael Haydn devoted much of their energy toward the expansion of sacred
music in Salzburg, to give two examples of nonclerical composers employed
at such institutions; at the same time, Jan Ryba wrote for his small parish in
Bohemia a myriad of works particularly suited to his situation. Municipalities
also provided employment opportunities. Sir Frederick Herschel, who was a
polymath, wrote works for the Bath concert series, as did his contemporaries
Carl Friedrich Abel and Johann Christian Bach in London.
Finally, there were those who, despite the occasional formal appointment,
remained freelancers their entire lives. First and foremost were the Italian
composers of opera, who were able to obtain commissions, sometimes quite
lucrative, from theatres throughout Italy and elsewhere in Europe. Several of
the wandering companies, such as the Mingotti troupe, even hired their own
in-house composers; these included Christoph Willibald von Gluck and Fran-
cesco Antonio Uttini. Next were the soloists, who went to places such as Paris
or London both to achieve fame and to expand their careers. These included
traveling artists such as violist Carl Stamitz, harpist Jan Krumpholz, or pianist
Jan Dussek, but one could also find niche composers, such as Giuseppe Cam-
bini, who found that the sinfonia concertante was particularly suited to his
talents. In short, the 18th century offered composers far more opportunities
for employment in a variety of occupations than heretofore, and in so doing
created a fertile environment for musical composition.
The third factor is that of taste. Musical aesthetics was a significant ele-
ment in the growth of music during the Classical period. There can be no
doubt that certain occasions demanded a certain style of music. Louis Grénon
knew that he had to follow the traditions of his church in Sainte by composing
works that were a cappella and accompanied only by a continuo consisting
of the organ and a serpent. The Mercure de France is filled with debates on
musical taste, as are treatises such as Etwas von und über Musik, general
travelogues such as Charles Burney’s travels through Europe, or journals
such as the Magazin de Musik, all of which take a critical look at how music
is received (or ought to be received) by both professional and amateur alike.
The best anecdotal example of this often controversial subject may be that
surrounding Mozart’s Dissonant Quartet (KV 465). In Vienna, Joseph Haydn
heard this and exclaimed to Leopold Mozart that his son was the greatest
composer he knew, while when it was performed at the Este court in Modena,
the Duke d’Este was so outraged by the dissonant harmonies that he marched
down and tore the manuscript to shreds (or at least the first page of it).
In the 18th century, however, novelty seemed to be an asset for a com-
poser, who was continually on the lookout for a new mode of expression or
new method of making a personal statement. Novelty breeds at times a certain
fame or notoriety, and, for example, in the case of Giovanni Pergolesi, an
early death at age 26 and a reputation as a progressive composer engendered
an imitative Blitz so powerful that within a decade after his demise he was at-
tributed with hundreds more works than he actually wrote. Joseph Haydn was
considered so much a harbinger of taste and novelty that his works (princi-
pally the string quartets and symphonies) sparked numerous imitators, several
of which, such as Pater Roman Hoffstetter, even had their works accepted
as legitimate ones by the elder composer. Taste often drove composers; in
England the popular taste was for the medley overture, and both there and
in the new United States, composers such as Samuel Arnold, James Hewitt,
and Alexander Reinagle wrote these quodlibets thereby creating a new genre.
The final factor in the development of the Classical period concerns the
medium itself. Throughout the period there was a conscious expansion of
both genres and the method of performance, which in turn created need and
opportunity for musical education or invention. Although the conservatory
system in Naples was crucial for the bulk of the century in turning out com-
posers and musicians, and indeed often served as a Mecca for students from
abroad, the method of teaching was still less than formal, often consisting
of texts such as Johann Joseph Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum or individual
thorough-bass or instrumental tutorials. There was clearly a need for a more
structured education, which developed throughout the century. In Stockholm,
the Royal Academy of Music offered a thorough curriculum, as did the The-
atre Schools in Moscow and St. Petersburg, while in Paris in 1795 the first
modern musical university, the Conservatoire, was established.
The necessity for this sort of institutionalized music education was
prompted by the development of the musical ensemble itself. In the 1730s,
the general orchestra consisted of a central core of strings (mostly four-part),
at the foundation of which was a continuo group, usually defined locally to
include a variety of bass instruments. Johann Mattheson’s Neu-eröffnete Or-
chester of 1713 delineates the other instruments that were often added to pro-
vide color and texture, but which functioned as special groupings or consorts.
In Johann Sebastian Bach’s larger works, there is usually a woodwind group-
ing of flutes, oboes, oboes da caccia, and sometimes bassoons, as well as a
brass grouping of horns or trumpets and timpani. George Frederick Handel
uses a smaller orchestration, but varies his textures by dropping or adding
these groups, using textural contrast to achieve his orchestral effects. By
1740, this has changed considerably. The winds are now used more as har-
monic filler rather than completely colla parte, and the orchestra itself seems
to be expanding to exploit the ranges and depth of individual instruments or
instrument pairs. Johann Gottlob Harrer, for example, often requires extreme
trumpet ranges, adding a specialized color to his orchestration, while the
symphonies of Johan Helmich Roman or Johann Agrell employ woodwinds
with their own parts, now sustaining, now solo. In 1745, Elector Carl Theodor
made a further adjustment by forming the Mannheim orchestra, which took
the shape of a modern ensemble through pairs of woodwinds (each contrast-
ing but also providing sustained harmonic color when needed), pairs of horns
(to do likewise), the usual trumpet and drum corps, and an expanded body
of strings, now with the occasional disassociation of the violoncello from the
contrabass.
there, and only about a year later both Johann Mattheson and Johann Adoph
Scheibe were able to describe it in their treatises as a popular all-purpose in-
strumental genre.4 Almost immediately it too spawned numerous variations,
from flexible number of movements to descriptive characteristic symphonies
(such as Dittersdorf’s 12 works based upon Ovid’s Metamorphosis), from
medley overtures to an amalgamation of the concerto and symphony known
as the sinfonia concertante. In terms of opera, a new style of comic opera
spread northward out of Naples beginning around the same time, eventually
becoming the international standard for opera throughout Europe.
Italian opera, both serious and comic, was spread to all portions of the globe
and was well regarded for the beauty of the language, the familiarity of the
types of music—long lyrical lines, good harmonic support, in serious works a
certain predictability that allowed for virtuoso display, colorful orchestration,
for example—and the familiarity of the plots. It flourished throughout the
period in centers such as Rome, Turin, Florence, Milan, Naples, and Venice,
with a veritable horde of local composers and occasionally librettists, such as
Carlo Goldoni, able to make a sometimes substantial living off of commis-
sions, but its real influence was felt elsewhere as composers traveled beyond
Italy. As noted above, a host of composers was invited to St. Petersburg to
write Italian opera for Catherine the Great, but Frederick the Great of Prus-
sia supported composers such as Carl Heinrich Graun, Frederick August of
Saxony Hasse, and Johann Gottlieb Naumann in their successful attempts to
set Italian librettos for their courts. Opera houses in London, Vienna, Warsaw,
Munich, and elsewhere also found Italian opera, more buffa as the century pro-
gressed, appealing to their audiences, which in turn sparked various attempts
at reform, such as when Count Giacomo Durazzo encouraged Gluck and his
librettist Raniero Calzabigi to revisit the seria to make it more dramatic.
Italian opera may have dominated the European scene, but this did not
stop local national opera from developing. When the Parisian audiences were
introduced to Pergolesi’s La serva padrona, an immediate controversy arose
regarding the moribund French tragédie lyrique and comic works. Efforts by
Charles Simon Favart to create an opéra comique successfully demonstrated
the efficacy of French comic opera, leading onward in the quest for exoticism
and novelty in works by François Gossec and André-Ernest-Modest Grétry.
In England, the popular ballad opera, originally more of a parody with the
1728 Beggar’s Opera, was developed to include both serious national ele-
ments (such as Thomas Arne’s Alfred) or complete farces (composed by Ste-
phen Storace and others). Indeed, one of these, the pasticcio The Devil to Pay
produced by Charles Coffey, also became an international success, sparking
the development of the German Singspiel through translated performances by
the troupe of Heinrich Koch in Leipzig in 1756.
A decade later, Johann Adam Hiller was not only promoting a particular
German style of opera replete with folk elements and music, he also estab-
lished a school to train composers and singers how to do it. A similar style
also developed in Vienna, culminating in fairy-tale works by Dittersdorf,
Paul Wrantizky, and Mozart produced in venues such as Emanuel Schicka-
neder’s Theater auf der Wieden. By 1777, more serious German opera had
begun with Iganz Holzbauer’s Günther von Schwarzburg, and around the
same time Georg Benda had adapted to limited performance circumstances
at the court theatre in Gotha by developing the duodrama, where music sim-
ply accompanied a spoken play. Christian Cannabich and others added the
occasional ballet and chorus to this new genre, but this was a particularly
German invention. Another outgrowth of this was the didactic Singspiels
(sometimes called school dramas) that were performed in many of the smaller
towns—especially in Bavaria—and composed mainly by Benedictine monks
at the nearby monasteries.
Finally, national operas in local languages began to flourish, not as exam-
ples of provincialism, but as full-fledged genres in their own rights. In Rus-
sia, Catherine encouraged her local composers such as Yevstigney Fomin or
Vasily Paskevich to write folk operas using specialized instruments and folk
tunes, even writing the librettos herself. In Sweden, Gustav III inaugurated a
Swedish opera—though at the first performance of one he thoughtfully asked
members of his court if their ears hurt hearing the language sung—and by
1774 had begun mining Swedish history in a blatant attempt at Nordic propa-
ganda to support his regime; he too wrote or drafted many of the texts used in
works such as Naumann’s Gustav Wasa or Olof Åhlström’s Frigga. In Den-
mark, the government of Ove Guldberg sought to deflect attention away from
a flagging monarchy by promoting opera in Danish, beginning in 1779 with
Johann Ernst Joseph Hartmann’s Balders død. Its success created a plethora
of Danish works by Friedrich Ludwig Aemelius Kunzen, Johann Abraham
Peter Schulz, and others, one of which, Holger Danske by Kunzen, was to
later appear in the 19th century as Carl Maria von Weber’s Oberon. In Spain,
native operatic forms such as the zarzuela and tonadilla were composed by
local composers such as José de Nebra Blasco or Antonio de Hita. In short,
opera literally exploded onto the international musical scene, both as popular
works by Italian composers and local exemplars, making the Classical period
certainly the most fruitful creative period in music history for the genre.
The same could be said for virtually every other genre, such as the string
quartet, which developed out of the divertimento and became the primary
chamber genre for publishers and amateur performers throughout the world.
In short, the creation of music during this period was far more extensive and
widespread than perhaps at any time in history, so that the Classical period
must be considered the font of modern music, a rich and vibrant era without
equal.
The international situation within which music flourished during this period
had a considerable influence not only on the dissemination of the works of a
composer but also on the influences and circumstances surrounding the need
for music. From a political standpoint, this was not a particularly calm period.
Various smaller European wars occupied central Europe from the very begin-
ning. In 1740 both France and Prussia declared that Maria Theresia was ineli-
gible according to Salic Law to succeed her late father, Charles VI, thereby
inaugurating a war that lasted until 1748. Austria was supported by Great
Britain and the Dutch Republic, and during the course of this various con-
flagrations flared up all over Europe, including the 1745 Jacobite uprising in
Scotland. Tensions returned in 1756, when Britain went to war with Bourbon
France and Spain, while the Prussian Hohenzollerns and Austrian Hapsburgs
again fought battles over Silesia and (with Sweden) over Pomerania. This
time, the conflict spilled over into the colonies in North America. In 1776, the
American colonies declared their independence, resulting in another de facto
global conflict, with the French backing the colonists and the various German
states backing Britain. By 1783 a treaty was signed and the new United States
of America became the first new nation in the American hemisphere. In 1787
Joseph II of Austria attacked the Ottoman Empire in conjunction with Cath-
erine the Great, a conflict that lasted over a decade, and the next year Gustav
III of Sweden fought with her over Baltic hegemony, eventually forcing a
stalemate. Finally, in 1789 the French Revolution began with the storming of
the Bastille and ended with the coming to power of Napoleon during the years
of the Directorate from 1795 onward.
These political events did not hinder the development of music, but rather
allowed for new avenues to emerge in the form of political works. During
the most difficult years of the French Revolution, for example, composers
such as François Gossec, Luigi Cherubini, and others were commissioned to
write music celebrating the regime and its new social order. Britain’s final
suppression of the Scottish rebellion not only elicited a number of patriotic
songs and anthems in England, it served to expand the sense of Scottishness
among native composers, such as Alexander Mac’Glashan, much of which
was exported as the clearances forced the immigration of thousands to the
New World. In 1798, the Portuguese court fled to Brazil along with their
composers, who began writing the national hymns that were to become politi-
cal symbols into the next century.
Along with this were the newly emerging global empires that provided
the grist for the new societies in Europe. To be sure, the Age of Explora-
tion that began in the 15th century had long since been replaced by towns
and provinces based upon European models, and these had become centers
that were in many cases large, prosperous, and culturally independent, even
though they had close ties with their European capitals. In musical terms, this
offered markets for works that were heretofore unavailable. In Venezuela
in New Spain, for example, Padre Sojo gathered around him a group of lo-
cal musicians and immigrants to form the Chacao School; not only did the
school include instrument makers, but it also offered composers employment
as teachers and professionals. In Brazil, the Irmandades were confraternities
that were associated with but not part of religious orders in areas such as
Minas Gerais, and composers such as Jerônimo de Souza Lôbo were actively
writing music the equivalent in form and structure to anything in Europe.
Esteban de Salas in Santiago de Cuba had to make do with an ensemble of
only a few singers and strings, but he too was able to adapt and compose
numerous villancicos, or motets, for his church. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, the
British garrison included a musical group that was able to mount orchestral
concerts beginning around 1770, while both theatre and public concerts,
often with formal dances at the end of each performance, were given in the
American colonies both before and after the Revolution. Indeed, immigrants
such as Alexander Reinagle, James Hewitt, Benjamin Carr, Peter van Hagen,
and others all found professional employment in theatres, although they also
became music sellers as well. Even in the remote areas, such as the California
missions and towns established beginning in 1762 by Padre Junipero Serra,
one could find substantial musical forces; a 1792 document at the Mission
San Fernando describes an orchestra of some 28 performers, with a staffing
and instrumentation the equivalent of anything in smaller towns in Europe.
Mexican composers such as Ignacio de Jerusalem were able to provide music
for these far-flung settlements in New Spain, allowing yet more dissemina-
tion during the Classical period.
Wherever Europeans went or settled, they brought musicians and instru-
ments with them, and as cities and outposts grew, and new immigrants arrived,
the need for music, whether imported or indigenous, grew as well. Moreover,
as contact with non-European areas such as the Ottoman Empire, India, or the
Far East developed, non-Western cultures became a topic for discussion and
imitation by European artists and musicians. This in turn manifested itself
within particular pieces, either as exotica or as tentative attempts to introduce
these types of music into the repertory. In 1756, for example, Charles Simon
Favart produced a Turkish opera titled Soliman II in Paris, but in order to
create a sensation, he imported costumes, instruments, and even props from
Constantinople. Even earlier, as the Ottoman troops were at the gates of
Vienna, they were aware of the powerful Janissary divisions of the Turkish
army, Christians who marched into battle accompanied by raucous trumpets,
fifes, and percussion. In a sense, modern percussion was largely introduced
into the orchestra as ancillary instruments attempting to provide exotic color,
and in turn this provided the foundation for stories set in harems or palaces
in the Near East in such works as Grétry’s La caravane du Caire, Mozart’s
Die Entführung aus dem Serail or Zaide, Kunzen’s Holger Danske, and many
others. In New Spain, native musical genres were absorbed into the composi-
tion of traditional works, so that, for example, recognizable Mayan melodies
appear in the works of Rafael Castellanos in Guatemala. Then there were the
various chamber works alleging to be drawn from non-European sources by
such composers as Abbé Vogler, such as a Chinese rondo and a Greenlandic
song, not to mention an entire program improvised on an instrument of his
own invention that depicted the invasion of the Tatars. The Classical period
can therefore be defined as the first real global period of music, where works
by composers could be disseminated on a large scale.
CONCLUSION
It is clear that such a vibrant and expansive period in music history is difficult
to define with only general terms, let alone through the efforts of only a few
great figures. The various descriptors of how to designate the period are all
valid, for it was a time when the position of music and those who composed
it was evolving rapidly. However one defines this indistinct period, or how-
ever one chooses to delineate the trends, genres, development, or social and
political changes that occurred, the Classical period is one of deep intellectual
ferment, of rapid growth and change, and of explosive creativity in the world
of music. It may have had its roots in the music of an earlier era and been
the harbinger of progressive music of that which followed, but it must be
seen as the necessary evolutionary era, without which modern music and all
of its variety could not exist. Given this importance, it is clear that music of
this period is seminal to the development of “classical” music in the broader
sense. It is at the core of the modern repertory, being fundamental to under-
standing the development of music over the past two centuries. Moreover, in
opera houses, festivals, and concert halls all over the world, music from this
period may indeed be performed more than any other form, making it one of
the most accessible and popular periods. To be sure, it has been superseded
by more “modern” and “progressive” forms of music, but it has not simply
been relegated to “old” music of the past like that composed during the Re-
naissance or perhaps even the Baroque period. It has remained a living and
vibrant part of the repertory, indeed offering a kaleidoscope of genres and
works that never cease to enchant and amaze.
NOTES
1. Neal Zaslaw, ed. Man and Music: The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the End
of the 18th Century (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989), 1. The quotation
occurs within a larger context, where he defines the musical period as being between
about 1740 and the death of Haydn in 1809, give or take a year. Zaslaw, however,
argues convincingly for the fluidity and subjectivity of such boundaries.
2. The most interesting use of these three as the First Viennese School was by
Arnold Schoenberg in the designation of his trio of acolytes as the Second Viennese
School.
3. See Zaslaw, Man and Music, 3. He notes specifically that accordingly “vast
geographical and social musical landscapes may be, and usually are, passed over
virtually in silence.”
4. See Johann Mattheson, Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739;
English edition trans. Ernest Harriss, Ann Arbor, Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1981),
234; and Johann Adoph Scheibe, Der critische Musicus (Hamburg, 1738–40; revised
Leipzig, 1745), 595–602. It was completely defined by Johann A. P. Schulz in his
article “Symphonie” in Johann Georg Sulzer, Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Künste
(Leipzig, 1771–74), 2:1121–23. All three distinguish between overtures to operas and
the symphony as a useful instrumental genre, with Scheibe boasting that he himself
had written over 300 of them; this assertion cannot of course be verified.
19
for viola da gamba and keyboard, 42 symphonies, 39 trio sonatas (two vio-
lins, two flutes, and violin/cello with keyboard), 28 miscellaneous pieces for
viola da gamba, 24 violin sonatas, 12 piano trios, 12 string quartets, 10 flute
quartets, seven flute sonatas, six keyboard concertos, three sinfonia concer-
tantes (including one for two clarinets), two flute concertos, two cello con-
certos, and a number of miscellaneous keyboard works. His music has been
cataloged according to WK (or Kn) numbers. See also LINLEY, WILLIAM.
flute of the orchestra at La Scala and was known as a teacher at the Colegio
Longone. In 1783 he was named as a professor of music at the Pio Instituto
in Milan, after which he disappears from history. His music, little known
even among flautists, includes four concertos (three for flute and one for flute
and violin), three trios for three flutes, three other trios, a symphony, four
quartets (including one with psaltery), three quintets, and a number of duos
and sonatas.
the successful delivery of a test piece. During the 18th century, the main leader
was Padre Giovanni Battista Martini, but membership included Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, Carlo Broschi/Farinelli, Christoph Willibald von Gluck,
Niccolò Jommelli, Maxim Berezovsky, Josef Mysliveček, and many others.
It was dissolved in 1798 with the advent of the Cisalpine Republic and its pur-
poses redirected toward the establishment of pedagogical institutions.
Flavius Anicio Olibrio. His music includes 12 operas, three oratorios, eight
Psalms and motets, almost 100 Lieder, and a host of smaller keyboard and
chamber works. His most innovative composition is the incidental music to
Voltaire’s tragedy Semiramis, which he set in 1767. See also RELLSTAB,
JOHANN CARL FRIEDRICH.
husband was its director. In 1798 she moved to Dresden and subsequently
in 1800 to Prague. Her surviving music includes two symphonies, an Italian
aria, an opera buffa (La folie), and numerous songs.
