Who’s Who Part Three

RAAFF  Anton (1714-1797).

Torna La Pace from Idomeneo  K 366 W.A. Mozart (Idomeneo)  Nicolai Gedda
     Brilliant Classics 99738

Celebrated tenor for whom Mozart created the title role in the opera seria Idomeneo K.366.  Studied singing in Bologna, then in 1739 embarked on a highly successful international career that spanned 20 years.  He toured through Italy, then Bonn, Vienna, Lisbon Madrid and then back to Italy.  Here he stayed for another 12 years, finally accepting a post in Mannheim, and then followed that Court when it moved to Munich.  Mozart met him at Mannheim on the 1777-79 tour, where Raaff tried without success to gain Mozart an appointment of some sort with the Court.  When Mozart received the commission for Idomeneo to be premiered in Munich, he crafted the role of the King with Raaff in mind.  Though he could write early on to Leopold that “Raaff is my best and dearest friend,” by the time rehearsals came around the tone changed.  Mozart wrote on 27 December 1780 “Raaff is the best and most honest of fellows, but he is so set in his sloppy old routines that it drives one absolutely crazy.” Never the less, the opera was a huge success and Raaff, by all accounts, acquitted himself nobly in his role.   *Contemporary of Mozart*

ROSETTI  Antonio (c.1750-1792)  (Rosetti [Rösler, Rössler], Antonio [Anton])

Concerto for Two Horns in F Rondo    Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden 
CPO 999 621-2

 Bohemian Composer.  Probably born as Anton Rössler in Leitmeritz, Bohemia in 1750, but information on his early years is very sketchy.  Originally intending to become a priest, in September 1773 he joined the Hofkapelle of Kraft Ernst, Prince (Fürst) von Oettingen-Wallerstein, near Augsburg. He began as a liveried servant and double bass player in the small orchestra.  By July 1774 he received a promotion to the official position of Hofmusikus.   A major turning point in Rosetti's career occurred in 1781, when the Prince granted him a leave of absence to visit Paris. During this five-month stay there, he actively promoted his music, and his works were performed by the best orchestras of the city, including that of the Concert Spirituel (for who Mozart later worked with in 1778), which commissioned several new symphonies from him.  For Rosetti, the 1780s were a period of increased compositional activity. The symphonies, concerti and wind partitas that Rosetti composed between 1782 and 1789 provide clear testimony to the quality of the Wallerstein ensembles, most notably the winds.  A highpoint in this regard are his 17 horn concerti, works that rivals Mozart’s in many ways. Though becoming increasingly well known, Rosetti's life at Wallerstein was troubled by financial difficulties and ill health. His debts continued to grow, and in 1789, after numerous monetary problems, he requested to be released from the Prince's service in order to accept a better position of Kapellmeister to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Rosetti’s Requiem of 1776 was used (with additions) at a memorial ceremony for Mozart in Prague in 1791. This took place 9 days after Mozart’s death, utilizing 120 performers and totaling some 4000 audience members. This was the first and perhaps best homage to Mozart for the time and for the next 50 years.  In the spring of 1792, Rosetti, who had suffered from poor health most of his life, fell seriously ill.  He died on 30 June that same year and was buried at Ludwigslust three days later. His works composed after approximately 1784 are characterized by a greater reliance on chromatic inflection in melodic lines, a richer harmonic and tonal language, skilful handling of counterpoint and imaginative and colorful orchestration. Throughout Rosetti's output, two distinctive features distinguish his style: an economical treatment of materials, which often results in tight musical structures held together by discernible motivic relationships, and a sure and imaginative employment of wind instruments

*Contemporary of Mozart*

SAINT-GEORGES  Chevalier de Saint-Georges  (Joseph Boulogne) (1739? -1799)

Sym in G Major Op 11-1: Allegro   Chamber Orch Versailles     MHS 4788A

St-George, in an age filled with remarkable men, was one of the more remarkable. He was an excellent athlete in an age that did not prize this much. He was a master fencer and accomplished shot. He was an officer in the French army. He was a noted violin virtuoso as well as composer. He was the conductor of one of the two premier orchestras in Paris. He was the archetypal romantic hero; spectacularly gifted but destined to play the role of the outsider. Son of a former councilor of Parliament and a black woman from Guadeloupe in the Caribbean, the family lived in the New World until 1749, when they moved to Paris.  There he took up fencing, riding, target shooting and music, particularly the violin.  Such was his skill with the latter that he took up composition as well.  He ended up composing many violin concerti and operas, became head of the Concert des Amateurs concert series, and ended up probably meeting Mozart when the latter stayed in Paris in 1778.  With the outbreak of the Revolution, he commanded a brigade in the new Revolutionary army of France, but became the victim of intrigues and jealousies.  Forced out, he returned to public concert tours in order to sustain himself.  But his time had passed, and when he died in 1799, few lamented his passing.  *Contempoary of Mozart*

SALIERI  Antonio (1750-1825) Composer. 

