Joseph
Mysliveček (1737-1781)
Gary Smith
Czech composer, primarily
of operas and oratorios. He was born on
9 March 1737 in Prague. He attended the
Dominican Normalschule at the Church of
St. Giles, the Jesuit Gymnasium in the
Clementium, and the Charles-Ferdinand
University, but was unable in the end to
succeed academically and withdrew in
March of 1753. He turned to the family
business, which was milling, but after
become an apprentice, then journeyman,
then master miller (in 1761) he changed
his mind and turned instead to music. He
must have at least succeeded well enough
in his previous schooling to proceed
down this path, as he took up organ and
composition, progressing along quickly
enough to issue a set of symphonies in
1763. Mysliveček’s teachers at this time
were Frantisek Habermann and Josef Seger.
He was known as an excellent violinist,
much in demand for festive performances
in churches throughout Prague.
On 5 November 1763, Mysliveček left
Prague for the Italian States to take up
advanced compositional studies.
Supported by Count Vincenz von Waldstein,
he went to Venice in 1763 and studied
with Giovanni Pescetti. He had to
self-promote himself in Italy, where
generally only national (read: Italian)
composers could succeed. He won over the
Italian audience with his initial opera,
Seriramide in 1766, which was staged in
Bergamo. Contemporary writings show that
even at this early stage that he had
acquired the nickname "Il divino Boemo
Venatorino" by the Italian public, not
only for his musical skills, but because
they found his family name impossible to
pronounce correctly! In 1767 his opera
seria Il Bellerofonte was produced in
Naples for Ferdinand IV and this at once
ranked him among the top Italian
composers of opera seria. Mysliveček was
also admitted to Bologna's renowned
Accademia Filarmonica at this time. He
remained a favorite in Bohemia, where
his operas were accompanied by new
religious texts in order that they could
be sung even in church.
When Wolfgang and Leopold toured Italy
in the 1770’s, he gave them many useful
and important musical and business
contacts. Considered as a man of honor
and a good friend by Leopold. Wolfgang
thought highly of his compositions and
recommended them to others. His
vivacious personality endeared him to
the Mozarts when they met in Bologna in
1770: "He exudes fire, spirit and life",
wrote Wolfgang in a letter home. In
fact, there are some 40 mentions of him
in the Mozart correspondence from 1770
to 1778, but after this point the well
runs dry. Mysliveček had promised
Leopold that he would help to secure an
operatic commission at the Teatro San
Carlo in Naples for the Carnival season
of 1779, but he failed to come through
on his word. One of the more agitated
letters in the Mozart correspondence is
that of 10-11 October 1777, where
Wolfgang describes visiting the
disfigured Mysliveček in the Ducal
Hospital in Munich. He had contracted
syphilis and, in his apparent
desperation to seek a cure, he had
allowed a quack doctor to cut up his
nose, thus disfiguring him.
There is no doubt that Mysliveček's
Italianate style influenced Mozart a
great deal in opera, symphonies, and
violin concertos. His oratorio Abramo e
Isacco was believed for a time to be by
Mozart and was numbered K.241a in K3.
(This seems strange, since Mozart had
mentioned this oratorio by name and
named Mysliveček as the composer, in his
letter of October 10-11 1777 to
Leopold). It has since been correctly
identified as being by Mysliveček and is
now numbered C.3.11 as spurious.
Proof of the spread of his fame is shown
by the fact that the Portuguese court
had copies made of his operas in Naples
and Genoa for the collection at the
Ajuda library and for performances of
his works in Lisbon. These were copyist
copies commissioned by the Court, not
printed editions. With a total of 18
different titles, the library possesses
the largest collection of his operatic
scores to this day.
This fame lasted a total of
approximately 12 years. During this time
he composed 30 nearly operas. Mysliveček
was for a period one of the highest paid
composers in Europe, and he traveled to
Munich, Vienna and eventually back to
Prague, but had settled down to live in
Italy. Good fortune and talent appears
to have led to an exuberant lifestyle
though. Hard work and financial problems
began to cause problems, and then he
became ill. Mysliveček died from the
complications of syphilis on February
4th 1781, poor and forgotten in Rome.
His remains are preserved in the church
of San Lorenzo in Lucina.
Mysliveček’s success is based on
inexhaustible melodic invention,
connected with Italian technique and
coloration (which could be said of
Mozart in the early 1770’s as well).
Apart from 28 operas, he also wrote 10
oratorios and cantatas, numerous chamber
music scores, and orchestral and concert
music, including 8 violin concerti (at
least one of these violin concerti was
known to the Mozarts, as they mention it
in a letter home from 1773). He became
an important composer of symphonies,
producing eighty-five examples over 18
years. Furthermore, he wrote the
earliest examples of string quintets
(pre-1767), a form Mozart made his own
later on. Mysliveček’s musical style
reflects Mozart 's impression of the man
himself.
Sources:
Anderson, Emily Letters of Mozart and
his Family MacMillan and Co. Ltd, London
1938 (Three volume set)
Sadie, Stanley (Ed.) The New Groves
Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd
Edition Groves Dictionaries, New York
2000
Liner notes to CD’s Mysliveček: Violin
Concertos Vol. 1 and 2 Supraphon SU
3259-2 031
CD Mysliveček Symphonies Chandos CHAN
10203