Although a prolific composer, his music was criticized as being stilted and
derivative, with little of the colorful characterizations of his contemporaries.
His music includes 76 operas, 24 oratorios (in Latin and Italian), two secular
cantatas, 12 Masses or Mass movements, 13 motets, numerous small sacred
works (Psalms, hymns), 67 symphonies (many drawn from his operas), and
five quintets. See also ZINGARELLI, NICCOLÒ ANTONIO.
other protégés. She herself attempted the composition of at least two, begin-
ning in 1776 with Erwin und Elmire to a text by Goethe. These and a chamber
divertimento with keyboard are all that survive of her music. The Singspiels
show the influence of Johann Adam Hiller. See also SCHROETER, CO-
RONA ELISABETH WILHELMINE; SCHWEITZER, ANTON.
out his career. His musical style is similar to other Neapolitans with good
sense of lyrical line and triadic harmony. His surviving works include eight
operas, as well as several smaller sacred works, and a symphony.
ARIA PARLANTE. During the 18th century a type of cantilena style that
lies somewhere between recitative and arioso, creating a sort of spoken
melody, sometimes with effects such as the mezza di voce.
overtures” are derived from his music for the theatre, as are the six keyboard
concertos, which were arranged and published in 1793. Arne’s style is noted
for the simple harmonies and textures but also for the colorful and innovative
orchestration. Arne’s music was vastly popular throughout the British Empire
of the period, with performances throughout the world and especially in the
various colonies. See also BURNEY, CHARLES; CHARKE, RICHARD.
At that time, he was employed by the Théâtre Italien (the successor to the
Opéra Comique), but in 1767 he left it to pursue his own career as an impre-
sario. After several years mounting puppet shows at the Foire St. Laurent,
he succeeded in forming his own theatrical company in 1769, the Théâtre de
l’Ambigu-Comique, which served as a popular stage up through the Revolu-
tion. As a composer Audinot had few gifts; his few opéras comiques are
simple and direct, with conventional harmony and no real drama. These,
however, were easily exportable and performed in places such as Sweden,
Denmark, Russia, and elsewhere.
of the smaller churches. His musical style reflects the galant in its use of
contrasting phrases and dynamics, though the lyrical lines reflect Neapolitan
training. His surviving works include five Psalms, three Regina coelis, two
De profundis clamavis, a Dixit Dominus, and three keyboard concertos, as
well as a concert aria.
effective. His most famous theoretical work is the treatise Il musico prattico
from around 1781. His works include an opera; a festive cantata, Malta fe-
lice; an oratorio; 31 Masses; 76 Psalms; six Magnificats; two Passions; six
Lamentations; 70 motets; 16 antiphons; and three symphonies of the single-
movement da chiesa form. See also ISOUARD, NICOLÒ.
49
keyboard and harp. His music has been cataloged according to Terry (T) or
Warburton (W or CW) numbers.
symphonies (only one of which has survived), a trio sonata, six violin sona-
tas, and a large number of organ and keyboard works.
dialogue. It developed into a larger genre with original music in the later 18th
century, being popular in the British Empire as well as the United States. It
also served as a model for the Singspiel and its cognates in Northern Europe,
as well as influencing the development of the opéra comique in France. The
earliest work was the popular Beggar’s Opera to a text by John Gay and with
music arranged by Johann Pepusch, but the most imitated work was Charles
Coffey’s farce The Devil to Pay. See also BARTHÉLEMON, FRANÇOIS-
HYPPOLYTE.
Portugal and Maria Anna of Austria. In 1719 she became a student of Do-
menico Scarlatti in Lisbon. Her progress as a keyboardist was remarkable,
such that Padre Martini stated in his Storia della musica that she had learned
everything he had to teach in extreme detail. In 1729 she married the crown
prince of Spain, later Ferdinand IV. In Madrid she was regarded as a sensitive
and emotional performer on the keyboard. Only one orchestral composition
by her survives, a Salve Regina for voices and orchestra, but she wrote a va-
riety of keyboard works in the style of her mentor Scarlatti.
Danican Philidor, making his debut at the Concerts spirituels in 1767. Al-
though he returned to Valenciennes thereafter, he was again in Paris in 1775,
where his violin playing was noted for its delicacy. For the next 30 years
he traveled back and forth between the two cities, and in 1803 he became
concertmaster to Napoleon. As a violinist he was celebrated for his ability,
but he is less well known as a composer. His works include an opera, three
symphonies (and two sinfonia concertantes), 18 string quartets, six trios,
and 18 duos, as well as several smaller chamber works.
rector and personal adjutant to Prince Crafft Ernst. In 1792 he was promoted
to major and pensioned, but despite his rank, he apparently led a dissipate life
and died in poverty. His music displays a sound compositional method and is
similar to his colleague at Wallerstein, Antonio Rosetti. His works include
11 stage works, a Mass, a Requiem, a litany, an oratorio, three Tantum
ergos, two other smaller sacred works, 10 larger cantatas, 34 symphonies,
24 concertos, two serenades, several wind partitas, 14 string quartets, six
flute quartets, two quintets, seven trios, 12 violin sonatas, and 42 keyboard
sonatas and smaller works.
Mozart. Further studies in music with Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Pfeiffer
on keyboard, and Franz Rovantini on violin followed his debut at a concert
in 1778. The following year, the arrival of Christian Gottlob Neefe allowed
Beethoven to find a mentor that would both educate him thoroughly and
present opportunities for his own advancement. Under Neefe’s tutelage he
composed his first works: three piano sonatas, a piano concerto, and, in 1785,
three piano quartets. He also functioned as Neefe’s assistant and from 1783
was a keyboardist with the court ensemble. In 1787 he traveled to Vienna,
where he performed before (and probably had a lesson or two from) Mozart,
but the death of his mother prevented further study there. His father, mean-
while, sank into alcoholism, and in 1789 Beethoven petitioned the court at
Bonn to become titular head of the family, adding half his father’s salary to
his own. He also composed two cantatas, one for the death of Holy Roman
Emperor Joseph II and another for the coronation of his successor as Leopold
II in 1790.
In 1792 he was accepted as a student of Joseph Haydn and in November
of that year arrived in Vienna, where he settled permanently. Though their
student-teacher relationship lasted only a short time, terminating when Haydn
left for his second visit to London in 1794, Beethoven later dedicated his pi-
ano sonatas Op. 2, though he refused to style himself Haydn’s pupil. He also
studied with Johann Baptist Schenk and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger
(his additional studies with Antonio Salieri did not occur apparently until
after 1800), and in 1795 he began a career as a performer with a concert on
25 March. Cut off from his stipend from Bonn, he nonetheless began to make
a living as an independent musician, winning the patronage of people such
as Prince Carl Lichnowsky. In 1796 he undertook a concert tour to Bohemia
and Germany, returning to Prague in 1798, around the same time as he began
to collect compositional drafts in the well-known sketchbooks. In 1799 he
published both a set of string quartets Op. 18 and the C-minor “Pathetique”
sonata Op. 13, setting the stage for his later progressive style. In 1800 he
held his first benefit concert on 2 April where his Septet Op. 20 and first
symphony were premiered.
Although his most progressive and innovative works were composed after
1800 and thus will be considered in this volume’s chronological sequel, the
developmental trends can be discerned in works prior to that time, including
those already noted. Beethoven’s use of motivic expansion through repetition
and sequence, his adaptation of the sonata principle, his often colorful and
expansive orchestration, and his highly advanced sense of harmony all rep-
resent a constant evolutionary process, particularly during the last decade of
the 18th century, thus negating the formerly predominant Caesarian division
of his compositions into three periods. There can be no doubt that Beethoven
a Mass for 12 four-part choruses a cappella. His works have been little stud-
ied, but they include two Masses, an oratorio, a Dixit Dominus, four operas
(lost), 10 other sacred works, a symphony, and several string quartets.
for his instrument, including four violin concertos, 11 flute sonatas (for his
patron), four violin sonatas, a trio sonata, 10 caprices for solo violin, and
eight duets for two violins. See also BENDA, JOSEPH.
tos, a symphony, four piano sonatas, a keyboard concerto, several arias, and
the aforementioned opera.
a leading musical figure in the city. His compositional efforts are little studied
but include two oratorios, two Misereres, and two Lamentations.
concertos (and two for flute), over 100 trio sonatas, 12 violin sonatas, and
65 trios.
Following education at the monastic school at the Rot an der Rot Benedictine
monastery, he was ordained there in 1765. In 1789 he had become the abbot
of the monastery, and by 1795 he had become one of the leading prelates of
the Schwabian region. At the secularization of the monastery in 1803, he was
allowed to remain in residence there until his death. A prolific composer, he
wrote over 175 works, almost all sacred music.
eight motets, five symphonies, a concerto, six trios, three violin sonatas, and
several smaller keyboard works. His music awaits further study and research.
Christian Bach and Johann Friedrich Schroeter. In 1786 she began to per-
form as a soprano in London theatres, gaining a reputation for her easy access
to society. The publication of the Memoirs of Mrs. Billington in 1792 caused
such a scandal that she and her family were forced to move to Dublin. In 1794
she began to tour the continent, eventually settling in Venice. She came back
briefly to London in 1801, but returned to an abusive relationship in Venice,
where her husband is said to have caused her death. As a composer, she wrote
a few songs and two sets of keyboard pieces.
seven string sextets, 157 string quintets (the majority of which have two
cellos instead of two violas), nine guitar quintets, 24 flute quintets, 95 string
quartets (including arrangements of quintets), nine flute quartets, six piano
quartets, nine woodwind quartets, 68 string trios, six flute trios, 16 piano
trios, 46 violin sonatas, 42 cello sonatas, 14 keyboard sonatas, 22 violin
duets, and numerous smaller occasional works. His music is known by G
(Gérard) numbers.
the Théâtre des Arts with La fille coupable. Its success allowed him to obtain
further commissions and in 1796 to move to Paris, where two years later he
was appointed as professor of piano at the Conservatoire. In 1800 he had his
greatest success with Le calife de Bagdad, but marital difficulties forced him
to leave Paris for St. Petersburg in 1804. After eight years he returned to Paris
where he became court composer and in 1817 was elected to the Académie
des beaux arts. Although the bulk of his operatic composition occurred after
1800 and more properly belongs to the Romantic period, his early successes
show a gifted composer with similar orchestrational technique to André
Ernest Modeste Grétry. He also had a good sense of lyrical melody and in-
teresting harmony. His works to 1800 include 11 operas, two concertos (harp
and fortepiano), and 81 romances.
death, forming one of the most significant collections in the country. His
own music includes a ballet, several operas, several symphonies, a quartet,
several violin concertos, 13 trios, and several sonatas.
cessor, Paul III, made him director of the Imperial Choir and recognized him
as a national musical figure. Bortnyans’ky’s style follows the harmony and
lyricism of his Italian teacher, but the Russian works include paraphrases of
Old Slavonic chant, as well as occasional folk elements, particularly in the
instrumental compositions. Over 100 sacred works survive, including 45 sa-
cred concertos, seven Orthodox liturgical settings, an Ave Maria and a Salve
Regina, and numerous other pieces in Russian. In addition, he wrote seven
operas, a large ode, several part songs, a quintet and a symphony (titled
Symphonie concertante), two harp sonatas, and a march for wind band.
around 100 staff. Following his death the firm merged with Härtel to become
Breitkopf und Härtel. See also BREITKOPF, BERNHARD THEODOR.
becoming ordained four years later. Initially he functioned at the local school
as professor of rhetoric but soon abandoned this to become a confessor. In
1794 he was librarian but soon thereafter went to Ottobeuren, Regensburg,
and Kremsmünster, where he was able to save the monastery there from pil-
laging by French troops. In 1806 he returned to Einsiedeln, functioning in
several administrative capacities in nearby towns until 1836. He was known
as a fine organist, but only one work survives, a Domine ad adjuvandum,
which shows him to have been a talented composer as well.
Kosmonosy, where his teachers include Václav Kalous. After several posi-
tions in churches around Prague, he was appointed in 1759 as organist at the
St. Vitus Cathedral, a position he held until his early death. Brixi composed
mainly sacred music, and his reputation for solid compositions featuring
rhythmically active bass lines, a good sense of harmony and form, and in-
strumentation that was precise and often did much with sparse forces made
his works popular, particularly in monastic circles in Bohemia and Bavaria.
He is known to have composed around 400 works, including 105 Masses, six
litanies, four oratorios, school dramas, at least five concertos for organ, and
three symphonies. His sacred music parody, the Luridi scholars, is one of
the best parodies of monastic music teaching, while his organ concertos have
been widely performed as exemplars for the instrument. He also set sacred
texts in Czech, using folk material adroitly. See also LAUBE, ANTON.
in 1765 but appears to have retired shortly thereafter. His works include six
concertos for organ, 12 English songs, as well as several catches and glees.
BURLETTA. Also known as burla. An Italian term meaning “little joke” but
often used elsewhere in Europe, especially England, for short, satirical works
in a single act or afterpieces.
in 1774. Much of his music was destroyed during the Napoleonic invasion.
What survives includes 36 cantatas, 30 sacred songs, 14 motets, 12 Psalms,
seven chorales, and three keyboard sonatas.
107
in his orchestrations, the harmonies are not advanced, the formal structures
often static, and the melodies not well developed, lyrical as they may be. He
was by any account the master composer of the sinfonia concertante. His sur-
viving music includes 14 operas (all in French), five Masses, four oratorios,
a grand Miserere, 25 Revolutionary hymns, 82 sinfonia concertantes, 14 con-
certos, six symphonies, 114 string quintets, 149 string quartets, 104 trios,
212 duos, and 30 sonatas (mainly violin), in addition to other smaller works.
northern Europe for the next several years, finally becoming musical direc-
tor at the court of the Duke of Kurland in Dresden in 1779. He subsequently
went on to direct the Gewandshaus orchestra in Leipzig, writing pedagogical
works such as the 41 Caprices pour viola and the Nouvelle Méthode. Follow-
ing his retirement in 1818, he moved first to Hannover and subsequently to
Neustrelitz. He composed and published 22 sets of pieces, mainly orchestra
and chamber over the course of his lifetime, almost all of the latter of which
were written for either the violin or viola. Others include three flute concertos
and a sinfonia concertante for flute, violin, and orchestra. His music was
cataloged by Hugo Montanari in 1969.
became almost oratorio size. In Italy, the cantata was occasionally used in
similar fashion as sacred music, but the bulk of the works were based upon
miniature scenes and secular poetry, used as larger works for solo display.
Texts by poets such as Pietro Metastasio include pastoral and idyllic im-
agery, amorous subject matter, and often highly descriptive music, set by
composers throughout Europe, from Joseph Martin Kraus in Sweden to
Francesco Azzopardi in Malta; these usually consist of two arias and two
recitatives, although other movements such as an instrumental introduction
could be added. Cantatas could also be in local languages, even as they con-
formed to this structural model.
The occasional cantata, however, was most often a large-scale celebra-
tory work commissioned on special occasions, such as weddings, military
victories, or funerals of prominent personages, such as rulers or royal visi-
tors. These are often divided into two parts with laudatory or didactic texts
and set with music that reflects the particular occasion and always in the
vernacular. Good examples of this are the Funeral Cantata for Frederick the
Great by Johann Friedrich Reichardt or the Funeral Cantata for Joseph II
and Coronation Cantata for Leopold II by Ludwig van Beethoven. These
works mimic the oratorio in length and substance. During the final two de-
cades of the century, a subgenre called the Piano Cantata was created for use
in private homes or intimate social settings. Often through-composed with a
succession of short airs and recitatives (and the occasional chorus), these had
only the accompaniment of a keyboard. Such works were popular in England,
particularly in sympathy with the royalists during the French Revolution but
also elsewhere where social and intellectual circles exist, such as Stockholm.
See also CANTATILLES.
remains the best examples of church music in the stile antico. His music has
been little studied, but surviving works include a Te Deum, three sacred arias,
two offertories, seven motets, and an a cappella Mass. He is best known as
the counterpoint teacher of Muzio Clementi and Giuseppe Jannacconi.
1773, the debut of his opera Il barone di Trocchia during the Carnival led to
commissions throughout Italy for operas, mainly buffa. By 1786, however,
he obtained permanent employment at the San Lorenzo Church in Perugia,
where he remained save for a two-year sojourn in Urbini beginning in 1808.
He was well traveled throughout Europe, but he never achieved the same
fame as his colleagues Domenico Cimarosa or Giovanni Paisiello, whose
musical style he imitated. His works include 64 operas, six oratorios, six
secular cantatas, 12 sets of dances, a symphony, and a sonata for organ.
which are smaller sacred works or organ pieces, although there exist five
Masses. The Christmas responsories are particularly intricate, although the
style is somewhat conservative.
CATCH. A puzzle canon or round generally with two or more voices popu-
lar in 18th-century English or English-speaking regions. Often, the poetry is
benign in content, but when certain words of the text are combined in canon
known about his education. He first appears in 1729 as the leader of the
orchestra at the Theatre Royal on Drury Lane run by playwright Colley Cib-
ber. Prior to that he was allegedly a dancing master, though he may have
functioned in a private capacity. This year he also began to appear on stage
in ballad opera, achieving some fame as a baritone in Henry Carey’s The
Contrivances. He collaborated with Thomas Arne on the pantomime called
Harlequin Restored, or The Country Revels in 1732 and two years later had
his own work, The Festival, performed with reasonable success at Drury
Lane. During this decade he also wrote some of the earliest examples of the
medley overture, which were performed frequently through the 1740s. Al-
though married to Cibber’s daughter Charlotte, Charke was profligate, earn-
ing a reputation as a womanizer and gambler. Eventually his debts became
overwhelming, and in 1736 he fled to the colony of Jamaica to avoid debtor’s
prison. He died there, probably in early 1738. His musical style is simple and
tuneful, consistent with the popular ballad opera songs. He contributed to
numerous pastiche works, such as The Lover’s Opera and The Humours of
Oxford (1730).
19th-century style, his early works reflecting Classical period forms and struc-
tures include five Masses, 38 hymns, a Revolutionary hymn, and 24 operas. He
and other composers in Paris also contributed to a comédie mêlée des ariettes
titled Les congrès des rois in 1794. See also DELLA MARIA, ANTOINE.
cess allowing for commissions throughout Italy for the next decade. In 1754
he was listed as a violinist in Cremona, and two years later was appointed
maestro di cappella. He disappears around 1765. His only known composi-
tions are 16 operas, some buffa that show a lively sense of rhythm, although
the compositional style seems derivative.
galant style, was Demofoonte of 1735. His works include 10 operas, 11 ora-
torios, a Mass, a motet, and a Salve Regina. The relationship with Vincenzo
Ciampi has not been determined.
after 1803 substituted for Antonio Salieri as orchestra leader. His playing
was dismissed as perfunctory, and his musical compositions were noted for
dry, technical passages and superficial content. These include three violin
concertos, 12 violin sonatas, three trios, nine duos, a symphony, and several
popular song arrangements.
Toward the last years of his life, he was active as a keyboard teacher, though
he suffered occasional bouts of insanity. His music, considered popular and
tuneful, reflects galant stylistic practices, although his operas contain hints
of exoticism. His works include six operas, six canzonetts, numerous songs,
a concerto for fortepiano, 21 keyboard sonatas, numerous smaller keyboard
works, and several tutorials.
late French style of the 1740s, but has been little studied, despite a contem-
poraneous reputation as a fine player and musical arranger. His works include
four symphonies, 13 violin sonatas, and a musical divertissement for the
marriage of the Dauphin (later Louis XVI) in 1745.