Piano Concerto in Bb Maj: Allegro moderato  Paul Badura Skoda   MHS 912347L

Antonio Salieri occupied a position of great importance in the music of Vienna. From 1774 he was court composer and conductor of the Italian opera, serving as court Kapellmeister from 1788 until 1824. Born in Legnago, he was brought as a boy to Vienna by Florian Gassmann, his predecessor as court Kapellmeister who supervised his musical training and education. He owed much to the influence and patronage of Gluck, to whom he seemed a natural successor in the field of opera. As well, the Emperor Joseph II enjoyed his music greatly and rewarded him with many favors over the years of his service.  He was a prolific composer, principally in vocal music of all kinds. Salieri wrote over 40 operas, such as Tarare, with a libretto by Beaumarchais, for Paris and a rewrite of it in Italian by Lorenzo da Ponte for Vienna entitled Axur, rè d’Ormus, his greatest “hit.”  For the German opera company in Vienna he composed Der Rauchfangkeher (his first German language opera) with Caterina Cavalieri in a starring role.  He composed the short comic opera Prima la musica poi le parole (First the Music then the Words), staged at the imperial palace of Schönbrunn in 1786 on the same evening that Mozart's German Singspiel Der Schauspieldirektor K.486 was give.  These works were part of a “double feature,” given at opposite ends of a concert hall, one after another, with a break in between.  Later, for the soprano Nancy Storace on the recovery from an illness, Salieri, Mozart and “Cornetti” (probably Alessandro Cornet) composed jointly a cantata Per la ricuperata salute di Ophelia K. 477a (her role in the opera Trofonio), unfortunately lost.  His pupils included Beethoven and Schubert, Czerny, Hummel, Moscheles and one of Mozart's sons.
*Contemporary of Mozart*

SALOMON  Johann Peter (1745-1797).

Romance for Violin and Orchestra       English Concert Trevor Pinnock

Composer, violinist and impresario.  Born in Bonn Germany, he held various court appointments until moving to London in 1781.  Aside from business journeys, he remained in England the rest of his life.  Turned to conducting and promoting concerts, to which he is responsible for arranging Joseph Haydn to tour England in 1790-91 and 1794-95.  At a farewell dinner for Haydn held in Vienna on December 14, 1790, Salomon is reported to have made Mozart the same offer of a contract for London for the following season (1792-93).  Is accredited by some as coining the name “Jupiter” for Mozart’s last symphony, K.551 in C major.

SCHIKANEDER  Emanuel [real name; Johann Joseph Schickaneder] (1751-1812).

  Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja. from Die Zauberflöte   K 620 W.A.Mozart
     (Papageno) Thomas Allen, Telarc

Actor, singer, playwright, theater manager and composer.  Major contributor (but not the only one) to the libretto of Die Zauberflöte K.620 and premiered the role of Papageno.  Met the Mozarts in 1780 when the theater company he was managing went through Salzburg on a tour.  Mozart composed the aria “Zitte, töricht Herz, und leide” K.365a for a member of his group (this aria was presumed lost for over 200 years until part of it turned up in the 1990’s).  Schikaneder eventually acquired the lease to the Frehaus-Theater in Vienna and began staging works there in 1789.  Mozart had friendly and close relations with this theater company for the next two years.  It is believed that Mozart composed small parts of two other operas given by Schikaneder’s company at this time; Der Stein der Weisen and  Der Wohltätige Derwisch.  After Mozart’s death, commissioned composer Peter von Winter to compose the opera Das Labyrinth, a sequel to Die Zauberflöte.  Ended up out of favor with the public due to changing tastes, fell ill and was stricken with insanity.  Died destitute, living on a small pension from the theater.

STADLER  Anton (Paul) (1753-1812).

K 622 Clarinet Concerto: Rondo:allegro  W.A.Mozart Harmen de Beers
     Brilliant Classics 99713

Clarinetist and basset-horn player.  Member of the Vienna Court orchestra 1787; went on tour through Europe 1791-1796 as a virtuoso.  Very good friend of Mozart’s and fellow Mason.  Mozart composed the Clarinet Quintet K581 and the Clarinet Concerto K.622 for him as well as the clarinet and basset-horn obbligatos found in the opera seria La clemenza di Tito K.621. Posterity thanks Stadler for inspiring the instrumental works, and curses him for losing the autographs to the quintet and concerto, which were composed for a special clarinet he had, now lost.

