Interesting Eighteenth Century Composers, Vol. I

By Daniel Zimmermann

Treated are Johann Kuhnau and h is disciples; Fux and his disciples; Johann Albrechtsberger and his disciples; Frederick the Great and the composers of his court; the sons of J.S. Bach; and the disciples of J.S. Bach; Individual composers appearing in this e-book are Leopold Mozart, Antonio Salieri, Benedikt Schack, E.T.A. Hoffma n, Jo,ann Nepomuk Hummel, Anton Franz Josef Eberl, Jakob Haibel, Johann Ernst Eberlin, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, Georg Muffat, Johann Michael Haydn, Luigi Gatti, .Joseph Anton Steffan, Georg Matthias Monn, Giuseppe Bonno, Antonín Kraft, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Leopold Hoffmann, Ignaz Umlauf, Christoph Graupner, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach. Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach, Johann Christian Bach, Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, Johann Adam Hiller, Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Carl Czerny, Reinhard Keiser, Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Mattheson. Johann David Heinichen, Johann Adolph Hasse, Johann Pachelbel, Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz, Carl Heinrich Graun, Carl Friedrich Zelter, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, Georg Anton Benda, Joseph Leopold Eybler, Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich, Georg Joseph Vogler, Ludwig August Lebrun, Niccolò Jommelli, Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart, Johann Christian Kittel, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, Nicolaus Vetter, Johann Gottlieb Naumann, Gottfried August Homilius, Johann Adolf Scheibe, Bernhard Heinrich Romberg, etc.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Zimmermann
• Release date: Apr 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9780463825310

Daniel Zimmermann

Daniel Zimmermann was born in Merrill, Wisconsin, and grew up in Hustisford, Wisconsin. He was graduated as valedictorian from Northwestern College, Watertown, Wisconsin. His valedictory concerned the ancient philosopher Plotinus. Special honors were third place in an Eta Sigma Phi Greek composition contest and the Doctor Ott award.He was also graduated from Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary. After serving as pastor for several years, he became a free lance writer. Because of the outstanding success of his Spanish poetry in Mexico, his biography was included in Who's Who in the Midwest. He is also a former member of American Mensa.He is married to Merian, nee Ecot. The couple is residing in the Philippines.Daniel Zimmermann is the author of short stories and poetry. He also writes non-fiction, especially on literature, history, Christianity, and botany.

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Interesting Eighteenth Century Composers, Vol. I

By Daniel Zimmermann

Introductory Comments

This volume treats composers who labored in various German-speaking kingdoms, dukedoms, etc., including some who lived or worked in Austria. Other areas of the Holy Roman Empire will be treated in future volumes,God willing.

I decided not to treat the lives of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven in this article. Instead, we shall focus on composers who are not so well known. However, these five musical giants will occasionally make an appearance, since they were friends, relatives, or enemies of some of the composers treated below. I shall usually cite them by their last names alone, even though three of them had relatives who were famous composers. Sensible people will not object to this, since it simplifies composition. In cases where ambiguity might result, I shall abandon this practice.

In fact, I shall begin with composers that had some connection to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, starting with his father Leopold.

Composers Connected to Mozart

Leopold Mozart (1719-1787)

Until recently, recordings of the works of Leopold Mozart were hard to find, except for a programmatic representation of a musical sleigh ride. But now I succeeded in finding some of his symphonies and other works. Die Bauernhochzeit is another composition that is somewhat programmatic. You occasionally hear whistles and gunfire in this work since it portrays a rustic wedding.

Leopold was born in Augsburg, but later settled in Salzburg. At that time, Salzburg was not part of Austria, but one of the many more or less independent entities of the Holy Roman Empire. The ruler of

Salzburg eventually became Leopold’s employer.

The name of Leopold’s wife was Anna Maria, nee Perti. Of their seven children, only the famous Wolfgang Amadeus and his sister Nannerl survived infancy.

Since the ruler of Salzburg was an archbishop, Leopold wrote plenty of sacred music: several masses, litanies, oratorios, and sacred cantatas, as well as a Magnificat, a Miserere, and other works. He also wrote concerti, divertimenti, sonatas, sinfonias, and songs.

Besides composing music, Leopold was a successful teacher. This is undoubtedly an important factor in the early blossoming of the musical talent of his son Wolfgang.