149
and other sacred works, were provided mainly for her order. Her music, most
of which seems to have been lost, has never been studied.
in Lemberg, where he apparently remained the rest of his life. His music is
little explored, but consists of 39 Masses, three Requiems, 27 vespers, seven
litanies, 37 motets, a Salve Regina, and two symphonies.
he came in Italy, he was already well known as a solo cellist when he joined
the Mannheim orchestra in 1754. Shortly thereafter, he married the sister of
composer Carl Toeschi, and within a decade had become one of the highest
paid members of the ensemble. In 1778 he moved with the court to Munich
and retired in 1783. He was known for his facility on his instruments. As a
composer, he is less well known, although he, like the rest of the members of
the orchestra, composed for his instruments. Surviving works include a string
quartet and a concerto for violoncello. See also RITTER, PETER.
the household of the Prince de Rohan in 1775 and later serving the Ministry
of War. His first comic operas were produced in 1785, and his works were
premiered frequently at the Concerts spirituels. These include two operas,
13 sinfonia concertantes, four symphonies, four violin concertos, 26 quar-
tets (mainly for strings), four quintets, six duos, and six trios.
was usual, she took the last name of the orphanage, adding the first name of
a popular saint. As a student, she was trained in the musical arts by Giovanni
Porta, Nicola Porpora, and Andrea Bernasconi, who wrote solo parts for
her. Around 1740 she was singled out in an anonymous tribute to the musi-
cians of the Ospedale, and she wrote music up through at least 1777. Only
two pieces survive, a Novo aprili and a setting of Psalm 134. In addition, she
wrote a pedagogical work on singing titled Regali per Gregoria, dedicated to
one of her pupils. See also DELLA PIETÀ, MICHIELINA; DELLA PIETÀ,
SAMARITANA.
founder of the Société des Concerts in 1806 and finally became organist at
Saint-Paterne Church, thereafter changing his name to reflect that of Johann
Sebastian Bach. His music has been little studied but includes concertos for
fortepiano, horn, clarinet, and flute, as well as a Mass, several motets, several
songs, and a trio for two horns and keyboard.
idiomatic writing that separated the contrabass from the cello, and the devel-
opment of new techniques. His music includes six concertos for contrabass
(and several other works with orchestra), 12 waltzes for solo contrabass, 10
works with keyboard, a quintet, a quartet, and a duo. His most important
work is the method Complete System for the Double Bass published in Lon-
don in 1795.
della Pietà dei Turchini in Naples. His first position was in Trier with the
cathedral, but he was appointed after only a year to the court of the Duke of
Ossuna in Madrid, where he became a friend of the castrato Carlo Broschi/
Farinelli. In 1755 he sought to expand his reputation by touring northern Eu-
rope. After a brief sojourn in Paris, he traveled to Schwerin, where he joined
a traveling Italian opera troupe as maestro di cappella. After performances
in Riga in 1766 he resigned in a disagreement with the troupe’s director and
returned to Schwerin as the music teacher of the Duchess of Mecklenburg.
He apparently remained there for the rest of his life. His music includes five
symphonies, five concert arias for Farinelli, six duets for two violins, six
motets, a Mass, a litany, a vesper setting, two zarzuelas, and at least one
intermezzo; other operas have not survived.
175
education. There he taught at the monastic school, sang tenor in the choir,
and performed on the viola in the orchestra. His first works appear in 1756,
at which time he had already taken Holy Orders. His works have been little
studied but include seven Lamentations, two keyboard sonatas, and two vil-
lancicos in the Basque language.
EPILOGUE. A short musical work generally in one act that follows the
production of a larger stage piece, such as an opera or play. The subject mat-
ter is varied, ranging from a commentary on the opera or play itself to comic
relief in the form of a satire or farce, and not infrequently a special panegyric
for a patron or honoree. An example is the Epilogue to Lodoïska by Johann
Christian Friedrich Haeffner, composed in 1794. Such pieces were com-
mon in theatres on the periphery, such as in the new United States, Sweden,
or Russia. This type of work was also known as an afterpiece.
Gibbon (1696–1756), a composer and violinist who taught him the Baroque
style. As a member of the Edinburgh Musical Society (under the name Lord
Pittenween), he performed frequently with Francesco Barsanti, whose mu-
sic he studied. In 1752 he traveled to Mannheim, where he became a pupil
of Johann Stamitz and an auxiliary member of the Mannheim orchestra
under the name Fiddler Tam. Returning to London in 1763, he championed
the Mannheim style among English composers, even as he rose high in Free-
mason societies, eventually becoming a grand master. Erskine moved back to
Edinburgh in 1767, where he led a sybaritic lifestyle. He died on his way to
Spa in Belgium, where he intended to take the cure for alcoholism. Erskine’s
music was popular throughout the British realms during the last half of the
18th century, primarily for its use of Mannheim devices and clever orchestra-
tion. His works include 23 minuets, 11 symphonies or overtures, nine trio
sonatas, nine string quartets, several violin duets, a concert aria, a lost ser-
enata, and several pieces of wind music.
remained there his entire life, functioning as the schoolmaster of the Escola-
nia. His music includes four Magnificats and three responsories.
187
Friedrich Wilhelm had little use of him, he remained at court until his death.
Of special interest is that Fasch’s home became a gathering place for Berlin
singers and intellectuals beginning in 1789, forming a group that was later to
become legitimized as the Berliner Sing-Akademie. As a composer, he wrote
nine oratorios, 11 cantatas, five Psalms, four Masses, a Requiem, an ode
(the Morgengesang), a symphony, and six keyboard sonatas. His students
include Carl Friedrich Zelter and Johann Rellstab.
Eichstätt, Fils attended the local Jesuit Gymnasium before enrolling in the
University of Ingolstadt. In 1754 he was appointed as a cellist in the famed
Mannheim orchestra, for whom he composed the bulk of his music, much
of it published in Paris. His brief life ended, according to Christian Daniel
Friedrich Schubart, from ingesting poisonous spiders, which Fils allegedly
claimed tasted like strawberries. Although the causes of his demise may seem
lurid and in fact be apocryphal, there is no doubt that Fils was one of the most
prolific composers of the middle of the century. His works include at least
44 symphonies, 30 concertos (mostly for cello and flute), 28 trio sonatas,
14 trios (mainly for two violins and cello), three violin sonatas and one for
cello, a flute quartet, seven Masses, two litanies, two Magnificats, and two
vespers. Schubart considered him one of the most eloquent composers of the
age, and his music demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the sonata prin-
ciple, careful use of Mannheim effects, and a good sense of lyricism.
gave up his post at the Barfüßerkirche, Fischer was appointed his successor
as well as town musical director responsible for public concerts. When Kit-
tel died in 1809, he became his successor once more at the Predigerkirche.
His musical style is more modern than that of Kittel’s other students, most
likely due to his imitation of the style of Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler, who he
considered his model. His counterpoint is also freer, with extensive harmonic
experimentation. His music includes four symphonies, two string quartets,
two concertos, four motets, and four arias. It has, however, been little studied.
to compose Russian operas. He also taught at the theatre school. His most
famous work was a Russian version of the Orpheus legend, Orfey i Evridika,
produced in 1792. An indication of his dramatic style of musical composition
that includes Russian folk elements can be found in his choruses to the play
Yuropolk i Olega of 1798. He is said to have composed some 30 operas, as
well as a pair of choral concertos in Old Church Slavonic.
the forms, structures, and devices found in Mannheim. His works include
a Mass, six symphonies, nine ballets, seven violin concertos, four string
quartets, six sonatas, and several other works for violin. He also taught his
son, Ferdinand Fränzl.
(but who often disregarded tempos in the faster movements). He also wrote
librettos for Graun and others, as well as entertaining visiting musicians, such
as Johann Sebastian Bach, who wrote the Musical Offering on a gnarly theme
improvised by the King. As a composer, he wrote 121 flute sonatas, as well
as four flute concertos, four symphonies, an overture to Il re pastore, and
a march to celebrate his victory at Hohenfriedberg. Much of his music was
written for soirées at court with himself as the principal performer. See also
ALGAROTTI, COUNT FRANCESCO; ANNA AMALIA, PRINCESS OF
PRUSSIA; FISCHER, JOHANN CHRISTIAN; KOSPOTH, BARON OTTO
CARL ERDMANN VON; ROLLE, JOHANN HEINRICH; SULZER, JO-
HANN GEORG; WILHELMINE, PRINCESS OF PRUSSIA.
and organ was received at the Kalmar Gymnasium, but in 1770 he came north
to Uppsala, where he attended university, eventually receiving a master’s
degree in 1776. Taking up a government position in the Ministry of Finance
in Stockholm the following year, he also frequently had his compositions per-
formed at the Society Utile dulci. He subsequently studied composition under
Johann Gottlieb Naumann and Joseph Martin Kraus. In 1796 he became
the permanent secretary of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, function-
ing also as the archivist and head librarian. His symphonies, hybrid crosses
between suites and overtures, were well accepted, even though old-fashioned.
Although his only opera, Zoroastre (1784), did not reach the stage, he fre-
quently contributed incidental music to popular Swedish opera pastiches such
as Äfventryaren (1791) and Eremiten (1798). He also composed one oratorio
and a number of cantatas, songs, and piano works. His style was considered
extremely conservative, although he often scored for large orchestra. He
ceased musical composition in 1815.
including six Lamentations and numerous villancicos, but his works have
been little studied.
211
mediocre in invention, he wrote mostly for the church. These include an in-
termezzo, three oratorios, 18 Kyries, 22 Glorias, 12 Credos, eight graduals,
59 Psalms, seven Magnificats, a Dies Irae and a Salve Regina, in addition to
a number of organ works.
GALANT. French term used in the 18th century to describe light music with
periodic melodies, homophonic texture, and contrasting themes, often made
up of sequenced motives. The term evokes clarity and naturalness in music
and is often generically used to describe a style that flourished throughout
Europe during the years 1730 to 1760. It is described in the treatises of Jean-
Jacques Rousseau and Johann Georg Sulzer.
and become one of the new nation’s major musical figures during the 19th
century. He was director of the Academia de Música after 1819 and was a
founding member and conductor of the Philharmonic Society before the revo-
lution. Only his later works written after 1800 survive, with the exception of
some smaller church pieces.
in 1758 as the lead dancer. In 1771 the rest of the troupe was dismissed, but
Gallodier remained behind in Stockholm as balletmaster, a position he held
for over 20 years. In 1795 he retired, though he retained the title until his
death. He was largely responsible for recruiting one of the most innovative
corps de ballet for the Royal Swedish Opera under Gustav III. As a dancer,
he was well known for his fluid and beautiful movements. He introduced the
progressive ballet style of Noverre to the north.
Adolph Hasse. His son, Antonio Galuppi (ca. 1740—1780), was a librettist
who supplied texts for at least four operas composed by his father. See also
ADOLPHATI, ANDREA; LUCHESI, ANDREA LUCA; SALOMONI, GI-
USEPPE, SR.; ZOPPIS, FRANCESCO.
Marcos António de Fonseca Portugal, who usurped his position. When the
court left to return to Portugal in 1821, Garcia was left without a position and
died in poverty. His musical style was quite eclectic, with an original use of
form and often colorful orchestration. He left over 200 compositions, as well
as a treatise, Compendio de Música, published in 1821. Included are four
operas (including the O trionfo de América from 1809), 19 Masses, three
Requiems, six keyboard fantasies, two symphonies, and a large number of
sacred works. The music is known by Mattos numbers.
three ballets, six miscellaneous sacred hymns and Psalms, three symphonies,
a serenade, three divertimentos, three concertos (two for keyboard and one
for violin), two septets, a sextet, an oboe quintet, two oboe quartets, 10 so-
natas, and two trios. His music has been little explored, no doubt due to the
issues concerning the Mozarts.
36 string quartets, as well as 24 military pieces and 12 duets for violin and
cello, all of which show that he was a capable and inventive composer. The
style is reminiscent of his teachers and perennial American favorites, such as
Joseph Haydn.
Scarlatti and Carlo Lonati, he spent his early career both as a violin soloist
and occasional composer of opera in rivalry with George Frederick Handel.
By 1730 he had settled permanently in England, where he remained save for
a brief sojourn in Paris in the 1740s. He passed away from the effects of apo-
plexy in Dublin due to misfortunes caused by a recalcitrant student. Although
the bulk of his music reflects Baroque compositional style and practice, he
published a set of concerto grossi (Op. 7) where the concertino consists of a
string quartet rather than the usual trio, thus representing a transitional stage
to the new style. His 1751 Art of Playing the Violin as well as the Guida Har-
monia of the following year are seminal works demonstrating performance
practice of this period.
was elected to the Royal Society of Music, and in 1794 he immigrated to the
United States to Philadelphia, where he participated as a director in the Ama-
teur and Professionals concerts. In 1797 he moved to New York to direct the
Greenwich Theatre, performing with his wife and son until 1821. His music
has not survived, but he composed several ballad operas for New York.
quartets, 12 Lieder, 12 flute duets, over 60 works for keyboard, and several
other smaller chamber works.
was educated in law and often resorted to making his living as a lawyer. Dur-
ing his lifetime, he wrote a variety of works in all literary genres, but his 80
librettos are often considered the most popular for their accessible language
and good comic timing. These include La buona Figliuola by Giovanni
Paisiello and Il mondo della luna, set by a number of composers including
Joseph Haydn. See also MACCARI, GIACOMO.
1733 he sought the post of mestre de capella at the Vic cathedral. Unsuc-
cessful in this application, he eventually won a similar position at the Girona
cathedral in 1733. He remained in this position until his death, although his
major duties were taken over in 1774 by Francesc Juncá i Carol. His works
include numerous villancicos and smaller sacred works such as hymns and
responsories. There are also several Masses, all of which are conservative in
their setting. See also PONS, JOSÉ.
chamber pieces, two oratorios, and around 35 Lieder. His style incorporates
Italianate mannerism common to the Mannheim composers, although his late
works, particularly his oratorio from 1802 Der Tod Jesu is more akin to Jo-
seph Haydn’s late oratorios in his large-scale setting and unusually dramatic
musical language. His Grande Symphonie Hollandaise is a large-scale work
that incorporates a chorus, more an oratorio than a symphony.
motets, 12 sacred songs, 13 Lieder, five concertos, three sonatas for organ,
and 31 organ versetti. All show the influence of his teacher Haydn.
oboist, he also joined the military, where he received his earliest musical train-
ing. In 1788 he was discharged and moved to London, where he performed in
the Salomon concerts. In 1795 he immigrated to Prince Edward Island and then
Charleston, South Carolina, where he performed in public concerts. Hired as
principal oboist for the Federal Street Theatre in Boston in 1797, he opened a
music business in 1800 and was one of the founding members of the Philhar-
monic Society beginning in 1809. Little of his music has survived—only a few
songs, a march, and several smaller works—but in the early part of the 19th
century he published method books for the pianoforte and clarinet.
des saints), 25 Psalms, two motets, six symphonies, four Magnificats, two Te
Deums, three Lamentations, and several other smaller works.
ness in 1794. He was responsible for the invention of a bass clarinet (1793)
and an alto clarinet (1808), both of which eventually replaced the basset horn.
of string instruments and flute, in addition to opening a wine shop. His first
concert on 9 November 1769 included the first known symphony written in
the colonies, as well as both a flute and violin concerto and a trio. Further
concerts were given at the house of a Mr. Davenport or the Assembly Room
over the succeeding years. Francis Hopkinson, however, noted on 17 Au-
gust 1771 that Gualdo had been committed to the ward for insane inmates at
the Pennsylvania hospital. The only compositions to have survived are the Six
Easy Entertainments for 2 treble instruments and basso published in 1771.
255
training, to Eger and became his successor as cantor in 1783. His works are
mostly sacred, but a study of his music still remains to be done.
of uneven quality, and it was generally known that he was both irascible and
unable to complete projects he began. Although Elektra contains powerful
Gluckian music, his other works tend to be banal and slavishly imitative of
the styles of his time. His music includes five operas (and other insertions into
pasticcios), an oratorio, two Psalms, a Swedish Te Deum, three groups of
part songs, three symphonies, several smaller chamber works, and, most im-
portantly, three versions of the Swedish hymnal, the first published in 1807.
been little studied. They include a Singspiel, an oratorio, two Masses, two
offertories, other smaller sacred works, two symphonies, two partitas, and
a flute concerto.
she first appears as a young girl in April 1737 performing violin sonatas by
Jean Leclair at the Concerts spirituels in Paris. A review in the Mercure de
France only indicated that she is “lately arrived from the provinces,” imply-
ing that she was not a relation to the more famed musical Hotteterre family.
She may have taken lessons from Jean-Marie Leclair [L’Aîne], given that
her first publication, Le premiere livre de sonates (Op. 1), is dedicated to
him. She was apparently well known in Parisian musical circles, possibly as
a teacher on the violin and harp. In 1768 her Op. 3, Recueil d’airs choisis,
indicated her name at that time as Madame Lévesque, proving her marriage.
She disappears from history following the publication of her Op. 4, Recueils
d’aires choisis, with harp accompaniment. Her Op. 2 concerto for violin and
strings is her only orchestral work.
themes and formal structures can be found in his instrumental music, particu-
larly the serenades and symphonies, of which he was a major composer. His
students include Sigismund von Neukomm and Carl Maria von Weber. His
compositions include 44 symphonies, 12 concertos, 21 serenades, 19 string
quartets, six quintets, 10 trio sonatas, 19 keyboard compositions, a number
of other chamber works for various combinations (trios, duos, solo sonatas,
etc.), four operas, three ballets, 47 Masses, 130 graduals, 65 canticles, 65 of-
fertories, 47 antiphons, 16 hymns, five sacred cantatas, seven oratorios, seven
motets, 19 Psalms, 65 canons, 97 part songs, 46 Lieder, 14 secular cantatas,
eight concert arias, and around 40 other works. His music has been cataloged
several times, with the sacred works known by K (or Klafsky) numbers and the
instrumental by P (or Perger) numbers. These have been supplanted by MH
numbers in the recent chronological catalog by Sherman and Donely. See also
FOSSOMBRONI, ANTONIO MARIA; PICHL, VÁCLAV; RAINPRECH-
TER, JOHANN NEPOMUK.
brother Philip Hayes, he studied under his father William Hayes Sr., entering
Magdalen College as a chorister. Upon his graduation in 1761 he became a
singer in the choir of New College, becoming a Chaunter in 1764. In 1765
he was ordained as a canon at Worcester Cathedral, later serving at St. Paul’s
before becoming a vicar at Tillingham in Essex. His musical works, entirely
devoted to Anglican hymns, reflect the conservative style of the time.
Philipp Emanuel Bach. His music, much of which has been lost, includes
eight Singspiels, two large odes or hymns with orchestra, a large cantata
(with others lost), 12 Lieder, six string quartets (particularly praised by Ger-
ber), and several pieces for quartet or piano.
his home in Oberdöbling. Hofmann was one of the major figures in Vienna
of the period. His compositions for both the church and court were popular,
and his music was well crafted. Although mainly homophonic in style, his
church music was seen as an advance on the often antiquated style of his
predecessor Reutter, with its absorption of Neapolitan musical devices. As a
symphonist, he often used a slow introduction and clear-cut forms. His music
includes 43 Masses, a Requiem, 29 antiphons, seven sacred arias, 16 litanies,
38 motets or offertories, two oratorios, 16 Psalms, 14 tracts, a responsory,
three sequences, three vespers, 10 Lieder, 47 symphonies, 59 concertos (for
violin, cello, flute, oboe, and keyboard), 19 concertinos, 22 divertimentos,
54 trios, 27 duets, six violin sonatas, 13 keyboard works, and three works for
solo flute. His music is known by Badley numbers.
in the Holy Roman capital. He was the in-house composer for the Masonic
Lodge Zum wahren Eintracht, for whom he wrote a considerable amount of
music. He was also the composer of popular Singspiels. His surviving works,
however, include two Masses, several trios (some published as Op. 7), and
several songs, one of which, Land der Berge, Land am Strom, was made the
Austrian national anthem in 1947.
1790). In 1761 he was a member of the provincial council and customs of-
fice, but in 1768 he resigned to open a dry goods store. In 1774 he moved to
Bordentown, New Jersey, where he was an assemblyman and member of the
Continental Congress. After the War for Independence he was appointed a
judge, eventually being elevated by President George Washington in 1789 to
the court of appeals. He is best known for his songs, of which one, “My Days
Have Been So Wondrous Fine,” was considered the first written in the United
States by a native-born composer. Between the years 1763 and 1767 he pub-
lished three collections of Psalm tunes, as well as chamber music mainly for
keyboard. His works include a large anthem and several Psalm settings. He
also invented an instrument, the Bellarmonic, similar to the glass harmonica,
which uses metal balls. See also GUALDO, GIOVANNI.
study violin, returning to Waldeck to serve Count Arolsen two years later.
After a brief sojourn at Berleburg, he obtained the post of professor of music
at Marburg University in 1775. His surviving music, relatively little studied,
includes a cantata, seven symphonies, a flute concerto, six trios, six duos,
and a large number of Lieder.