STAMITZ  Carl (1745-1801) Composer. 

  Op 8 Quartet for Fl,Vln,Hrn,Cello. Poco Presto.   Nonesuch H71125

Carl Stamitz received his earliest musical training from his father, Johann Stamitz, and in the years immediately following his early death, from the court musicians Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer and Franz Xaver Richter. Extant orchestral registers for the period 1762-1770 list Carl Stamitz as a second violinist in the court orchestra, a position which enabled him to forge a brilliant performing technique as well as study the contemporary Mannheim repertoire. Stamitz left Mannheim in 1770 to tour and he quickly established himself in Paris as a composer and performer. The Mozart correspondence indicates that he was not well regarded as to his morals.  He toured extensively and achieved a high level of popularity during the remaining 30 years of his life although he was continually plagued by money worries. At the time of his death he was so heavily in debt that his possessions had to auctioned to help pay his creditors.  It wasn’t enough.   *Contemporary of Mozart*

STORACE  Ann [Anna] Selina [‘Nancy’] (1765-1817).

Sull' aria from Le Nozze di Figaro  K 492 W.A. Mozart (duet Susanna/Contesa)
     Christianne Oelze, Patrizia Biccire     Brilliant Classics 99714

English soprano.  The first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro KV.492 and the part of Eugenia in the unfinished Lo sposo deluso KV.430 was written with her premiering this role.  Born in London of an Italian father and English mother, the family moved to Naples where she spent two years in voice training.  She went on stage in 1780 and was a great success.  Toured Italy for nearly three years, was recommended to the Burgtheater in Vienna and was accepted for the 1783 season.  She stayed for four years.  Debuted in Salieri’s La scuola de’ gelosi and ended up appearing in works by nearly all the noted opera composers then working in Vienna.  Notable works she sang in were Una cosa rara and Il burbero di buon cuore by Martin y Soler, Il bariere di Siviglia and Il re teodore in Venezia by Paisiello, and Prima la musica, poi le parole and La grotta di Trofonio by Salieri.  Lost her voice in 1785 and did not regain it for four months.  When she did, Da Ponte composed a cantata to celebrate the event entitled Per la ricuperata salute di Ophelia (her role in Trofonio), a work with the music composed jointly by Salieri, Mozart (K.477a) and “Cornetti” (probably Alessandro Cornet), unfortunately lost.  She left the Burgtheater company in February 1787.  At a farewell concert given in her honor on the 23^rd of February, Mozart composed the concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te? K.505, which she sang, accompanied by Mozart on the fortepiano.  She was not as fortunate in her personal life.  She married John Fisher, a man she was warned against, who abused her badly.  The Emperor Joseph II banned him from Vienna, and she then began an affair with Francesco Benucci, who had played the original Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro K.492.  Unsubstantiated rumors continue that she also had affairs with the Emperor, and of course, Mozart.  She returned to London after leaving Vienna, and continued to perform in operas there, often composed by her brother Stephen Storace.  Nancy Storace later toured the Continent with tenor John Braham, with whom she fell in love and lived with for nearly 19 years. They had one son, Spencer.  She retired from the London stage in 1808.  Rumors have it that she had letters from Mozart in her possession that “proved” the affair between them, but none have ever turned up. 

SÜSSMAYR  Franz Xaver (1766-1803)

  Das Namenfest Cantata. Finale Chorus and Orch Hungarian Radio    LPX11313

Composer and Kapellmeister. A pupil of Mozart’s in Vienna from probably 1790 on, though this is disputed in some quarters.  Reportedly assisted Mozart with recitatives for La Clemenza di Tito K.621, assisted in copying chores on Die Zauberflöte K.620 and completed Horn Concerto No. 1 K.412/514 in early spring 1792.  Most famous for completing the Requiem K.626, and arguments still rage over how well and how much he did. His musical output in these later years appears to be mostly singspiels and comic operas, culminating in Der Spiegel von Arkadian. These all led to his appointment as Kapellmeister at the National Theater in Vienna, in charge of German opera production. From 1794 up until 1800, Franz was considered a successful, popular composer in the Viennese theater.   *Contemporary of Mozart*

 SWIETEN  Gottfried (Bernhard), Baron van (1733-1803). 