For a while, it seemed as if Leopold would establish a musical dynasty. Musical talent passed from Leopold to Wolfgang. To a lesser extent, it continued to thrive in Wolfgang’s son Franz Xaver Mozart. But there it ended. Franz Xaver never married.

By the way, I am listening to Franz Xaver’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major. It’s excellent.

Antonio Salieri (1750-1825)

Antonio Salieri was supposedly Mozart’s deadly enemy. It is true that they occasionally vied for the same position, and Salieri generally won, to the chagrin of Mozart and his father. But this is all. According to Wikipedia, there is ample evidence that Salieri felt no dislike for Mozart. Among the evidence supporting this statement is the fact that the two men collaborated on a cantata entitled Per la recuperata salute di Ofelia. Moreover, when Salieri attended a performance of Mozart’s The Magic Flute, he frequently voiced his enthusiastic approval. He even shed tears when Mozart died. I do not think that they were crocodile tears.

Salieri composed a little instrumental music, and it is too bad that he did not write more. His variations on La folia di Spagna is absolutely beautiful

His chief contribution was a host of opeas. I would like to see Armida. It is based on La Gerusalemme liberata by Torquato Tasso.

While most of his operas employed Italian librettos, Der Rauchfangkehrer is a German singspiel, and Les Danaïdes is a French opera. He also wrote sacred music, such as La passione di Gesù Cristo and a couple requiem masses.

Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803)

Most of us know Süssmayr, the composer who completed the Requiem Mass in D minor, which Mozart left unfinished when he died.

Süssmayr also wrote at least one requiem of his own, but instead of using the standard Latin text, his music is set to German words. After an introductory prelude, it continues with Komm, gib die Ruh’ der Ewigkeit, which corresponds to Mozart’s Requiem aeternam dona eis. It continues with Am Tag des Zornes, which corresponds to Mozart’s Dies irae. However, his work is definitely not a literal translation of the Latin text.

He wrote other sacred music in his short life: masses, offertories, a magnificat, etc. He also wrote operas and instrumental music, some of which has been recorded. His Divertimento No. 1 in C major is especially appealing.

During his teen years, Süssmayr was a student at the Kremsmünster monastery school. This monastery is currently located in Austria and has a long history. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, it was founded in 777 by Tassilo II of Bavaria. In spite of many vicissitudes, it has continued to exist till our present day.

Here Süssmayr not only learned music, but also began to compose operas for the monastery theater.

In 1788 he moved to Vienna and eventually studied with Mozart. When Mozart passed away, he continued his studies with Salieri.

It is interesting to note that he sometimes called himself Francesco Severio Dolcevillico. The last name is the Latin equivalent of Süssmayr, as you will realize if you spell his name Süssmeier.

Benedikt Emanuel Schack (1758-1826)

In his youth, Schack served as singer in the Prague Cathedral. In 1780 he became Kapellmeister to Prince Heinrich von

Schönaich-Carolath in Silesia. In 1786 he joined some traveling actors led by Emanuel Schikaneder. Later he worked successively in Graz and Munich until his singing voice deteriorated.

His association with Mozart occurred in the years 1790 and 1791 while he was a member of Schikaneder’s troupe. Their interaction is best illustrated by their work on Der Stein der Weisen.

Schikaneder wrote the libretto for this fanciful dramatic work. Five composers worked on the music: Schack, Henneberg, Gerl, Schikaneder, and Mozart. Only a little bit of the music is attributed to Mozart, but these composers tended to help each other, so he may have improved the work of the others.

E.T.A. Hoffmann (1776-1822)

You may be scratching your heads. In what way is Hoffmann a Mozart connection?

To explain, his name was originally Ernst Theodore Wilhelm Hoffmann, but he later changed his name to Ernst Theodore Amadeus Hoffmann in honor of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, according to the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Believe it or not, Hoffmann was a Prussian bureaucrat. Bureaucrats are supposed to be unimaginative, but Hoffmann’s tales are fantastic flights of fancy. However, one aspect of his writings reveal his bureaucratic background. He presents wild horror and mystery in matter of fact language.

Besides literature, Hoffmann had other irons in the fire. He was a painter; and what concerns us here, he wrote music.

Did Hoffmann compose in the classical style of Mozart and Haydn or in the new romantic style of Beethoven? He certainly knew the difference between the two, as his own theoretical writings on music clearly prove.