287
291
Philipp Emanuel Bach and Carl Heinrich Graun. His works include six
cantatas/funeral pieces, a Te Deum, three serenatas, eight symphonies, four
concertos, 16 quartets, seven trio sonatas, and four keyboard sonatas. His
25 church and chamber sonatas, however, reflect Baroque practice.
eras, including a revision of Handel’s Acis and Galatea. His works include
two symphonies; nine works for the stage, including the operas Neptun och
Amphitrite and Aeglé; a book of chorales; 27 songs, including a set 24 Oder
af våra bästa Poëter Arbeten (Stockholm, 1753); several autonomous sacred
cantatas; a concerto for cembalo, horn, and two bassoons; and a number of
duo and trio sonatas. His works have been cataloged by Nordenfelt-Åberg.
No editions of his music have been published, but his style is similar to North
German Empfindsamkeit.
appointed organist and teacher at the Escolania. He remained there his entire
life, teaching future composers such as Narcís Casanoves. His compositions
include several sonatas for organ, two Requiems, a Miserere, several re-
sponsories, and a sonata for two trumpets (probably organ stops). His style is
conservative but shows traces of the galant. See also JAUME DI ANDREU,
PADRE FELIP.
301
world. As a businessman he was less successful, and his music was often re-
garded as being plagiarized. Thomas Sheridan noted that he was a “composer
of wine and importer of music,” adding to a reputation wherein he left much
of the work for harmonization and orchestration of his works to others, even
when the works were not paraphrases. Only three complete operas can be
attributed to him, although he contributed music to as many as 60 others, in
addition to numerous arias or duets, a ballet, and six trio sonatas. See also
STORACE, NANCY; STORACE, STEPHEN.
numerous chorale preludes and fugues for organ. He is better known for his
theoretical treatises, Die Kunst des reinen Satzes in der Musik (four volumes,
1771–1779), which explains Bach’s counterpoint; the Clavier-übungen (four
volumes, 1761–1766); and the Grundsätze des Generalbasses (1781). In all,
he published nine treatises on music theory, as well as 112 articles for Sul-
zer’s Allgemeine Theorie der schönen Kunste. See also STEIBELT, DANIEL
GOTTLIEB.
issues in the method of Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler. His music includes 15
operas (many of them Singspiels), five Psalms, 10 cantatas, a Te Deum, an
ode, four symphonies (all of which bear titles), a trio sonata, three duets, and
a large amount of music for organ.
wrote chamber works as well as cantatas, most of which have been lost.
There is also a Singspiel, Die Stimme der Freude in Hygeens Haine, of 1790,
and seven symphonies. What has survived has generally been quoted in his
eight theoretical works, of which the three-volume Versuch einer Anleitung
zur Composition (1782–1793), containing an early description of the sonata
principle, and the Musikalisches Lexikon of 1802 received widespread dis-
tribution.
and six vocal notturnos. His music is known by Poštolka numbers. See also
NOVOTNÝ, FRANZ ANTON.
Classical form and structure, being advanced works for their time. He also
composed serenades, four operas (mostly on sacred subjects, such as Höchst
belohnter kindlicher Gehorsam and Die gestrafte Trunkenheit of 1759), a
set of eight litanies and Tantum ergos (published 1765), a Requiem (1780),
and numerous other smaller sacred works, sources for which can be found in
most Benedictine monastery libraries throughout southern Germany. In 1770
he became the abbot of the monastery, a position he held until his death. His
other nonmusical interests include Latin poetry and physics; he also con-
ducted experiments with electricity.
organ. He also wrote five fantasies and 15 chorales that include a solo wind
instrument and organ, along with two cantatas, a Mass, two Magnificats, a
celebratory oratorio (1757), two symphonies for strings, six trio sonatas,
18 sonatas for flute or violin and basso, and six concertos (three for lute, one
for violin, one for harpsichord and oboe, and one for keyboard), as well as a
number of miscellaneous sacred motets, arias, and keyboard works.
325
returned in 1803. He was best known for his pasticcios, but on his own he
wrote three operas, two oratorios, 24 symphonies, three horn concertos, 12
string quartets, six piano trios, 30 violin sonatas, and a number of smaller
chamber works. He is best known, however, for his treatise, Méthode ou
principe general du doigté pour le forte piano, of 1798.
and include two operas, 15 piano sonatas, 20 trio sonatas, a violin concerto,
and 10 violin sonatas, as well as smaller keyboard works.
first work, dances for Gustav III’s drama Drottning Christina in 1785, was
considered lively and idiomatic, leading to other commissions for the operas
Frigga and Gustaf dolph och Ebba Brahe. In 1793 his Le rendezvous comique
was a tremendous success, though his music for the comedies Fiskaren and
Gyckelmakaren, from 1798 and 1803, respectively, received little approba-
tion. In total he composed music for around 10 ballets, two Singspiels, and
a church service with wind band. His style is simple and homophonic, with
often colorful orchestration in the woodwinds.
include 17 stage pieces, 24 hymns, over 100 songs, six flute sonatas, two
odes, and two concertos.
included large orchestras. His works consist of nine operas, five motets, six
“military” wind symphonies, six Revolutionary hymns, six vocal duets, six
romances, six vocal notturnos, and a host of smaller vocal works, much of
which is pedagogical in nature.
Dillinger Gesangbuch of 1787, but he also composed frequently for his own
church, including two Requiems and numerous smaller sacred works.
flute or oboe), 12 trios, a quartet, and six duos (violin and viola), as well as
a ballet, a flute sonata, and six keyboard sonatas.
he received his musical education from the Jesuits in Leoben. His earliest
teacher was Giuseppe Bonno, from whom he received an introduction to
further training in Italy in 1751. In 1761 he was elected as a member of the
Accademia filharmonia, later serving as maestro di cappella in Pisa. He was
a prolific composer in the prevailing homophonic Italian style, with lyrical
melodies and a good sense of harmony. His works include an oratorio in
Hebrew (Ester), as well as two operas, a Mass, eight smaller church works,
two fugues, several pieces for the Jewish synagogue in Amsterdam, seven
symphonies, five concertos, six notturnos, 18 quintets, six string quartets,
67 trio sonatas, 42 duets, four duo sonatas, and a treatise entitled Anedotti
musicale.
of the age, and in 1839 he was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI. Although
well-versed in music, he wrote only a series of hymns, of which Tu scendi
alle stelli is considered iconic.
series of three tutorials, Assistant for the Pianoforte (in two volumes), and an
organ tutor. He did, however, compose three sonatas for keyboard, a series
of duets for flutes, and an orchestral overture. He is not related to the family
of Thomas Linley Sr.
Harrow and St. Paul’s School in Bath. He later studied music under Carl
Friedrich Abel in London. In 1787 he published several songs, but in 1790
he was sent on a six-year mission as a civil servant to India. Upon his return
in 1796, he took over his father’s position at Drury Lane Theatre, producing
his most successful opera, Vortigern. By 1801 he had returned to India for a
second tour of duty. Upon his return he worked in several London theatres.
Although his music does not achieve the same standard as that of his father,
he was active enough, particularly during the early part of the 19th century.
His works written before 1800 include two operas, six canzonetts, numerous
songs, and a series of “fairy” glees.
variations. Although the bulk of his music, including two operas, dates from
after 1800, he was considered one of the most progressive of the early Roman-
tic composers that expanded Classical period forms and structures, setting the
stage for Romantic period composers such as Franz Berwald.
climate did not apparently agree with him, and in 1783 he left, touring north-
ern Europe on his way south to Italy. In 1794 he was engaged as maestro di
cappella to the court of Naples. As a performer, he was known for his firey
technique, but as a composer critics such as Charles Burney found his music
bizarre. His main claim to fame is a treatise, L’école du violon en quatuor,
published in 1784. His music consists of 12 violin concertos, 28 violin sona-
tas, six duos, and 36 solo violin capriccios. His most important student was
Andreas Romberg. See also SAINT-GEORGES, JOSEPH BOULOGNE,
LE CHEVALIER DE.
clef, a work that caused an uproar among Parisian audiences. During the
French Revolution, he lost his family fortune, forcing him to seek employ-
ment as a composer and teacher. From 1797 on he had works performed
with moderate success at the Théâtre Feydeau, but he made his living tuning
keyboard instruments. His treatise Instructions théoretiques et pratiques sur
l’accord du piano-forte from 1798 was an important work on the subject.
Although he subsequently sought his fortune in Russia in 1804, he returned
to Paris to an old age of infirmity and bitterness. His music includes three
operas, six piano sonatas, four violin sonatas, six Romances, and several
smaller arrangements.
353
post was at the town of Kilmore, where he gained a reputation as one of the
finest violinists in Scotland, frequently performing in Edinburgh.
In February 1759 he received his first opera commission from Rome. The
successful production led to a national and subsequently international reputa-
tion. In 1761 while writing in northern Italy, he studied with Padre Giovanni
Battista Martini, though this was sporadic due to his “amorous” adventures.
In 1764 he wrote and in 1766 he was commissioned by the Palatine court of
Carl Theodor to write two operas for Mannheim. While his first, Ifigenia in
Tauride, was a stunning success, the second, an opera seria titled Alessandro,
failed and Majo returned to Italy, where he died of tuberculosis. Majo’s style
is vivacious and dramatic, characterized by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as
“bellissima.” He was one of the major reformers of serious opera, along with
Christoph Willibald von Gluck and Niccolò Jommelli. His music consists
of 17 operas (mostly seria), eight oratorios, four Masses, a litany, 20 motets,
10 Salve Reginas, eight Psalms, and several other Lessons and Lamentations,
as well as a sonata for keyboard and another for mandolin.
poser of opera. His works have been little studied but consist of six Masses,
14 operas, a litany, and several smaller sacred works.
the Santa Anunzziata Church in Naples in 1778. A few years later he became
assistant at the Naples cathedral and in 1793 director of the Oratorio di San
Felipe. Unlike his uncle, he preferred to remain an active musician with few
ambitions as a composer and thus has been little studied. His works include
an oratorio, a cantata, two Masses, and several other smaller sacred works.
appearance, however, worked against her on stage, with a stunted and awk-
ward posture (due to rickets) and a stiff acting ability. She was also a com-
poser, though her works include only a few arias and songs.
languages), and her earliest musical education was under the court Kapell-
meister Giovanni Porta and chamber composer Giovanni Battista Fer-
radini. In 1747 she married Frederick Christian, Prince of Saxony, and at
once became a participant in the musical life of Dresden. She wrote librettos
for Johann Adolph Hasse, as well as operas such as Il trionfo della fedeltà
and Talestri. She was also the principal patron of court Kapellmeister Johann
Gottlieb Naumann, who also became her teacher. In 1763 her husband,
Elector August II, died only a couple of months after his father, and she
became a dowager princess. Her support for the arts was largely responsible
for the high reputation that Dresden maintained throughout the middle of the
century. Her works include the aforementioned operas and a large secular
cantata, Giove fulminator, as well as six symphonies published in London
in 1773. Her style is close to Hasse, her favorite composer.
is known about his musical training, he was resident in Paris in 1746, where
he became friends with Voltaire, among others. Shortly after his return to
Germany, he published his first work, Der critische Musicus an der Spree,
which was followed in 1754 by his most famous and widely distributed
journal, Historisch-kritische Beyträge zur Aufnahme der Musik. In 1752 he
wrote an extended preface for Johann Sebastian Bach’s Kunst der Fuge under
the auspices of publisher Breitkopf. Economic difficulties were overcome
in 1763 when he was given a post at the Prussian Lottery, three years later
becoming its director. His final major work, the Kritische Briefe über die
Tonkunst, published between 1760 and 1764, was equally significant in es-
tablishing his reputation as a critic and theorist. His own compositions show
that he was one of the significant figures in the Berlin School. He composed
185 Lieder (many of which were published in anthologies he edited), as well
as six sonatas and numerous smaller works.
one of the most famous teachers in Europe whose students included André
Ernest Modeste Grétry, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Johann Christian
Bach, and many others (see below). He was also famed for his collections
of music and portraits of composers, many of whom were commissioned at
his behest. As a theoretician, he wrote Compendio delle teoria, published
in 1769, and a two-volume treatise, L’esemplare o sia saggio fondamento
pratico di contrappunto, in 1774–1775. His most famous work, however,
was the unfinished Storia della musica, which purported to begin with Adam
and end with an overview of modern 18th-century composers and styles.
Martini was considered the model by Charles Burney, who consulted the
theorist on his own endeavors. As a composer, Martini was less well known,
publishing little during his lifetime and writing mostly for local performances
at his church and the Accademia. Works include 32 Masses, five operas, two
oratorios, a Requiem, a litany, over 100 smaller sacred works, 24 sympho-
nies, 94 keyboard sonatas, and a variety of smaller chamber works. See also
ADLGASSER, ANTON CAJETAN; BRACCINI, PATER LUIGI; COLLA,
GIUSEPPE; GASPARINI, QUIRINO; GASSMANN, FLORIAN LEO-
POLD; GHERARDESCHI, FILIPPO MARIA; MAJO, GIAN FRANCESCO
DE; MARIANI, GIOVANNI; MATTEI, PADRE CLEMENTE; MATTEI,
STANISLAO; MORELLATI, PAOLO; PALLAVICINI, VINCENZO; PUC-
CINI, GIACOMO; RIGHINI, VINCENZO MARIA; SCHUSTER, JOSEPH;
UTTINI, FRANCESCO ANTONIO BALDASSARE.
František Xaver Dušek and Josef Seger. He obtained a position with Count
Vtrba, who allowed him to tour central Europe as a performer. In 1791 he
settled in Prague, where he taught privately and was chorusmaster at the Ger-
man opera. In 1794 he was appointed as music director of the St. Mikuláš
Church, but in 1802 he decided to devote his attentions to his music shop,
one of the first in the city. His music reflects not only the predominant Vien-
nese style, it also shows its Czech origins in the lyrical melodies. His works
include two operas, several ballets, 30 Masses, 40 graduals, 70 offertories,
26 sacred arias, 16 hymns, 13 motets, five antiphons, 10 symphonies, seven
concertos, 15 quartets (mostly for strings), eight sonatas, seven serenades,
five partitas, four pastorellas, and a large number of smaller dances and
individual works for keyboard.
MASS. Roman Catholic celebration of the Eucharist, also used under similar
names for Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican services, consisting of a fixed
text portion (the Ordinary) and a portion whose texts change according to
the seasons (the Proper). The normal 18th-century setting of the Ordinary
involves six movements: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and
Agnus dei. In Lutheran practice, only the Kyrie and Gloria are used. Many
composers of this period favored homophonic settings, often with substantial
orchestral accompaniment, with some movements, notably the Gloria and
Credo concluding with fugal or polyphonic sections.
There exist three types of Catholic Masses during the period: the missa
brevis, or short Mass, in which the Ordinary is generally brief, sometimes
with texts being telescoped through providing different portions in the
various voices simultaneously; the missa longa, sometimes called the missa
solemnis (or solemn Mass), in which the Ordinary is subdivided into indi-
vidual movements that include both arias and choral portions; and a hybrid
type (sometimes called missa ordinarius), which is longer than the missa
brevis but with each of the movements sometimes containing substantial
sections in varied tempos. Settings of the Mass range from a cappella works
in the strict contrapuntal style by Italian composers such as Leonardo
Leo and Francesco Durante to elaborately orchestrated pieces by Joseph
Haydn, Baldassare Galuppi, Johann Stamitz, Wolfgang Amadeus Mo-
zart, and others. Individual Mass movements, both singly and broken into
subsections, were also commonly composed during the period, especially
in Italy. The Mass Proper consists of the Introit, Gradual, Alleluia, Offer-
tory, and Communion, all of which appear mostly during the 18th century
to have been composed as separate works or movements, rather than as an
integrated sequential group. One of the most prolific composers of these
was Michael Haydn. In addition, it was not uncommon to add a purely in-
strumental Epistle Sonata for organ immediately before or after the reading
of the Scriptures in Italy and Austria.
highly virtuosic and can be seen as a harbinger of that of the soloistic style of
Luigi Boccherini and others.
a selection of Lieder titled Lieder bey dem Clavier zu singen from 1786. In
1789 he was taken to Bergamo by a patron to study with Carlo Lenzi, though
he later took lessons from Ferdinando Bertoni. In 1794 he had his debut as
an opera composer, eventually becoming the second most successful among
the first generation of the 19th-century bel canto school. His students include
Gaetano Donizetti, whom he mentored as a consultant for the publisher Casa
Ricordi. Mayr also worked tirelessly to develop music schools in Bergamo.
Although the bulk of his music properly belongs to early 19th-century Ro-
manticism, he began his career with typical opera buffa works. He wrote 23
operas before 1801, as well as six oratorios, five secular cantatas, some 18
Masses, and most of his 57 symphonies.
as a composer for the stage, but in 1810 he seems to have given up on musi-
cal composition, instead relying upon his work as an impresario. In 1834 he
went to Corsica to claim a noble title. Although popular enough during his
career, he has been all but ignored by history, despite the fact that he sought to
develop an English style of opera similar to the French opéra comique. His
works include 13 operas, 21 ballets, three quartets, a sinfonia concertante,
three duets, 71 sonatas, 67 works for military band, 23 sets of variations, and
numerous glees and songs.
and often feature a newly written musical introduction. The medley overture
was English in origin. The earliest printed appearance was in 1763 when Six
Medley or Comic Overtures composed by Richard Charke, Thomas Arne,
and John Frederick Lampe were published in London. By 1770 these were
common both in theatre productions of Charles Dibdin, as well as the London
concert series (Vauxhalls) held in Vauxhall Gardens, among other places.
Around this same time, the genre appeared at the Théâtre Italien in Paris,
beginning with Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny’s Le déserteur (1769), and was
especially useful for the equally popular comic pastiches. By 1779, human-
ist Tomás de Iriarte, in his La música (published in Madrid), criticized
the genre as musically deficient, indicating by implication that it may have
been used in the local operas (tonadillas and zarzuelas) there. In the United
States, beginning in 1787 Alexander Reinagle used the medley overture both
as an independent concert work and to preface ballad operas, incorporating
Scots-Irish tunes. This became the most popular instrumental genre in the
new country, with examples being written by Joseph Jean Géhot, James
Hewitt, and others. A unique American derivative was the Federal Over-
ture. See also PASTICCIO.
1748. In 1759 he held the same position at the main cathedral before becom-
ing maestro di cappella in Livorno in 1763. Although an active composer,
few of his works survive. These include an offertory and a Stabat mater,
although his Masses, an oratorio, several Requiems, a Te Deum, and other
sacred music have been lost. In addition, he composed a cantata, five key-
board concertos, and 11 sonatas.
the Nuovo Real Teatro and the Teatro de la Cruz. In 1744 he was employed
by Philip V, and several years later he was recommended by Carlo Broschi/
Farinelli as a court composer to Ferdinand VI. In 1750 he asked permission
to return to Naples to perform his opera Armide. This was granted, but Mele
seems to have passed away in Italy within a few years of his arrival, since
no further information can be found of his whereabouts. His music has been
little studied but consists of 10 operas, two serenades, and a flute concerto.
His musical style often shows the use of Alberti bass, particularly in the in-
ner string parts.
the fiddle from local musicians before moving to Edinburgh. By 1759 he was
giving concerts regularly in the city in various venues, all arranged and man-
aged by himself. These often included dances and more serious music; his last
concert on record was done in conjunction with fellow Scotsman Alexander
Reinagle in 1786. He was well known for his demeanor and bearing, earning
him the nickname “King M’Glashan.” His earliest printed music includes col-
lections of Strathspey reels arranged for trio sonata format, but by September
of 1786 he had broadened his scope to include dances of all types, including
“Scots measures, hornpipes, jigs, allemandes, cotillons,” and “other fashionable
country dances.” His music was widely performed and distributed throughout
Scotland and the nascent United States. His students include Nathaniel Gow.
known for his sensitive expression, particularly as Orfeo, but he was also
active as a composer in the Neapolitan style. His works, little studied, in-
clude eight operas, eight cantatas, 23 concert arias and 22 concert duets, 82
canzonetts, two keyboard sonatas, a Salve Regina, and a number of smaller
keyboard works published in 1791 in London as Musical Trifles.
date of birth remain unknown, but by 1775 he had moved to London, where
he pursued the trade of music publisher. In 1785 he immigrated to Philadel-
phia, where he performed regularly at the city concerts and opened his own
publishing company. His music, written in the popular style of the time,
includes two symphonies (probably medley overtures), two keyboard con-
certos, six string quartets, 12 trio sonatas, a cantata, and numerous songs.
concertos (six for keyboard, one for violin, one for cello, plus another ar-
rangement of a harpsichord concerto for cello or contrabass), partitas, three
fanfares, and three preludes and fugues for organ. His style represents the
infusion of the homophonic texture, contrasting themes of the early sonata
principle, and fundamental modulatory patterns that reflect the predominant
style of the late 18th century. He was also one of the first to create the four-
movement symphony by adding a minuet in one of his works.
he did have a family; two of his children became priests. His musical efforts,
often to his own poetry, include hymns, as well as several liturgical pieces.
he left to take a similar post at Segovia. His music consists of sacred works,
including Masses, villancicos, and 15 Lamentations.
MORAVIAN CHURCH. A Protestant sect that has its origins in the reforms
of Bohemian Jan Hus, also known as the “Unity of Brethren (Unitas Frat-
rum).” In the 18th century, the most significant figure was Nicholas Ludwig,
Count von Zinzendorf, who became their patron. Their main city was Herrn-
hut in Germany, but they also had an active missionary calling to Africa,
Asia, Russia, the Middle East, and the Americas. The main centers in North
America were in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, and Winston-Salem, North Caro-
lina. They developed a high musical culture, with composers such as John
Antes, Johann Friedrich Peter, and David Michael Moritz producing often
elaborate anthems, replete with extensive orchestration, as well as instrumen-
tal chamber music, such as wind partitas.
his music has survived; only nine works published in the 1809 Massachusetts
Collection of Sacred Harmony.
ers. These include 11 operas written prior to 1801, as well as two ballets, a
symphony, and a Salve Regina.
The most important treatise was his Versuch einer gründlichen Violin-
schule of 1756, a work that was translated into many languages during his
lifetime and is still in print. Much information on his personality can be
gleaned from biographical studies of his son, but it can be said that, although
a disciplinarian, he had many interests beyond music; he was well read, and
in later life he was a kind, generous individual, even though his relationship
with his son can be seen as problematic. As a composer, Mozart was prolific
and a worthy model for his son in the variety of works that he wrote. These
include six university plays/oratorios; seven Masses; six litanies; numerous
Psalms, Sequences, hymns, and such; 21 Lieder; 69 symphonies; four ser-
enades; two divertimentos; six partitas; 12 concertos; much miscellaneous
dance music; six trio sonatas; nine trios; three keyboard sonatas; and many
smaller works. Mozart’s style is in the vein of Empfindsamkeit, although he
has a descriptive flair in his music. For example, he frequently includes local
everyday life in his musical portrayals of sleigh rides, hunts, peasant wed-
dings, and so forth. His daughter, Maria Anna (or Nannerl), was the recipient
of a pedagogical work, the Notenbuch, which contains practical small pieces
(and a number of very early works by her brother). Mozart’s music has been
cataloged according to LMV or Eisen numbers. See also RAINPRECHTER,
JOHANN NEPOMUK.
were fulfilled over the next three years; these include Mithridate and Lucio
Silla. He also devoted considerable time to instrumental composition, writ-
ing his first string quartets. In 1774 he was commissioned by the Elector of
Bavaria to compose La finta giardiniera, but his increasing duties in Salzburg
became onerous. In 1777 he received his dismissal and permission to seek
his fortune in Mannheim and Paris. The failure of this venture forced him to
return to Salzburg, where he was given the position of court organist.
In 1780 he wrote the first of his mature operas, Idomeneo, for Munich and
a year later was set adrift from his official employment during a visit to the
city of Vienna. For the remainder of his life he made his living as a teacher,
composer, impresario (of his own subscription concerts or academies), and
keyboardist in the Imperial capital. Although an abortive attempt by Emperor
Joseph II to establish a German national theatre resulted in a Singspiel, Die
Entführung aus dem Serail, he established himself with a trio of Italian
works with texts by Lorenzo da Ponte: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni,
and Cosí fan tutte. In 1787 he was appointed as the successor of Christoph
Willibald von Gluck as chamber musician to the Imperial court, a position
that was mostly without obligation. He also had a number of opportunities to
tour abroad, such as a trip in 1788 to Germany and numerous trips to Prague
to oversee performances of his own operas. Toward the end of his life, his
economic circumstances were often troublesome, and although he received
commissions such as the coronation opera for Leopold II in Prague (La clem-
enza di Tito) and a Singpiel (Die Zauberflöte) for the theatre run by Emanuel
Schickaneder, he suffered from financial distress. His last application as the
successor to Leopold Hofmann at St. Stephen’s Cathedral was approved but
the news only arrived after Mozart’s death.
No other composer of any era has had as broad an iconic reputation as
Mozart. As a composer, he was equally at home in virtually every genre,
and in the case of the piano concerto, he was certainly the first to write sub-
stantially for the instrument works that he himself, his sister, and his pupils
performed. His music is characterized by extreme lyricism, with an excellent
sense of rich harmonic texture and orchestration. Although he did not invent
new genres—his music belonging to the traditional South German and Ital-
ian traditions of the Holy Roman Empire—he was adept at creating works
that can be considered the exemplars of his time in many instances. His life,
interest in freemasonry, and extensive documentation, not to mention the my-
thology that has developed over his own precociousness and untimely death,
has been the subject of numerous literary and creative works, from anecdotal
biographies by people such as Vincent Novello to stories by Eduard Mörike,
to plays by Pushkin to films by Milos Forman (Amadeus). It has also tran-
scended disciplines, so that, for instance, the field of psychology postulates a
“Mozart Effect” on child rearing in works by Don Campbell.
Shortly thereafter he became involved with soprano Carolina Halle, who had
just been divorced from composer Thomas Walter. Refused permission to
marry, they eloped in 1780 to Sweden, where they were appointed by Gustav
III to the Royal Opera, she as prima donna, he as assistant concertmaster. Al-
though successful, their sybaritic lifestyle and mounting debts meant the pair
had to flee Sweden in 1782, escaping to Norway and then to England. Their
success was limited, and in 1783 they received a full pardon and payment of
their debts, allowing them to return to Stockholm. In 1786 Müller succeeded
Eric Ferling as concertmaster, a post he held until his retirement in 1807. As
a performer, he was one of the most active violinists in the city, noted for his
sensitive and lyrical playing particularly in slow movements (as opposed to
virtuoso display where papers of the time noted that his technical ability was
“not always successful”). As a composer, he wrote portions of music for at
least five operas (including Epilog till Atys in 1784), two violin concertos,
18 violin sonatas, and other smaller chamber works, including a rondo for
solo clarinet and wind band.
Emanuel Schickaneder and often composed insertion pieces for works for
him. Although he suffered periods where inspiration abandoned him, Müller
was nonetheless able to recover and compose music that was well received by
audiences in Vienna. A full accounting of his works has yet to be done, but
he wrote 91 Singspiels, 50 other stage works, 27 sacred songs, 22 offertories,
20 duets, and 19 arias (mostly insertions), as well as some 15 symphonies, 20
partitas for Harmoniemusik, and numerous smaller chamber works.
401
Der Dorfbarbier. In 1776 he became the musical director of the Abel Seyler
troupe and toured Germany with considerable success, establishing a reputa-
tion as a composer of Singspiels. In 1779 he obtained a post in the national
theatre in Bonn, being appointed court organist in 1781. There he undertook
the musical education of Ludwig van Beethoven, even recommending him
for further training in Vienna. In 1794, he was dismissed from his post dur-
ing the French occupation and fruitlessly sought other employment. With the
help of his daughter, he was able to become musical director of the Bosann
Theatre in Dessau. As a composer Neefe was noted for his ability to write
memorable melodies, though his songs and arias are often strophic. His
music includes 10 Singspiels (of which one, Adelheit von Veltheim of 1780,
achieved considerable success), 21 keyboard sonatas, 13 violin sonatas, a
keyboard concerto, a Latin Vater unser (lost), several partitas, and a large
number of Lieder. He also arranged Mozart’s operas for keyboard reduction
during the last years of his life.
his most important students. He was employed in St. Petersburg in 1804, but
by 1809 he had made Paris his home, despite sojourns in Rio de Janeiro and
elsewhere. Although the bulk of the 1300 works he composed were written
after 1800, several Masses and sacred works predate this year. These all dem-
onstrate the solid Classical stylistic foundations that characterized his later
compositions. His music, however, is best considered as part of the Classical
trends of the 19th century.
the post of balletmaster at the Opéra in Paris, a position that allowed him to
accept seasonal posts in London and Vienna. During the French Revolution
he escaped the terror by moving to a small town in the French countryside,
Triel, but economic circumstances forced him to return to London, where he
stayed until he retired in 1794.
Noverre can be seen as one of the pivotal figures in the development of the
ballet d’action during the 18th century, along with colleagues (and sometimes
rivals) Étienne Lauchery, Gasparo Angiolini, and Franz Hilverding. His
students include progressive choreographer Antoine Bournonville, whose
son August Bournonville is recognized as the father of the Romantic ballet.
His most important work was Lettres sur la danse, sur les ballets et les arts,
first published in Lyons in 1760 (and later heavily revised and expanded in
1804 and 1807 in St. Petersburg). His choreography inspired generations of
composers, from Niccolò Jommelli to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. See
also DESHAYES, PROSPER-DIDIER.
411
music includes 13 villancicos, two Masses, two Requiems, three Psalm set-
tings, a Lamentation, a Stabat mater, and a duo for two violins.
OLIVEIRA, MANUEL DIAS DE (ca. 1734, SÃO JOSÉ DEI REI [NOW
TIRADENTES], BRAZIL, TO 1813, SÃO JOSÉ DEI REI). Brazilian
composer. Trained in Minas Gerais, he began his career at the Irmandade de
São Miguel e Almas, later teaching at other schools in the region. His music,
virtually unexplored, consists mainly of sacred works.
OPERA. Opera was the most common and widespread musical multimedia
entertainment during the 18th century. It was based upon a long and well-
developed tradition and performed in theatres around the entire globe, as
well as in other venues ranging from churches and monasteries to universities
and public outdoor stages. Generally, it consisted of a series of arias linked
by sections of dialogue, most often prefaced by an overture or sinfonia. In
certain types of opera, the main action occurred during the dialogue portions,
often principal serious roles in opera seria, generally nobility or gods. These
were replaced over the course of the century by the tenor. In comic operas,
lighter soubrette sopranos and baritone-basses were often featured, such as in
the early intermezzo La serva padrona by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi. All
voice types and ranges, however, were used, with the music constructed gen-
erally according to the role and performer. Many of the singers were either
employed full-time by the houses or courts, or were allowed to tour, making
their reputations in various roles. Singers such as castrati Carlo Broschi/
Farinelli were not only famed for their vocal flexibility and beauty of tone,
they also could function as diplomats, private entertainers, or celebrities
whose reputations gained them access to many courts. Other singers, such
as Franziska Dussek or Gertrude Mara, were able to inspire composers to
write music tailored to their vocal abilities, while others, notably Ludwig
Fischer or Caterina Cavalieri were given extraordinary works of great skill
by composers such as Antonio Salieri, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and
others, both for the stage and as particular vehicles for the concert hall. Other
singers, such as Carolina Halle, had less than flexible voices, relying more
on their dramatic acting abilities to achieve their reputations.
While librettists were equally as important to the overall form and content
of an 18th-century opera, some of the texts were meant to be set by a number
of different composers in a more or less generic manner. For example, Me-
tastasio’s librettos were set frequently, becoming the epitome of the opera
seria due to the fluidity of the language and despite the often convoluted and
improbable action or secondary characters. Carlo Goldoni made similar
impressions on the opera buffa, and one work, Charles Coffey’s The Devil
to Pay, although a generic ballad opera, was translated and reworked in most
European languages, in effect becoming the second most successful single
plot of the period. Imperial courts, such as Vienna, served as a Mecca for
authors, with some, such as Lorenzo da Ponte, achieving fame for their
direct collaboration with the leading composers of the day, even though
their later careers were less than steady. Even the nobility ventured into the
field of the libretto, with nationalist works being contributed by Catherine
II and Gustav III, their efforts being fleshed out by local poets. In other
arenas, the impresarios chose to write (and sometimes even set) texts they
knew would contain popular appeal. Emanuel Schickaneder, for example,
wrote over 50 German Singspiel texts mainly for his own company. Other
librettists, such as Raniero Calzabigi, were crucial to the operatic reform
movements of the time.
Operas were composed by virtually every major composer of the period,
often on commission, and success of a single work would often lead to fur-
ther commissions, both at home and abroad. The most successful composers
generally wrote for the major opera theatres throughout Europe, with Paris
being a particular locus for such works. For example, a debut performance
in Rome at the Teatro Argentina or in Naples at the Teatro San Carlo would
most likely engender commissions from elsewhere in Italy, and composers
would likely be offered new works for occasions such as the Carnival in
Venice or Milan. Indeed, numerous composers and singers became inter-
national superstars, with both commissions and employment being offered
outside their home country. These were often linked with attempts to revive
or reform opera, with composers such as Niccolò Jommelli, Johann Adolph
Hasse, Christoph Willibald von Gluck, Niccolò Piccinni, Antonio Sac-
chini, Luigi Cherubini, Gian Francesco de Majo, and others working in
Dresden, Paris, and London to produce serious works of consequence. For
comic opera, Giuseppe Sarti, Domenico Cimarosa, Giovanni Paisiello,
and Pasquale Anfossi, among others, went far afield to write works, many
for the court of Catherine II in Russia.
The most popular international works, however, were Italian, with French
operas having some success in Francophile courts in Berlin, Vienna, and
Stockholm, while German opera seemed mostly limited to German-speaking
areas. Other works had even more limited ranges, even though they may have
been based upon more widespread continental models, since many were in
local languages that had limited audiences. Danish operas of Johann Ernst
Hartmann or Johann Abraham Peter Schulz were not performed outside
of Denmark, nor were those of Russia, Sweden, or the Netherlands. Local
variants, such as the zarzuela, for example, did have an intercontinental
appeal given the extensive North American territories of New Spain, and
English opera continued to be popular in colonies and the new United States
with works composed by Raynor Taylor, Alexander Reinagle, James
Hewitt, and Benjamin Carr. Operas in German and Polish were often taken
by touring companies to the Baltic provinces (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), in
deference to their German inhabitants for the former and because the music
appealed more than the incomprehensible text for the latter. See also AZI-
ONE TEATRALE; RESCUE OPERA; STORACE, NANCY; STORACE,
STEPHEN.
OPÉRA BOUFFON. French term for Italian opera buffa, which in France
could be performed either in its original language or in French translation.
OPÉRA COMIQUE. A genre of French opera based upon less lofty subject
matter or characters than the Opéra. It consists of arias and shorter ariet-
tas, sometimes recitative, some spoken dialogue, choruses (often short and
homophonic), dances (as opposed to more formal ballet in the Opéra), and
concluding often with a vaudeville finale. It is not exclusively comic, despite
the name. It developed as a popular genre at the Foire Saint Germain and
Foire Saint Laurent (as well as the Comédie-Italienne) during the middle of
the 18th century, maturing under the influence of Italian works such as La
serva padrona by Giovanni Pergolesi. Early practitioners of the genre in-
clude Michel-Jean Sedaine and Charles Simon Favart. The initial success
of Antoine Dauvergne’s Les troquers in 1753 led to a rapid development of
the genre through the efforts of composers such as François-André Dani-
can Philidor, Pierre-Alexandre Monsigny, and André Ernest Modeste
Grétry. Initially located at the fairs, it merged with the Comédie-Italienne in
1762 and became the Théâtre Italien in 1783. In 1793 it was performed both
at the Théâtre Feydeau and at the now-renamed Opéra comique. Develop-
ments include fairy-tale operas (opéra féerie), the rescue opera, comédie
pastorale, and the comédie mêlée des ariettes.
choruses kept to a minimum. The opera seria was the main vehicle for cas-
trati. The genre was most often heavily patronized (and subsidized) by the
courts. It became moribund toward the end of the century as the opera buffa
replaced it in popularity. The greatest author of texts was Pietro Metastasio,
whose librettos were set numerous times by various composers. A good ex-
ample of this is Johann Adolph Hasse’s Cleofide.
423
operas in Neapolitan dialect. His music, little studied, includes six operas, an
oratorio, a concerto, and a symphony, in addition to numerous small canta-
tas and insertion arias.
Perdões, moving in 1752 to the Irmandade de São José dos Homens Pardos.
His music consists of an antiphon, an oratorio, and a Credo, all of which
reflect a rich textured homophonic style.
PARTHIE/PARTITA. During the 18th century the term was associated with
a type of suite of several movements, particularly in the Austro-Bohemian
regions, beginning around 1720. It was used as a sort of catch-all term for
soloistic ensemble music. A Feldparthie was generally associated with an
ensemble of woodwind instruments. Composers include Michael Haydn and
Antonín Reicha. See also DIVERTIMENTO.
paper up through 1761, when she disappears from history. While her style
imitates amateur composers of the period, her Le cabriolet is a larger work
for voice and string orchestra that includes a Tempesta movement.
concerto, and a host of smaller chamber works. Although his early operas
are distinctly Baroque in style, his sacred music combines the more lyrical
mid-18th-century style derived from opera. He must be considered one of the
more important composers of these genres during the period. See also SAN-
TOS, JOSÉ JOAQUIM DOS.
can be considered one of the most active composers of opera seria in Venice.
His 24 operas include Demetrio (1732), written for the castrato Carlo Bros-
chi/Farinelli, and Ezio, composed for the carnival season in 1747. During his
London period, he was considered a rival of Handel, but Charles Burney
found his music too simplistic. He also wrote 12 keyboard sonatas, 10 of
which were published in London in 1739, as well as an oratorio, Gionata.
cation, he was considered one of the finest folk violinists with a penchant for
improvising reels and Strathspeys. He was known as a “ne’er-dae-weel” and
prone to irregular personal habits. His reel “The Ewie wi’ the Crookit Horn”
won a competition in Aberdeen around 1822, thereafter being absorbed into
the popular idiom.
Carr, James Hewitt, and others; the march became the foundation for the
song “Hail Columbia.”
diately went on tour to St. Petersburg in Russia, where he was engaged for
several years. In 1743 he performed at the Concerts spirituels in Paris, but
shortly thereafter he returned to Italy to become first violinist at San Petronio
Church in Bologna. He was elected to the Accademia filarmonica in 1758.
As a performer, he was known for his excellent tone and skill, and theorists
such as Johann Joachim Quantz thought him equal to Giuseppe Tartini.
His compositions, most of which have been lost, however, were seen as de-
rivative. These include six violin concertos (lost) and a sonata.
employed at the Thurn und Taxis court in Regensburg, commuting back and
forth for several years before being offered a permanent position in the lat-
ter city in 1769. He was appointed as court chamber composer, though his
relationship with the Kapellmeister, Baron Theodor von Schacht was not
smooth, resulting in much of his music being deliberately misattributed to
others after (and possibly before) his death in 1794.
Pokorný was one of the most prolific symphonists of the period, noted for
his particular use of the orchestra. His works in this genre are mostly four
movement, and in his numerous concertos he was able to exploit the technical
capabilities of the instrumental solos. His works include at least 145 sympho-
nies (with as many as another 100 still of possible attribution), 65 concertos (in-
cluding 45 for keyboard), numerous serenades/divertimentos, three quartets,
a piano quintet, three string trios, and five trio sonatas. Much of his music
remains to be explored, primarily due to von Schacht’s intervention.
and composer. She gained a reputation for her vocal talent in the Vauxhall
Gardens concerts, later appearing with considerable success as a singer and
actress at Drury Lane. In 1786 she immigrated to the United States as part of
the Old American Company, forming a friendship with James Hewitt. Her
musical compositions consist of several popular songs published by Hewitt.
PSALMODY. Literally, the study of the Psalms or of the tunes used for
metrical Psalms. In the 18th century, it refers to a tradition in the United
States, both before and after independence, wherein local composers such as
William Billings, Samuel Babcock, and others wrote a cappella vocal works
as part of the singing-school movement, particularly in New England. These
were usually harmonized homophonically in three or four parts, although
some imitative counterpoint, known as “fuguing tunes” was practiced. Texts
were drawn from biblical verse but could also be based upon secular works.
455
became one of the most widely read tutors of the 18th century. It contains not
only information on this instrument, but also a plethora of details on court
music and performance practice as well.
As a composer, Quantz wrote prolifically for his instrument, including
around 300 concertos for one or two flutes and orchestra; around 220 sonatas
for flute and basso; 48 trio sonatas, mainly for two flutes and continuo; solos
for one to three flutes; six flute quartets; two arias; and around 30 songs. The
style of his music is generally considered galant, but the flute quartets have
innovative and independent inner lines that foreshadow a more homophonic
texture of composers from a later period. The works were cataloged by Horst
Augsbach and are known by the QV numbers. See also AGRICOLA, JO-
HANN FRIEDRICH.