Because of his admiration for Mozart, we would expect his works to be classical in nature. However, Hoffmann himself saw incipient romanticism in the later works of Haydn and Mozart. So he may have wanted to continue the trend that the beloved master had begun. In addition, his writings are clearly products of romanticism, so we would expect his musical compositions to follow suit.

I would say that his Symphony in E flat major is classical Mozart with a little Hoffmann-like imagination. In contrast, his Quintet for harp & string quartet in C minor exhibits the mystery that we would expect from the author of The Sandman and The Sanctus. The same is true of his Sonata for Pianoforte No. 1 in A major.

Besides instrumental music, he also wrote a mass, a miserere, singspiels, and other vocal music.

As we would expect, he sometimes wrote his own librettos for his dramatic works, but he also used the librettos of other authors.

For example, his singspiel Undine was based on a short story written by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Fouqué also wrote the libretto used by Hoffmann. The original story is appealing, but I do not like some of the changes that Fouqué made in the libretto. Nevertheless, the music is excellent.

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778-1837)

Mozart taught Hummel for two years. During that time, he allowed the young prodigy to live in his home. Other teachers of Hummel were Clementi, Haydn, Albrechtsberger, and Salieri.

There are further parallels between Mozart and Hummel. Their respective fathers took them to England. However, Leopold Mozart took his son to Paris, but the Hummels canceled a projected journey to France because of the French Revolution.

Hummel met Beethoven when the two were pupils of Albrechtsberger. In spite of Beethoven’s difficult personality, the two became friends. Hummel later became Schubert’s friend.

In 1804 he became a Konzertmeister to Prince Esterhazy. At this time, Haydn was the prince’s Kapellmeister, but sickness made it difficult for him to fulfill his duties. So Hummel helped him out. He succeeded Haydn as Kapellmeister when the latter died in 1809.

He later worked in Stuttgart and then Weimar, where he became Goethe’s friend.

The name of his wife was Elisabeth, nee Röckel. Eduard, one of their two sons, became a composer, eventually living in the United States.

While still a very young boy, Hummel became a proficient violinist. Later he mastered the piano, developing outstanding ability and an ingenious technique. Many of his works are piano compositions. The piano dominates even works for various instruments, such as his Septet in D-minor.

He also wrote operas, masses, etc. His Mass in B flat major is complete: Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei.

Especially interesting is his Hungarian Dances, Opus 23. They are piano solos.

Another intriguing work is his Fantasie for Viola and Orchestra. It is rightly called a fantasy. It is very imaginative. Lovely thematic material gushes forth as from a fountain illuminated by colorful light.

Anton Franz Josef Eberl (1765-1807)

Whether or not Mozart was Eberl’s teacher, the two composers were friends. When Mozart died, Eberl expressed his grief in a cantata entitled Bei Mozarts Grabe, and he befriended his widow and her sister,

Some of Eberl’s works were published under Mozart’s name. For a long time, neither Mozart nor Eberl said anything; but after the death of Mozart, Eberl set the record straight. (Is it possible that Mozart and Eberl were playing a trick on the publishers?)

Eberl was born in Vienna. Since he was extremely popular, he stayed there most of the time. However, he did a little traveling, including two trips to St. Petersburg, where he served as Kapellmeister. Toward the end of his life, he made an extended concert tour to Prague and various German cities.

So many of his excellent works have been recorded that it is difficult to decide which ones to mention. His Symphony in E flat major (Op. 33) is excellent, but so is his Piano Concerto in C major (Op. 36),and so are many others.

He was not only an excellent musician, but also an admirable character, After he died , he was praised as "an exemplary husband, and unshakable friend and a generally popular addition to any gathering. His wife’s name was Maria Anna, nee Sheffler.

Jakob Haibel (1762-1826)

Haibel’s chief connection with Mozart occurred after the latter’s death. After the death of his first wife, Haibel married Sophia, the sister of Mozart’s wife.

Before this, he composed dramatic works for Mozart’s friend Schikaneder. According to Wikipedia, his best production was a ballet entitled Le nozze disturbate.

This work attracted the attention of Beethoven. He wrote a set of twelve variations using a minuet of this ballet as thematic material.

Haibel spent his final years in Diakowar in Slavonia, which was a Hapsburg possession in the eighteenth century.

His work in Slavonia included