459
the musical styles. As such, he and his 31 operas (as well as several works
of incidental music) make him one of the first significant figures of the early
Classical style. See also GOSSEC, FRANÇOIS-JOSEPH.
Porpora, making his debut at the Teatro della Valle in Rome in 1765. The
following year he was offered a post in Munich at the court of Elector Maxi-
milian III, but in 1773 he returned to Milan to write music for the Carnival
season following a liaison with a noblewoman. In 1774 he moved to London,
where he performed frequently at the King’s Theatre. By 1777, however, he
decided to retire to Bath, where he managed the public concerts in between
various engagements in Dublin and London. His voice was flexible but he
received some criticism for its lack of strength. He was often chided for de-
voting too much time to composition rather than performance, although his
music was praised for its good taste. His works include 14 operas, four pieces
of incidental stage music, four cantatas, a Requiem, six Italian canzonetts,
16 songs, a symphony, 18 quartets, 15 violin sonatas, and four duets.
REGENS CHORI. In the 18th century it is the title of the post of either choral
or musical director, generally associated with monasteries or city churches.
The post was generally allotted to one of the monks of the Catholic orders,
but there could be civilians as well, such as Jakob Zupan in the city of Lai-
bach (now Ljubljana, Slovenia).
Bach was thwarted when he had to take over his father’s publishing busi-
ness. He used his musical connections in Berlin at the Kenner und Liebhaber
Konzerte to increase his interaction with musical circles in the Prussian capi-
tal. In 1783 he opened a lending library, which was followed several years
later by a music publishing arm, which, although successful, led to a dispute
over rights with C. P. E. Bach. In 1786 he published his treatise Versuch über
die Vereinigung der musikalischen und oratorischen Deklamation, which de-
scribes vocal ornamentation in the 18th century. As his business and concert
promotion declined, he became a critic for the Vossische Zeitung in 1808. His
son, Ludwig Rellstab (1799–1860), was an influential poet. His own compo-
sitions are similar to his friend and colleague Johann Friedrich Reichardt
with good formal structures and dramatic content. These include a Te Deum,
nine symphonies, 32 odes or piano cantatas, 51 Lieder, 12 marches, a fan-
tasy for glass harmonica, a keyboard sonata, six solfeggi, and several other
smaller works for keyboard.
was considered a musical amateur, best known for his friendship with Robert
Burns, who dedicated a sonnet to him in 1794. His compositions include a
collection of his own dances, reels, and other Scots music published in 1787
for keyboard, as well as a set of variations on folk tunes for harpsichord. His
Collection of Scotch, Glaswegian, and Borders Tunes for violin and key-
board, published in 1794, included settings of three songs to texts by Burns.
his brother. At the outbreak of the French Revolution, he apparently left Paris
for Heilbronn, where he settled in as a music teacher. In 1807 he was living
in Mannheim, possibly in retirement. Little work has been done on this com-
poser. Works (some lost) include a flute concerto, three symphonies, 10 flute
quartets, six orchestral sonatas for keyboard, six trios, 20 violin sonatas,
and six keyboard sonatas.
the request of Empress Anna, where he wrote coronation music, but by 1736
he had moved to Warsaw, where he entered the service of Elector Friedrich
August of Saxony and king of Poland. When Johann Adolph Hasse returned
to Dresden, Ristori declined to enter into competition or rivalry. In 1738 he
returned to Naples to oversee the production of one of his operas, but he
returned to Germany, where he was appointed as vice Kapellmeister in 1750
on the death of Jan Dismas Zelenka. Much of Ristori’s music reflects the
Baroque style of composers such as Zelenka, but a number of operas, in-
termezzos, and instrumental works show the formal structural divisions and
harmonic patterns of the galant. Unfortunately, almost all of his music was
destroyed during the bombing of Dresden in World War II. This consisted of
24 operas and intermezzos, eight cantatas, two oratorios, three Masses, 22
motets, three Requiems, a litany, and four symphonies.
his cousin then obtained positions with the Bonn court orchestra, only to have
to flee to Hamburg in 1793 in advance of the French occupation. In 1795 he
visited Italy and the following year Vienna, where he and his cousin parted
ways. In 1800 he returned to Hamburg, where he was an active teacher and
performer, receiving a doctorate in music from the University of Kiel in 1809.
In 1815 he was appointed Kapellmeister at the court in Gotha. A prolific
composer, his works are characterized by a dramatic content, often expan-
sive in terms of form and structure. These include eight operas, a setting of
Friedrich Klopstock’s epic Messias, a Mass, a Te Deum, two odes, several
Psalms, over 20 Lieder, nine symphonies, 20 violin concertos (and five sin-
fonia concertantes), 25 string quartets, 10 quintets, an octet, three violin
sonatas, and 17 duos for strings.
RONDO. Also known as rondeau. Both a musical form and genre that is
characterized by a repeating theme that returns several times throughout in
the tonic key. Early forms consist of couplets interspersed with a repeating
refrain. The conventional form is chiastic (ABACABA), but variations of this
occur frequently, most often in a short form (ABACA). The genre, which ad-
heres to the formal structure and is often used alongside the sonata principle
(e.g., Sonata-Rondo), was often used as the final movements in concertos,
concertante movements, symphonies, and other genres for instruments. It
was used commonly by a majority of composers during the 18th century.
RONDÒ. Although the term spelled in this manner often refers to the
normal rondo, it is used also to distinguish a particular vocal genre of the
18th century, generally found in concert arias and consisting of a two-part
form divided into slow and fast sections, often prefaced by an accompanied
recitative. The fast portion may not always be in conventional rondo form.
Examples of this type of music were written by Johann Christian Bach and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
le cor published in 1764, one of the first to deal with transpositional issues of
both instruments. As a composer, he wrote six orchestral trios, 20 sympho-
nies, six quartets, 24 duos, and around 30 sonatas for various instruments
and keyboard.
RUGE, FILIPPO (ca. 1725, ROME, TO ca. 1767, PARIS). Italian com-
poser and flautist. Nothing is known about his early life or training; he first
appears around 1751 in London, where he performed at the public concerts.
In 1753 he arrived in Paris, where he made a successful debut at the Concerts
spirituels. By 1757 he was a member of the court musical ensemble of the
Marquis de Seignelay, but he disappears from records in 1767, presumably
the date of his death. His music, little studied, includes 12 symphonies, six
flute concertos, two vocal duets, six canzonetts, 35 flute sonatas, 18 trio
sonatas, and 12 duo sonatas.
487
As a composer, Sacchini was known for his dramatic musical style, par-
ticularly in serious opera. He was able to move fluidly between both the
Italian and French styles, often using varied forms and progressive harmonic
structures. His works include 47 operas, seven oratorios, two symphonies,
six string quartets, six trio sonatas, and 12 violin sonatas or lessons, in ad-
dition to numerous insertion arias, Masses, motets, Psalms, and other sacred
works. See also ZINGARELLI, NICCOLÒ ANTONIO.
Lenzi, Antoine della Maria, and Angelo Tarchi. See also GHERARDE-
SCHI, GIUSEPPE; SONYER, TOMÁS.
A prolific composer, he was much sought after, particularly for his sacred
music and instrumental pieces. An early pioneer of the symphony, Sam-
martini began writing independent pieces in the new genre as early as 1732
in three and four parts, with their first documented appearance in his opera
Memet composed for Lodi. They take on increasingly complex structures
over the next several decades, with consistent binary forms that anticipate
the sonata principle. These works achieved international fame, with sources
found throughout Europe and even South America. Sammartini had a reputa-
tion as one of the most influential teachers of the period; his most famous stu-
dent was Christoph Willibald von Gluck, who studied with him from 1737
to 1741. He was a prolific composer, writing four operas, 17 large sacred
works, eight large cantatas, over 200 string trios (some indistinguishable
from the Sinfonia à 3), 50 sonatas, at least 68 symphonies, 21 quartets (some
with flute), and 10 concertos for cello, flute, violin, and recorder. His works,
known by their JC numbers, have been cataloged by Newell Jenkins and
Bathia Churgin. See also CANNABICH, CHRISTIAN INNOCENZ BON-
AVENTURA; FIORONI, GIOVANNI ANDREA; FREITHOFF, JOHAN
HENRIK; MONZA, CARLO; ZAPPA, FRANCESCO.
were to create an Italian opera there, but by 1790 he had taken on further
duties as privy counselor. In 1796 he was pensioned, and from 1805–1812
he resided in Vienna, where he sought to establish himself and his music. He
was considered a competent composer well aware of the latest stylistic trends
of his contemporaries. He was, however, less popular with his subordinates,
and in the case of František Pokorný, he even sought to erase the memory
of a versatile figure by misattributing authorship of a large number of works.
His own works, which have been little studied, include 14 Masses, a Re-
quiem, two German Masses, eight operas (mostly Italian), five ballets, two
oratorios, 30 secular cantatas, 29 other sacred works, 84 canons, six vocal
notturnos, 35 symphonies, 45 concertos (for all instruments), 27 serenades/
divertimentos, 12 trio sonatas, four string quartets, and a string quintet,
as well as numerous miscellaneous marches, minuets, and keyboard works.
works include 20 operas, five secular cantatas, two Masses, four litanies,
a Stabat mater, seven notturnos, over 15 canons, numerous Lieder, four
concertos (three for harp and one for fortepiano), 10 symphonies, six string
trios, five string quartets, a woodwind quartet, and numerous smaller works
for keyboard. His music has been little explored.
orchestral cantata, The Battle of Prague, has not been lost, and although he
performed several cello concertos in Philadelphia, it is not certain whether
these were his or his father’s.
Peter Schulz. In 1766 he obtained the post of organist in Mölln. His music
is characteristic of the North German Empfindsamkeit style of Carl Philipp
Emanuel Bach and others. His surviving works include a serenade, six sym-
phonies, five large-scale cantatas, two flute quartets, a divertimento, a trio
for three flutes, and a number of chorale preludes.
birth date, which ranges from 1720 to 1740. Schobert first appeared in Paris
in 1760, where he began a career as a keyboard virtuoso, eventually publish-
ing 20 sets of works. In 1761 a few of his pieces appeared in the pasticcio
Le tonnelier, and in 1765 he unsuccessfully attempted to become a com-
poser of opéra comique with the comedy Le garde-chasse et le braconnier.
He found employment with Louis François I de Bourbon, Prince of Conti,
however. Throughout his career he achieved some fame for his expressive
performances and works, in addition to being a rival of Johann Gottfried
Eckard. He died along with his family, a servant, and four friends as a con-
sequence of eating poisonous mushrooms. His musical style was influenced
by that of Mannheim, although he was noted for his expressive melodies.
His works include 21 violin sonatas, six symphonies, seven trio sonatas,
five harpsichord concertos, three keyboard quartets, and several sonatas and
miscellaneous works for harpsichord.
views caused him to be banished from the country in 1773, and he moved first
to Augsburg then to Ulm, where he published the Deutsche Chronik. In 1777
his anti-Catholic diatribes landed him a 10-year sentence in prison, where
he drafted his Ideen zu einer Ästhetik der Tonkunst, one of the most brilliant
discussions of 18th-century music. Released in 1787, he was appointed court
poet in Stuttgart for the Duke of Württemburg. He was best known during his
lifetime for his various writings on music, but as a composer, he focused on
Lieder, eventually writing 197 of them, in addition to two large cantatas and
four keyboard sonatas, as well as a host of smaller pieces for the fortepiano.
his ship to Portugal foundered, he spent his last years in his homeland. As a
composer, Schulz was noted for his use of folk material, as well as a good
sense of text settings in his Lieder. His surviving music includes 12 operas,
five oratorios, six large cantatas, 10 other sacred works, 21 part songs, over
100 Lieder, three symphonies, and around 10 sonatas. See also KUNZEN,
FRIEDRICH LUDWIG AEMILIUS.
works are Italianate in character, reflecting his student years. These include
12 operas (all in Italian), five cantatas, two motets, two duets for two sopra-
nos and basso, 20 symphonies, six concertos (mostly keyboard), two string
quartets, a trio, a violin sonata, and 27 keyboard sonatas.
he continued his studies with Domenico Scarlatti. Around 1725 he was ap-
pointed as Scarlatti’s assistant maestro di cappella, taking over the principal
post after the more famed composer left in 1728. He was ennobled by João V
in 1738. As a composer, he wrote a considerable amount of sacred music in
the prevailing contrapuntal polyphonic style of the Baroque, but his secular
instrumental works show tendencies toward the more mellifluous empfind-
samer Stil [Empfindsamkeit] of his more northern and Italian contempo-
raries. Included among these is a three-movement Italianate Symphony in
B-flat Major, as well as around 80 or so keyboard sonatas (out of possibly as
many as 700), which are more adventurous harmonically than those of Scar-
latti, who served as his model, even though most have multiple movements.
His Sonatas para Orgão include both Baroque suites and more modern
forms, and his harpsichord concerto contains more homophonic ritornellos
than Vivaldi. The bulk of his music appears to have been destroyed in the
1755 Lisbon earthquake.
further his education in 1765. In 1772 he returned and became a church com-
poser in Dresden. By 1787 he had been appointed Kapellmeister, duties of
which he shared with Schuster. Active as a composer for the stage, he turned
almost exclusively to church music after 1790. His work is characterized by
good lyrical themes and rich orchestration. Music includes 12 operas, three
oratorios, 36 Masses, a Requiem, 37 offertories, 15 vespers, 12 litanies, 32
antiphons, 40 Psalms, four Misereres, five cantatas, two arias, 17 Lieder, a
symphony, 11 duo sonatas, and 12 keyboard sonatas.
has been little studied, but he wrote 46 operas (of which about 35 survive), as
well as two cantatas. See also SILLETTO, GIUSEPPE.
largely in France and Italy during the Classical period. It is commonly de-
fined as a concerto for two or more (up to nine) instruments and orchestra.
Although there is extensive orchestral accompaniment, most conform to the
more common concerto double exposition form in their first movements,
albeit with expansion to accommodate the multiple instruments. The usual
format was either two or three movements; in the former, the slow move-
ment is omitted. The subgenre was also inserted in two-movement format
(slow-rondo or fast) into serenades mainly in the music of Austrian com-
posers. The sinfonia concertante was a particular favorite at the Concerts
spirituels in Paris, where composers such as Giuseppe Cambini made it
a compositional focus. The Italian version, the concertone or “grand con-
certo,” often added additional obbligato instruments to the principal solo-
ists. The largest concertante is for 12 instruments and orchestra by Carl
Ditters von Dittersdorf.
he had obtained the post of organist at the All Hallows Church at Barking-by-
the-Tower. In 1775 he was appointed to a second post at St. Mary’s-at-Hill;
he maintained both positions until his death. That same year he was accepted
into the Society of Musicians, and during the last two decades of the 18th
century he managed a subscription concert series. His 1791 treatise Rules
for the Thorough-Bass shows a mastery of the art of traditional harmony.
Smethergell was not a prolific composer, though he did publish his music
frequently in London. This includes 12 lessons for the keyboard, 12 sympho-
nies, seven keyboard concertos, six “canzonetts” for violin and basso, six
duets for two violins, and numerous songs and glees. His style is somewhat
closer to Thomas Arne and William Boyce, although the symphonies con-
tain mannerisms of the Mannheim style.
singer with the Maddox [Petrovsky] Theatre in Moscow under the patronage
of Nikolai Sheremetev (1751–1809). It was here that his sole surviving work,
the folk opera Mel’nik-koldun obmashchik i svat [The Miller Who Was a
Wizard, Cheat, and Matchmaker] to a text by Aleksander Ablesimov was
premiered in 1779. He also taught singing at Moscow University during this
time.
ing a versatile voice. In 1778 he was in Avignon when he was called upon
to replace an ill actor in La rosière de Salency by André Ernest Modeste
Grétry. His success in the role led to a position with the Comédie-Italienne,
where he performed, first as a tenor and later as a baritone, in various works
throughout the 1780s. In 1783 he had his first success as a composer with Le
séducteur, and shortly thereafter he left Paris to work in Nancy and Lyons.
By 1787 he had returned to the French capital, and in 1790 he began to write
more dramatic works for the stage. In 1801 he had his greatest triumph with
the comic opera Le secret, followed a short time thereafter with a setting of
the perennial favorite, Le diable à quatre, which was performed successfully
internationally. Although he composed a few songs and patriotic hymns, he
preferred to concentrate on opera, writing 43 works over his lifetime. His
musical style is not as advanced or as colorful as that of his colleagues Eti-
enne-Nicolas Méhul, Nicolas-Marie Dalayrac, Grétry, or François-Joseph
Gossec, however.
SONATA. In the 18th century, generally a work for two performers, usually
an instrument accompanied by a keyboard or a solo instrument. It derived
from the 16th-century Italian term denoting pieces of music that were gener-
ally performed and not sung. In the early Classical period, the genre followed
the division into Sonata da camera, or chamber sonata made up primarily
of various movements with stylized dance rhythms, and Sonata da chiesa,
or church sonata consisting of alternating slow and fast contrapuntal move-
ments. By the middle of the 18th century it had become more fashionable,
particularly in France, as a display piece for a melody instrument, generally a
violin, flute, or oboe, with a keyboard or continuo, with a structure that mir-
rored that of the concerto, generally three or four movements alternating fast
and slow tempos. One of the most important performers to make the genre
popular in France was Jean-Jacques de Mondonville, who was criticized
in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Dictionnaire de musique. Domenico Scar-
latti popularized the single-movement keyboard sonata, and his works were
widely circulated throughout Europe and New Spain.
By the middle of the century, the genre had become regularized into three
movements, fast-slow-fast, with the final movement generally a complex
ternary, rondo, or theme and variations form. Single-movement sonatas were
still performed in church as Epistle sonatas, usually for organ and instru-
ments. The format of the first movement was generally a complex rounded
binary form, which conforms to the sonata principle (referred to often sim-
ply as sonata form). Duo sonatas were written for various combinations of in-
struments, though the most common were for two string instruments, usually
violins or violin and viola. Examples of these were written by Ignaz Pleyel,
Franz Anton Hoffmeister, Michael Haydn, Giovanni Battista Viotti,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf. The term
“sonata,” however, could be applied to virtually any chamber work, making
it a more generic title. See also TRIO SONATA.
at whose home the music of Franz Schubert was performed. Although now
virtually forgotten, Sonnleithner was a facile composer. His works include
44 Masses, six motets, five litanies, seven symphonies, 36 string quartets,
three serenades, and a host of smaller works. The string quartets reflect the
influence of Haydn.
dency he committed suicide by leaping from the upper story of his palace. He
was occupied with musical composition for a small portion of his life, even
as he maintained a career in politics. His musical style is galant, although
he shows some influences of the Italian opera. His musical compositions
include nine symphonies, two sonatas (one keyboard and one violin), several
arias, and a motet in Croatian titled Bablionskiem na riekama (Super flumina
Babylonis, Psalm 136). His son, Antun Sorkočević, was also a composer.
horn, and viola d’amore), seven wind parthies, 22 wind serenades, six string
quintets, 21 string quartets, 12 woodwind quartets, 35 string trios and six
piano trios, 90 duets, 15 violin sonatas, two operas, two festive cantatas,
a Mass, three canticles, a massive quodlibet in two acts titled Great Al-
legorical Musical Festivity (written in 1788 in Nuremburg to celebrate the
balloon flight of Jean-Pierre Blanchard the previous year), and other smaller
chamber works. He can be reckoned as one of the most prolific composers
of the period.
the art of hand-stopping to produce notes outside the natural harmonic series.
Charles Burney noted the “astounding execution” of his performances. As a
composer, he concentrated on his own instrument, writing 16 horn concertos
(plus another for two horns), 103 horn duets, 47 horn trios, 21 horn quartets,
and a horn sextet; in addition he composed a clarinet concerto, three flute
quartets, three flute quintets (with horn), and a large number of trios for flute
and strings. See also DOMNICH, HEINRICH; LEBRUN, JEAN.
Storace and Stephen Storace. His one claim to fame is an incident in the
1753 Gentleman’s Gazette describing his use of the tarantella for its recupera-
tive effects. His music has been almost all but forgotten, consisting of a few
vocal works.
functioned as regens chori of the St. Nikolaus Church until his death. He is
best known as the first conductor of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart. Although he wrote a number of sacred works, these have not been
studied. See also ROSETTI, ANTONIO.
Empress Maria Theresia. Shortly thereafter they were ennobled, allowing him
the opportunity to be educated at the Jesuit schools in preparation for service
to the Holy Roman state. In 1755 he was appointed a diplomat to the court
of Charles of Lorraine in Brussels, following which he spent several years in
Paris. After a brief sojourn in Warsaw in 1763, he was appointed ambassador
to the Prussian court in Berlin, a post he held from 1770 to 1777. Returning
to Vienna he was made prefect of the Imperial Library.
He maintained a strong interest in music his entire life, particularly with
respect to reviving neglected works by major Baroque figures such as Bach
and Handel. In 1780 he founded the Gesellschaft der Assoziierten, whose
purpose was to perform large choral works “updated” to fit late 18th-century
performance standards. He was also a patron of composers, from Carl
Philipp Emanuel Bach (from whom he commissioned symphonies) to
Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For Haydn, Swieten was
intimately involved with the texts of Haydn’s last two oratorios. He had
aspirations as a composer himself, writing three comic operas and ten sym-
phonies. The quality of the latter have been prejudiced by a remark by Haydn
that they were “as stiff as the Baron himself.” Though not inventive, they do
conform to the practices of the time; as well, there is a paucity of thematic
development and progressive harmony.
549
include 55 operas, two oratorios, two Masses, a Stabat mater, and a secular
cantata.
came director at the Sadler’s Wells theatre and at the Marlyebone concerts.
He also held the post of organist at the church in Chelmsford. In 1792 he fol-
lowed his pupil Alexander Reinagle to the United States, where he settled
in Baltimore and Annapolis before moving to Philadelphia in 1795. There he
obtained the post of organist at St. Peter’s Church, although he also contrib-
uted to the public concerts and the Chestnut Street theatre productions. He
was noted for his facile abilities to create memorable melodies. His works
include 26 operas, at least three symphonies, and a number of keyboard
works, including a divertimento. Much of his music has been lost, however.
of the latter after the age of 5, receiving his musical education there and at
the Johanneum in Hamburg. When his grandfather died in 1767, he composed
a funeral ode, Trauer-Ode auf das betrübte Absterben meines Großvaters
Herrn Georg Philipp Telemann, which served as an initial step in his becom-
ing the successor as town musician. In 1770, however, he relinquished the
post to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and moved to Kiel to attend university
in theology. In 1773 he was appointed as the Kapellmeister at the city church
in Riga and cantor at the main cathedral, St. Peter’s, a position he maintained
his entire life. There he performed the compositions of his father and in 1812
edited a chorale book with his own arrangements. In 1828 he retired due to
the onset of blindness. During his lifetime he wrote two treatises, Unterricht
zur Generalbass-Schule in 1773 and Beytrag zur Kirchenmusik in 1785, the
last of which contained a number of exemplary compositions. His musical
style is similar to his successor C. P. E. Bach, although it tends toward a more
simple and conservative vein. Works include 10 anthems, 29 chorale preludes
for mixed voices and instruments (a further eight are published in the second
treatise), three cantatas, two choruses, and an ode, Sink ich einst in jenen
Schlummer to a text by Klopstock, for voices and orchestra.
of Niccolò Jommelli and his body tossed into the Tiber. As a composer, his
music reflects the lyricism of the Neapolitan style. His works include 11
operas, two oratorios, five Masses, four hymns, 13 motets and Psalms, an
antiphon, numerous insertion arias, two cantatas, and two symphonies.
ranks, rising to the rank of major-general. Like his brother, Aleksey Titov
(1769–1827), he was an amateur musician. Although both his and his broth-
er’s nationalist operas reflect early 19th-century practice being written after
1805, a ballet, Novïy Verther, based upon the novel by Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, was produced in 1799 and reflects Italianate style in its music.
TONADILLA. A short satirical piece for one or two singers that was per-
formed in Spain between the acts of longer pieces during the 18th century;
an analog to the intermezzo in Italy. It developed out of the 17th-century
Sainete. Composers include Manuel Pla and Luis Misón.
of a prologue and five acts, with subject matter based upon Classical history
or mythology. It is characterized often by through-composed accopagnato
recitatives that merge in the short airs, numerous ballet insertions, and heavy
use of the chorus. Attempts were made periodically during the 18th century
to reform and revive this characteristic work of the ancien régime. Composers
include Jean-Philippe Rameau.
interaction between Islamic and European characters, often with comic re-
sults. In many instances, there is an element of satire, which avoids issues
of censorship that might otherwise have cast suspicion upon the work. The
Muslim characters are usually a ruler (often with intimations of a harem and
possessing considerable nobility in his bearing) and a bumbling overseer,
with the Europeans generally interlopers, either captives or visitors. Not in-
frequently Islamic prohibitions, such as forbidding wine, are used as comic
foils in the plots. In the quintessential Turkish opera Soliman II created by
Charles Simon Favart, costumes were imported from Constantinople, and
composers were encouraged to use various percussion instruments, such as
the Jingling Johnny (Schellenbaum, Bell Tree) found in Ottoman military
bands. The best-known works of this genre are Die Entführung aus dem
Serail by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Le caravane de Caire by André
Ernest Modeste Grétry.
567
Italian operas for the Drottningholm court theatre, as well as French opéras
comiques for the resident French troupe. In 1773 he composed the inaugural
opera for the new Royal Swedish Opera of Gustav III, Thetis och Pelée. This
was followed by music for the play Birger Jarl the next year. In 1788 he
retired, having relinquished his duties to his deputy Joseph Martin Kraus
and guests such as Johann Gottlieb Naumann several years earlier. His son
Carlo Gasparo Simone (1753–1808) became a successful actor at the Royal
Dramatic Theatre, while another, Adolpho Lodovico (1756–1804), was a
contrabass player in the Hovkapell. In all, Uttini composed 23 operas, 17 con-
cert arias, seven symphonies, 18 trio sonatas, two oratorios, five Masses,
four Prologues, three divertimentos, 18 keyboard sonatas, two settings of
incidental music for plays, 12 songs, and a host of smaller dances and indi-
vidual movements for keyboard.
571
Van Maldere also was much sought after as a teacher. He died from a
stroke at his home in Brussels. He composed around 60 symphonies, of which
26 were published during his lifetime. In addition, he wrote six operas, an
orchestral concerto, a flute concerto, two violin concertos, 27 trio sonatas, 15
violin sonatas, and three keyboard trios. His instrumental works are known
by their VM numbers cataloged by Willy van Rompaey in 1990. His musical
style, characterized by Hiller and others, was described as “full of fire and
invention . . . and far more cohesive, orderly, and weighty than the works of
some others” and “uncommonly brilliant.” The symphonies especially show
dramatic elements that are characteristic of the Sturm und Drang, including
restless ostinati, syncopations, abrupt dynamic changes, tremolo, and use of
minor keys. See also VAN DER HAGEN, ARMAND.
under Franz Benda. In 1763 he joined the court of Count Hermann von
Keyserling at Königsberg, and two years later he was appointed as concert-
master for Prince Peter von Biron at Mittau. After the loss of independence
of Courland, he went to St. Petersburg in 1795, where he established him-
self as a performer and composer. He retired to his country home in 1820.
Veichtner was well known and respected as an excellent violinist, and as a
composer he was an important figure in the life of Johann Friedrich Reich-
ardt. His surviving works include three Singspiels, a violin concerto, three
string quartets, 24 fantasies for violin and fortepiano, 12 violin sonatas, and
a “Russian” symphony.
the Teatro Argentina in Rome, later serving at the Teatro San Benedetto in
Venice and in Padua. His major ballets were choreographed in collaboration
with Luigi Marescalchi. See also VIGANÒ, SALVATORE.
appointed as organist at the Havana cathedral in 1759, holding the post until
1779 when his successor, Francisco Hierrezuelo, obtained the post. His mu-
sic has been entirely unstudied, but he apparently was active as a composer
of the villancico.
appeared in Paris and later London, from which he was recruited to Stock-
holm as director musices. Following the successful performance of his op-
era Gustaf Adolph och Ebba Brahe, he often went abroad on concert tours,
traveling as far afield as Gibraltar, Greece, and North Africa. In 1793, fol-
lowing the death of his rival Joseph Martin Kraus, he returned to Stock-
holm where he founded another school of composition, eventually being
pensioned off in 1799. Over the next several years he traveled extensively,
making his home in Copenhagen, Berlin, Prague, Vienna, and Munich. In
1807, he was offered a permanent position as ecclesiastical counselor and
Kapellmeister in the city of Darmstadt, where his pupils included Giacomo
Meyerbeer and Carl Maria von Weber.
A colorful figure who excelled at intrigue, he was often accused of being
a charlatan, particularly when publishing music reputed to have come from
exotic locations (such as the “Greenlandic” song “Døle vise” or the Chinese
rondo Cheu-teu) or performing upon instruments of his own invention that
included pyrotechnics. His mannerisms did not gainsay this reputation, but
his contributions, particularly toward the field of music theory and orches-
tration, were seminal in music history. As a composer, his more than 600
works include 14 operas, four ballets, incidental music for a variety of plays
(including Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Skjöldebrand’s Herman von Unna),
14 Masses, 60 Mass movements, a large amount of sacred music, a massive
Requiem, 30 songs and small cantatas, four symphonies (one, in C major
subtitled “Scalan” that was revised to include a chorus as the “Bavarian Na-
tional Symphony”), 11 piano concertos, a horn concerto, 30 piano trios, 10
string quartets, 112 preludes for organ, and a plethora of smaller sonatas
and miscellaneous pieces. His works often foreshadow the following century
in their sense of orchestral color. The music was cataloged by his biographer
Emil von Schafhäutl in 1888.
least one Federal Overture. His Funeral Dirge for George Washington was a
popular piece of political music of the day. He changed his family name from
the Dutch back to the German von Hagen in 1796 as a result of the move to
Massachusetts.
591
He also functioned as a music copyist. His largest work was the first setting
of Alexander Pope’s original Ode to St. Cecilia’s Day. He was well known
throughout England for his innovative organ works, of which he published
six voluntaries, as well as a further 10 pieces.
oratorios, six Psalms, four Masses, a Requiem, six vespers, and several
smaller church works.
and a position as musical director in the town of Gävle was equally problem-
atic. He died in abject poverty shortly after resigning this second post. Few
compositions by Wesström have survived. These include two symphonies, a
pair of overtures for the proposed opera Armide, six quartets for strings and
other obbligato instruments, and a few solos and sonatas for violin. Several
concertos for violin have been lost.
composed smaller chamber works, such as trio sonatas and songs. Her musi-
cal style is similar to Carl Heinrich Graun or Johann Adolph Hasse.
603
605
with a particular penchant for use of Bohemian dances and melodies. His
music includes 26 Masses, three Requiems, four motets, two offertories,
some 20 or more hymns and Psalms, nine vespers, eight sacred arias, 48
symphonies, six partitas, 10 concertos (for flute, harpsichord, oboe, and
cello), three trio sonatas, six violin sonatas, and a large number of individual
fugues and smaller pieces for organ and keyboard. His music is known by K
(Komma) numbers.
the style of Vivaldi, including the 12 violin concertos and the 18 trio sonatas
(six of which were published in 1727). His set of six symphonies published
in 1729, however, reflect the styles and structures of Milanese works by An-
tonio Brioschi and Giovanni Battista Sammartini.
violinist with Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia (later Frederick II) in 1734.
In 1758 he left this position after two decades to accept a post as violinist in
the Mannheim orchestra, where he remained until his death. His surviving
music shows old-fashioned stylistic traits held over from the Baroque period,
such as sequencing and ritornello forms. The works include eight flute sona-
tas (six published in Paris in 1750 as his Op. 1), seven violin sonatas, four
trio sonatas, three concertos (one for flute, two for violin), and a symphony.
Neustrelitz, where he remained for the rest of his life. His music conforms
to the Empfindsamkeit style of the period but has been little studied. One
concerto and four symphonies have survived.
with a string section that omits the violas. His music consists of 19 Masses,
four Requiems (all in F minor), four Sequences, a Te Deum, four litanies,
and five Magnificats, as well as numerous motets, antiphons, versicles, of-
fertories, graduals, and anthems. His music has been cataloged by Frederick
Aquilina and is known by Z numbers.
choir. In 1781 he resigned and returned to Italy. Zoppis wrote mainly stage
works, including four operas, an oratorio, and a Te Deum, as well as numer-
ous cantatas and arias.
subsequently after 1745 as maestro de capilla. Although the bulk of his music
is solidly Baroque in style, his villancicos, many produced around 1730 or
later, demonstrate an awareness of the emerging galant stylistic idioms.
CONTENTS
Introduction 617
General Histories, Genre Studies, and Analyses of Classical Period Music 620
Guides to Research 621
Thematic Catalogs of Composers 622
Complete Works 626
Biographical or General Studies 626
INTRODUCTION
The Classical period has generated a gargantuan amount of research and information,
and in the case of some of the iconic major figures, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mo-
zart or Ludwig van Beethoven, the research on their life and works is vast and often
minutely detailed. Due to this fact, a comprehensive bibliography of the entire period
covered in the dictionary would be impractical and indeed could easily comprise a
separate work of several volumes all on its own. Given the shortness of some of the
entries, which is part of the nature of a dictionary such as this, it is obvious that some
indications of where one might go to find information on some of the lesser-known
composers would be a practical asset in providing a deeper understanding of their
roles and contributions. Therefore, it is the purpose of this bibliography to give a fair
listing of sources ranging from general overviews or histories of the period—however
it is defined—to a selection of specialized studies on the life and works of a composer.
This bibliography starts with a section on general histories of the period, genre
studies, and analytical treatments, the last of which speaks to the various forms and
genres that are described within the main body of the dictionary but for which a
conclusive definition and historical development may be elusive, or perhaps even
debatable. Thereafter is a section on guides to research, which have been published
to give overviews of the literature available on individual composers. As one might
imagine, these are wonderful resources, save for the fact that they tend to go out
of date rather quickly after publication, given that music scholarship is an ongoing
effort and many of them were published two decades ago or earlier. This does not
invalidate the entries or the information contained therein, but there is a caveat as to
how current the bibliographic information is. This section in turn is followed by one
617
through search engines, the information is to a large extent still unverifiable, with
the depth and quality variable. One only has to view a number of Wikipedia articles
on individual composers to discover that entries there vary widely from language to
language, from person to person, and even internally within the article. For example,
the entry for Ukrainian composer Artemy Vedel (1767–1808) has but two lines in
English, Croatian, Slovenian, and Danish, but three paragraphs in Russian and an
extensive article and expansive bibliography in Ukrainian. Unless one is familiar with
the last two languages, there appears to be almost nothing available on this composer
if one is limited to the four more central European languages, and the more expansive
articles, all carefully documented, require knowledge of the Cyrillic alphabet even to
begin to access. On the other end of the spectrum, one can find extremely interest-
ing sites, such as Atrium, base de dados de compositors portugueses, which not only
contains summary biographical and works data, but links to video performances of
specific works, mostly done locally in Portugal by some extremely dedicated and
often quite professional groups. If you want to know how an 18th-century modhina
sounds, this would probably be one’s first stop in the search. This database gives an
added visual and aural dimension that a bibliography simply cannot match. Unfortu-
nately, such sites have a disturbing tendency to appear or disappear with no warning
or to be superseded by others, so the decision was made not to include such websites.
Finally, this volume omits a discography, since recordings often go out of print
rapidly, and though copies can be obtained from warehouse distributors such as
Amazon or Classic Music (or be found online in streaming sites such as the Naxos
Music Library), their availability or accessibility is extremely variable in this day of
music streaming, file downloading to portable music devices, and on-demand video
sites such as YouTube. If one desires to find works available by any of the compos-
ers listed herein, then one should take advantage of catalogs such as Gramophone,
Schwann, or Bielefelder, or simply do a search on YouTube. As with the websites,
though, the principal caveat is that the performance standards vary widely, from ex-
tremely amateurish to selections from professional recordings, for which one might
want to address copyright issues if downloading.
Given this discussion on what has not been included in this bibliography, it should
be reiterated that the amount of resources for music of the Classical period is truly
vast, with information being available in all mediated forms, from print to the web.
This is by no means equally distributed, for in some cases composers, styles, and
works are treated only tangentially, often as ancillary to another subject. Adding to
this that many composers are mainly known locally today as part of, for instance, the
history of an individual town or monastery, and that some of the materials appear in
less well-known languages, such as Polish, Ukrainian, Catalan, or Norwegian, the
bibliographic resources may be somewhat thin. Places to find rich troves of further
bibliographic references are first and foremost the various lexica. Although not al-
ways up to date, the Oxford Music Online, which includes the online version of the
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, contains valuable reference materials
in the bibliographies attached to each article or groups of articles. For example, in the
article on Maximilian Stadler by Robert Freeman there are about 20 various sources
dating from 1818 to about 1991, with an icon to search further on RILM. Although
one might find this a bit dated in print, the bookmark can pull up more recent publi-
cations. The same can be said for other lexica in other languages. Within the general
histories of music, the availability of bibliographic resources is variable, ranging from
none in Charles Burney’s published travelogues to extensive though directed refer-
ences in Daniel Heartz’s three-volume series. Conversely, some texts, such as Philip
Downs’s Classical Music, admittedly dated at this point in time, have only the most
basic bibliography attached. The results are, therefore, quite variable as to where one
might find information in some of the more general historical studies.
The same cannot, however, be said for major composers, especially such iconic fig-
ures such as Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
For both of the first two figures, even during the last decade of the 18th and first de-
cade of the 19th century works of biographical importance began, such as the Haydn
biographies by Georg August Griesinger and Albert Dies, both of whose largely
anecdotal books were based upon visits with the composer himself. For Mozart,
Franz Xaver Niemetschek’s 1798 biography began what must be a veritable torrent
of biographical studies, ranging from a work by Constanze Mozart’s second husband,
Georg Nissen, a Danish diplomat, to biographical travel diaries by Vincent and Mary
Novello from 1829 to Otto Jahn’s 1856–1859 four-volume series that was completed
not too long before Ludwig Ritter von Köchel’s seminal thematic catalog. Thereaf-
ter followed similar works by Hermann Abert, Georges Saint-Foix and Theodore
Wyzewa, Alfred Einstein, and others at the beginning of the 20th century up to the
present time, where Mozart’s bibliography, summarized in H. C. Robbins Landon’s
The Mozart Compendium (and in running additions by the International Stiftung
Mozarteum and the Mozart Society of America, among others), has easily outpaced
virtually any other composer. Haydn, in contrast, has not developed as numerically,
even though Carl Ferdinand Pohl’s three-volume biography appeared close to that of
Jahn. For Beethoven, his amanuensis, Anton Schindler, wrote a piece in 1840 that
has been somewhat compromised historically, but Alexander Thayer’s three-volume
biography of 1866–1879 began a trend that, like Mozart, has grown over the course of
a century and a half. These too have explored the multifaceted world of this composer
and in turn have spawn specialized studies, such as the never-ending mystery of his
“unsterbliche Geliebte” by authors such as Harry Goldschmidt or Siegmund Kaznel-
son, among others. Given the variety and scope of this vast literature, it would be far
beyond the ability of a general dictionary bibliography to accommodate it.
In conclusion, it is hoped that the reader will find important beginnings in this
broad and representative bibliography that will lead to further exploration. The cross-
section demonstrates that there is considerable ongoing research into the music of the
period and the people who created it.
Blume, Friedrich. Classic and Romantic Music: A Comprehensive Survey. New York:
Norton, 1970.
Burney, Charles. The Present State of Music in France and Italy. London: T. Becket,
1775; facsimile edition, New York: Broude Brothers, 1969; modern edition edited
by Percy Scholes, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1979.
———. The Present State of Music in Germany, the Netherlands, and United Prov-
inces. London: T. Becket, 1775; facsimile edition, New York: Broude Brothers,
1969; modern edition edited by Percy Scholes, Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press,
1979.
DelDonna, Anthony, and Pierpaolo Polzonetti, eds. The Cambridge Companion to
Eighteenth-Century Opera. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Downs, Philip. Classical Music: The Era of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. New
York: Norton, 1992.
Fubini, Enrico. Music and Culture in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Chicago: Univer-
sity of Chicago Press, 1994.
Griffiths, Paul. The String Quartet: A History. London: Thames and Hudson, 2003.
Heartz, Daniel. Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School. New York: Norton, 1995.
———. Music in European Capitals: The Galant Style 1720–1780. New York: Nor-
ton, 2003.
Keefe, Simon, ed. The Cambridge History of Music: Eighteenth Century. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Larsen, Jens Peter. Handel, Haydn and the Viennese Classical Style. Ann Arbor,
Mich.: UMI Research Press, 1988.
New Oxford History of Music. Vol. 5, Opera and Church Music 1630–1750; Vol. 6,
Concert Music 1630–1750; Vol. 7, The Age of Enlightenment 1745–1790; Vol. 8,
The Age of Beethoven 1790–1830. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1975–1993.
Newman, William. The Sonata in the Classical Era. New York: Norton, 1972.
Pauly, Reinhard. Music in the Classic Period. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall,
1965–.
Pestelli, Giorgio. The Age of Mozart and Beethoven. Cambridge: Cambridge Univer-
sity Press, 1984.
Ratner, Leonard. Classical Music: Expression, Form, and Style. New York: Schirmer,
1980.
Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. New York: Norton,
1971.
Rushton, Julian. Classical Music: A Concise History from Gluck to Beethoven. New
York: Thames and Hudson, 1986.
Smither, Howard. A History of the Oratorio. Vol. 3, The Oratorio in the Classical
Era. Chapel Hill, N.C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1987.
Zaslaw, Neal, ed. The Classical Era: From the 1740s to the End of the 18th Century.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1989.
GUIDES TO RESEARCH
Grave, Floyd, and Margaret Grave. Franz Joseph Haydn: A Guide to Research. New
York: Garland, 1990.
Hastings, Baird. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Guide to Research. New York: Gar-
land, 1989.
Howard, Patricia. Christoph Willibald von Gluck: A Guide to Research. 2nd ed. New
York: Garland, 2003.
Mozart Bibliographie 1986–1991. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1992.
Paymer, Marvin, and Hermine Williams. Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: A Guide to
Research. New York: Garland, 1989.
Powers, Doris. C. P. E. Bach: A Guide to Research. New York: Garland, 2002.
Vidale, Carole. Alessandro and Domenico Scarlatti: A Guide to Research. New York:
Garland, 1993.
Amoroso, Gian Francesco, and Ana Spasic. Antonio Bonazzi, Catalogo Tematico.
Milan: Famiglia Bellini, 2011.
Augsbach, Horst. Johann Joachim Quantz: Thematisch-systematisch Werkverzeich-
nis. Stuttgart: CarusVerlag, 1997. Uses QV numbers.
Badley, Allan. The Concertos of Leopold Hofmann (1738–1793). PhD dissertation,
University of Auckland, 1986. Uses Badley numbers; full thematic catalog in
preparation for Pendragon Press.
Bengtsson, Ingmar. Johan Helmich Roman och hans instrumentalmusik. Uppsala:
Almqvist och Wiksell, 1955. Uses BeRI numbers.
Benton, Rita. Ignace Pleyel: A Thematic Catalogue of His Compositions. Stuyvesant,
N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 1977. Uses Ben numbers.
———. “The Instrumental Music of Jean-Frédéric Edelmann: A Thematic Catalogue
and List of Early Editions.” Fontes Artis Musiæ 11 (1964): 79–88.
Brown, A. Peter. Carlo d’Ordonez (1734–1786): A Thematic Catalogue. Detroit,
Mich.: Information Coordinators, 1978. Uses Brown numbers.
Bryan, Paul. Johann Wanhal, Viennese Symphonist: His Life and His Musical
Environment. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 1997. Uses Bryan or B
numbers.
De Catanzaro, Christine, and Werner Rainer. Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (1729–1777):
A Thematic Catalogue of His Works. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2000.
Duda, Erich. Die musikalische Werke Franz Xaver Süßmayers: Thematisches
Werkverzeichnis mit ausführliche Quellenangaben und Skizzen der Wasserzeichen.
Kassel: Bärenreiter, 2000. Uses SmWV numbers.
Dunning, Albert. Pietro Locatelli: Catalogo tematico, lettere, documenti & iconogra-
fia. London and New York: Schott, 2001.
Edwards, Owain. English Eighteenth-Century Concertos: An Inventory and Thematic
Catalogue. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2005.
Eisen, Cliff. Leopold-Mozart-Werkverzeichnis. Augsburg: Wissner, 2010. Uses LMV
or Eisen numbers.
COMPLETE WORKS
André Ernest Modeste Grétry: Collection complète des oeuvres. Leipzig: Breitkopf
und Härtel, 1884–1936.
Carl Michael Bellmans Skrifter. 17 vols. Stockholm: Bellmanssällskapet, 1921–2002.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: The Complete Works. 55 vols. Cambridge, Mass.: Pack-
ard Humanities Institute, 2006– .
Christoph Willibald von Gluck: Sämtliche Werke. 57 vols. Kassel: Bärenreiter,
1951– .
The Collected Works of Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782). 48 vols. Edited by
Ernest Warburton. New York: Garland, 1984–1999. Vol. 48 contains a thematic
catalog using W numbers.
Collected Works of Johann Daniel Berlin (1714–1787). 1 vol. Edited by Bjarne
Kortsen. Bergen: Edition Norvegica, 1974.
The Complete Works of William Billings. 4 vols. Edited by Karl Kroeger. Charlottes-
ville: University of Virginia Press, 1981–1990.
Composities van Belle van Zuylen. Ed. Marius Flothuis. Amsterdam: Donemus, 1983.
Gaspard Fritz: Oeuvres complètes. Vol. 2. Musiques à Genève, 1994.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi: Complete Works. 18 vols. Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon
Press, 1977– .
Jean-Philippe Rameau: Opera omnia. 45 vols. Paris: Billaudot, 1992–2003; Paris:
Société Jean-Philippe Rameau, 2003– .
Johann Gottfried Eckard: Oeuvres complètes. Edited by Eduard Reeser. Amsterdam:
Heuwekemeijer, 1956.
Joseph Haydn Werke. 111 vols. Munich: Henle, 1958– .
Le opere di Giuseppe Tartini. 21 vols. Edited by Edoardo Farina and Claudio Scim-
one. Milan: Carisch, 1971– .
Music of the New American Nation. 15 vols. Edited by Karl Kroeger, et al. New
York: Garland, 1996–1999. Collected/Selected works of Samuel Babcock, Sup-
ply Belcher, David Belknap, Ashael Benham, Nathan Billings, Oliver Brownson,
Amos Bull, Solomon Chandler, Eliakim Doolittle, Lewis Edson Sr., Jacob French,
Alexander Gillet, Oliver Holden, Samuel Holyoke, Jacob Kimball, Elias Mann,
Justin Morgan, Timothy Olstead, Joseph Stone, Elisha West, Abraham Wood, and
Merit Woodruff.
Neue Mozart Ausgabe. 124 vols. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1956–2007.
Stephen Jenks: Collected Works. Madison, Wisc.: A-R Editions, 1995.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach: Gesammelte Werke. 11 vols. Stuttgart: Carus Verlag,
2009– .
Allitt, John Stewart. Giovanni Simone Mayr: Vita, musica, pensiero. Villa di Serio
(Bergamo): Villadiseriane, 1995.
Álvarez Martínez, María Salud. José de Nebra Blasco: Vida y obra. Zaragoza:
Institución “Fernando el Católico.” Sección de Música Antigua, 1993.
Angermüller, Rudolf. Antonio Salieri. 3 vols. Munich: Emil Katzbichler, 1971–1974.
Contains a works list arranged according to A or Angermüller numbers, as well
as documenta.
Antesberger, Wolfgang. Vergessen Sie Mozart! Erfolgskomponisten der Mozart-Zeit.
Munich: Piper, 2005.
Aquilina, Frederick. “A Short Biography of Benigno Zerafa (1726–1804): A Mid-
eighteenth Century Maltese Composer of Sacred Music.” Eighteenth-Century
Music 4 (2007): 107–18.
Banat, Gabriel. The Chevalier de Saint-Georges: Virtuoso of the Sword and Bow.
Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press, 2006.
Barandoni, Stefano. Filippo Maria Gherardeschi: Organista e maestro di cappella della
Chiesa conventuale dei Cavalieri di Santo Stefano. Pisa: Università di Pisa, 1990.
Barbour, J. Murray. “Pokorny Vindicated.” Musical Quarterly 49 (1963): 38–58.
Baumann, Thomas. North German Opera in the Age of Goethe. Cambridge: Cam-
bridge University Press, 1985.
Bedman Estrada, Luis Pedro. La música en la catedral de Córdoba a través del
Magisterio de Jaime Balius y Vila (1785–1822). Seville: Centro de Documentación
Musical de Andalucía, 2009.
Benton, Rita. “The Instrumental Music of Jean-Frédéric Edelmann: A Musical Victim
of the French Revolution.” Musical Quarterly 50 (1964): 165–87.
Binetti, Domenico. Tommaso e Filippo Traetta nella vita e nell’arte. Bitono: Lian-
coni, 1972.
Böhm, Claudius, ed. Johann Adam Hiller: Kapellmeister und Kantor, Komponist und
Kritiker. Altenburg: Kamprat, 2005.
Boyd, Malcolm. Domenico Scarlatti: Master of Music. New York: Schirmer Books,
1987.
———, ed. Music in the French Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1992.
Boyd, Malcolm, and Juan José Carreras, eds. Music in Spain during the Eighteenth
Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
Boyens, Koen. “Henri-Jacques de Croes and the Court Chapel of Charles of Lorraine:
A Socio-historical Perspective.” Revue Belge de Musicologie 35 (2001): 105–78.
Brandenburg, Irene, ed. Christoph Willibald von Gluck und seine Zeit. Laaber: Laaber
Verlag, 2010.
Braunbehrens, Volker. Salieri: Ein Musiker im Schatten Mozarts. Munich: Piper,
1989. Translated by Eveline L. Kanes as Maligned Master: The Real Story of An-
tonio Salieri. New York: Fromm International, 1992.
Brook, Barry. “Simon Le Duc l’ainé, a French Symphonist at the time of Mozart.”
Musical Quarterly 48 (1962): 498–513.
———. La symphonie française dans la second moitié du XVIIe siècle. 3 vols. Paris:
Institut de musicologie de l’Université de Paris, 1962.
Brown, Bruce Alan. Gluck and the French Opera Theatre in Vienna. Oxford: Clar-
endon Press, 1991.
Bustico, Guido. Un musicista massese: Pier Alessandro Guglielmi. Barga: n.p., 1926.
Calcaño, José Antonio. Biografía del Padre Sojo 1739–1799. Caracas: Ministerio de
Educación, 1973.
Casavola, Francesco. Tommaso Traetta di Bitonto (1727–1779). Bari: Società Storia
Patria, 1957.
Castellani, Giulinao. Ferdinando Paer. Biografia, opere e documenti degli anni
parigini. Bern: Peter Lang, 2008.
Cattin, Giulio, ed. Francesco Antonio Vallotti nel secondo centenario della morte
(1780–1980). Padua: Messaggero, 1981.
Cattonetti, Anna. Giovanni Battista Sammartini and His Musical Environment. Turn-
hout: Brepols, 2004.
Cesare, Gaetano. Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni, musicista cuneese (1751–1821): Ri-
cerche e studi. Turin: S. Lattes, 1931.
Charlton, David. Grétry and the Growth of Opéra Comique. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1986.
Charlton, David, and Mark Ledbury, eds. Michel-Jean Sedaine (1719–1797): The-
atre, Opera, and Art. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.
Clark, Stephen, ed. C. P. E. Bach Studies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988.
Clercx, Suzanne. Grétry 1741–1813. Brussels: Renaissance du livre, 1944.
———. Henri-Jacques de Croes: Compositeur et maître de musique du Prince
Charles de Lorraine. Brussels: Palais des académies, 1940.
———. Pierre van Maldere, virtuose et maître des concerts de Charles de Lorraine
(1729–1768). Brussels: Palais des académies, 1948.
Coli, Remigio. Luigi Boccherini, la vita e le opere. Lucca: M. Pacini Fazzi, 2005.
Corneilson, Paul. The Autobiography of Ludwig Fischer: Mozart’s First Osmin. Mal-
den, Mass.: Mozart Society of America, 2011.
Courtney, Cecil Patrick. Isabelle de Charrière: A Biography. Oxford: Voltaire Foun-
dation, 1993.
Croce, Luigi della. Luigi Boccherini: La vita e le opere. Lucca: Maria Pacini Fazzi,
2005.
Croll, Gerhard, ed. Das Benediktinerstift St. Peter in Salzburg zur Zeit Mozarts. Salz-
burg: St. Peters Verlag, 1991.
Croll, Gerhard, and Renate Croll. Gluck: Sein Leben, seine Musik. Kassel: Bären-
reiter, 2010.
Croll, Gerhard, and Kurt Vössing. Johann Michael Haydn: Sein Leben, sein Schaffen,
seine Zeit. Vienna: Neff, 1987.
David, Tunley. The Eighteenth-Century French Cantata. Oxford: Clarendon Press,
1974.
Debuch, Tobias. Anna Amalia von Preussen (1723–1787): Prinzessin und Musiker.
Berlin: Logos, 2001.
Delius, N. “Jacob Friedrich Kleinknecht und seine Brüder: Versuch einer Werklist.
Fontes Artis Musicae 34 (1992): 274–325.
Della Corte, Andrea. Paisiello. Turin: Fratelli Bocca, 1922.
———. Piccinni (settecento italiano): Con frammenti musicali inediti e due ritratti.
Bari: G. Laterza, 1928.
Henkel, Gabriele, and Wulf Otte. Herzogin Anna Amalia, Braunschweig und Wei-
mar: Stationen eines Frauenlebens in 18. Jahrhundert. Braunschweig: Braun-
schweigisches Landesmuseum, 1995.
Henzel, Christoph. Die italienische Hofoper in Berlin um 1800: Vincenzo Righini als
preußischer HofKapellmeister. Stuttgart: Metzler, 1994.
Hermann, Martin. “The Turbulent Career of Jean-François Le Sueur, Maître de Cha-
pelle.” Recherches sur la musique française classique 9 (1969): 187–215.
Hernández Balaguer, Pedro. Los villancicos, cantadas y pastorelas de Esteban Salas.
Havana: Editorial Letras Cubanas, 1986.
Hertel, Johann Wilhelm. Autobiographie. Edited by Erich Schenk. Graz and Cologne:
Hermann Böhlhaus, 1957.
Hettrick, William. “Die Autobiographie von Adalbert Gyrowetz.” Studien zur Musik-
wissenschaft 40 (1991): 41–75.
Hill, John W. The Life and Works of Francesco Maria Veracini. Ann Arbor, Mich.:
UMI Research Press, 1979.
Hillila, Ruth-Ester, and Barbara Hong. Historical Dictionary of the Music and Musi-
cians in Finland. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1996.
Hochstein, Wolfgang. Die Kirchenmusik von Niccolò Jommelli unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung der liturgisch gebundenen Kompositionen. 2 vols. Hildesheim:
Georg Ohms Verlag, 1984.
———. “Der verschollene Komponist: Giovanni Alberto Ristori und sein Anteil am
Dresdner Hofkirchenrepertoire.” In Zelenka-Studien II, 59–100. St Augustin: Aka-
demia Verlag, 1997.
Horneffer, Jacques. “Gaspard Fritz, Nicolas Scherrer: Deux symphonistes et
l’Orchestre de Genève, 1740–1780.” Schweizer Jahrbuch für Musikwissenschaft,
new series 10 (1990): 103–17.
Howard, Patricia. Gluck: An Eighteenth-Century Portrait in Letters and Documents.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Hucke, Helmut. “Pergolesi in Musikgeschichte.” Studi pergolesiani 2 (1988): 7–19.
Hunt, Jno Leland. Giovanni Paisiello: His Life as an Opera Composer. New York:
National Opera Association, 1975.
Hunter, Mary. The Culture of Opera Buffa in Mozart’s Vienna. Princeton, N.J.: Prince-
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Idaszak, Danuta. Wojciech Dankowski. Warsaw: n.p., 1972.
Iesuè, Alberto. Giovanni Benedetto Platti (con il Catalogo delle opere). Milan: Ed-
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Istel, Edgar. Die Entstehung des deutschen Melodramas. Leipzig: Breitkopf und
Härtel, 1906.
Jerger, Wilhelm. Constantin Reindl. Fribourg: Universitätsverlag, 1955.
John, Hans. Der Dresdener Kreuzkantor und Bach Schüler Gottfried August Hom-
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Johnson, H. Earle. “The Musical Von Hagens.” New England Quarterly 16 (1943):
110–17.
Johnstone, Diack, and Roger Fiske. Music in Britain: Eighteenth Century. London:
Blackwell, 1990.
Jones, David Wynn. Music in Eighteenth-Century Austria. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.
———. Music in Eighteenth-Century Britain. Aldershot: Ashgate, 2000.
Jonsson, Leif, and Anna Ivarsdotter-Johnson. Musiken i Sverige: Frihetstid och Gus-
taviansk Tid 1720–1810. Stockholm: Fischer, 1993.
Julius, Friedrich. Claus Schall als dramatischer Komponist. Herchenbach: Wanner-
Eickel, 1930.
Kahl, Willi. Selbstbioographen deutscher Musiker des 18. Jahrhunderts. Amsterdam,
Frits Knuf, 1972.
Kästner, Rudolf. Johann Heinrich Rolle: Untersuchung zu Leben und Werke. Kassel:
Bärenreiter, 1932.
Kelly, Michael. Reminiscences. 2 vols. London: H. Colburn, 1826; reprint, New
York, Da Capo Press, 1968.
Kirkendale, Warren. Fugue and Fugato in Rococo and Classical Chamber Music.
Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1979.
Kirkpatrick, Ralph. Domenico Scarlatti. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press,
1953.
Knape, Walter. Karl Friedrich Abel: Leben und Werke eines frühklassischen Kom-
ponisten. Bremen: Schünemann, 1973.
Knouse, Nola Reed, ed. The Music of the Moravian Church in America. Rochester,
N.Y.: University of Rochester Press, 2008.
Koller, Eugen. Franz Josef Leonti Meyer von Schauensee, 1720–1789: Sein Leben
und seine Werke, ein Beitrag zur Musikgeschichte der Schweiz im 18. Jahrhundert.
Frauenfeld: Huber, 1922. Contains a catalog of his works.
Kortsen, Bjarne. J. H. Freithoff (1713–1767): Man and Music. Fyllingsdalen: printed
by author, 1972.
———. The Music of Johann Daniel Berlin 1714–87. Bergen: printed by author, 1984.
Krabbe, Niels. “Simoni dall Croubelis, ‘compositeur ved musiquen,’ København
1787.” Musik og forskning 3 (1977): 11–25.
Krause-Pichler, Adelheid. Jakob Friedrich Kleinknecht 1722–1794: Ein Komponist
zwischen Barock und Klassik. Weissenhorn: A. H. Konrad, 1991.
Landon, H. C. Robbins. Haydn: Chronicle and Works. 5 vols. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press, 1976–1980.
———, gen. ed. The Mozart Compendium. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991.
La ópera en el templo: Estudios sobre el compositor Francisco Javier García Fa-
jer (Lo Spagnoletto). Logrono: Universidad de la Roja and Fundacion Isabel la
Catolica, 2010.
Launay, Denise, ed. La querelle des bouffons. 3 vols. Geneva: Minkoff, 1973.
Lee, Douglas. A Musician at Court: An Autobiography of Franz Benda. Detroit,
Mich.: Harmonie Park Press, 1998.
Lee, Seong-Liul Lee. Kammermusik von Karl Joseph Toeschi: Ein Beitrag zur Musik
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Bertil van Boer is professor of music history and theory at Western Wash-
ington University. He has been conductor of Opera Kansas and also taught
at Brigham Young University and Wichita State University. His PhD is from
the University of Uppsala in Sweden, where his dissertation was on the sa-
cred music and symphonies of Joseph Martin Kraus. He has contributed to
the A-R Recent Researches in Music of the Classical Period series as well as
a volume of the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Complete Works. His reference
works include the Systematic-Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Joseph
Martin Kraus, as well as articles published in Journal of Musicology, Svenskt
tidskrift för musikforskning, Journal of Musicological Research, Eighteenth-
Century Music, and Fontes Artis musicae. He has edited music for perfor-
mance for Naxos Records, including music of the 18th-century American
overture, Swedish music of the Gustavian period, and symphonic music of
Malta. He has contributed numerous articles to the New Grove Dictionary of
Music and the New Grove Dictionary of Opera, as well as the forthcoming
history of the 18th-century symphony. He was one of the founding members
and past president of the Society for Eighteenth-Century Music.
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