Sym in Eb: Allegro assai e spirituoso   Leningrad Chamb Orch Meloydia C04493-4

Diplomat and civil servant, also composed.  Served as diplomat to courts in Paris and Warsaw, and as ambassador at the Prussian court in Berlin.  Later became director of the court library in Vienna, then in 1782, president of the Education and Censorship Commission.  He was relieved of this post by Emperor Leopold II on December 5, 1791.  Met the Mozarts in 1767-8 in Vienna and assisted in gaining Wolfgang a contract for the opera La finta semplice K.51.  Greatly admired Baroque music (especially Handel and J. S. Bach) and held regular musicales in Vienna of their music during the 1780’s.  Mozart was a regular attendee, and, at the Baron’s suggestion (and probably for a fee) he re-orchestrated four of them, which were later performed in Vienna.  The Baron was a subscriber to Mozart’s Trattnerhof concerts in 1784 and was the only subscriber noted on a list for a new projected series five years later.  At Mozart’s death, he helped arrange the funeral details, leaving him under a dark cloud for arranging such a modest service and burial, considering the funds he had at his personal disposal.  Was very helpful to Constanze and the family, helping to arrange the first performance in Vienna of the Requiem K.626 as well as the education of Carl Thomas Mozart in Prague.  The Baron also wrote for Haydn the text for the oratorios The Creation and The Seasons.  *Contemporary of Mozart*

TAPRAY Jean-Francois (1738/39?-1800?)

 French composer, teacher and organist.  Jean-Francois Tapray was born in Nomeny, France (it is believed) in 1738.  He studied music and organ in his early years and performed around France until 1765, when he became organist at Besancon Cathedral.  He had begun composing around 1758, issuing that year a set of six concerti for organ or harpsichord, with strings.  He eventually settled in Paris, becoming the 'maitre de clavecin' and organist at the Ecole Royale Militaire. During his time in Paris, he performed, composed (4 symphonie concertante, 3 symphonies, 7 concerti for keyboard, etc.) and became an excellent teacher of harpsichord and piano. On April 10, 1778, he performed in a symphonie concertante by Navoigille at the Concert Spirituel in Paris, his only recorded   *Contemporary of Mozart*

TRATTNER  Johann Thomas von  (1717-1798).

Owned bookshops and printing works.  Due to great success in the printing business built an elaborate, imposing residence in Vienna that became known as the “Trattnerhof.”  He rented rooms out, one of which was to Mozart and Constanze.  He had a casino there, which doubled as a small concert hall, in which Mozart held his famous subscription concerts.  Piano concerti K.449, 450 and 451 premiered there.  Mozart composed the Piano Sonata K.457 and the later Fantasia K.475 for Trattner’s wife Maria Theresia, to whom he gave piano lessons. Trattner was godfather to three of Mozart’s sons; his wife was godmother to one daughter.       

VARESCO  Giovanni Battista (1735-1805).

Chorus: Scenda Amor    K 366 Idomeneo  W.A. Mozart   
     Brilliant Classics 99738

 Abbe and Court chaplain at Salzburg.  Was the librettist of the operas Idomeneo K.366 and L’oca del Cairo K.422 (unfinished).  Mozart was never really satisfied with Varesco’s material and constantly strove to improve it; mostly succeeding but often simply being satisfied with the last changes received.  Once teamed with Lorenzo da Ponte, Mozart never utilized the Abbe again.

VANHAL  Johann Baptist (1739-1813) Composer and teacher.

  Viola Concerto in C Maj: Adagio   Ernst Wallfisch  Württemburg Orch
      Turnabout TV 34305

Johann Baptist Vanhal was born in 1739 to a peasant family in what is now Czechoslovakia, and received his early training from a local musician. From this humble beginning he began to earn a living by playing the church organ and as choirmaster.  It was a Countess, overhearing him playing the violin, who took him to Vienna where she arranged lessons in composition with the composer Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.  He traveled widely, adding to his knowledge of music.  Returning to Vienna, he was offered a Kapelmeister post, but a temporary mental breakdown occurred at the age of 35 and he declined this opportunity.  He was now considered a major musical personality and it is reported by Michael Kelly he played quartets with Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf. So famous did he become that he was probably the first musician to earn a living entirely from composing without any other appointment (though this is often said about Mozart). He had to be a prolific writer to meet the demands made upon him he, and attributed to him are about 100 quartets, at least 73 symphonies, 95 sacred works, and almost countless instrumental and vocal works. He often had a tendency to explore, but his greatest gift was an unending flow of memorable melodies. Such was his success that within a few years of his symphonies being written, they were being performed around the world, and as far distant as the United States. From the 1780’s on, his music fell out of favor and he mainly composed religious works and taught.  He died poor and in obscurity.   *Contemporary of Mozart*

VIOTTI  Giovanni Battista (1753-1824) Composer, violinist and opera manager.

Violin Concerto in d minor: Presto agitato Franco Mezzena Sym Perusina
     Dynamic CDS 243

Giovanni Battista Viotti was born in Fontanetto da Po, Italy on May 12th 1755. In 1766 he moved to Turin under the protection of Prince Alfonso dal Pozzo della Cisterna. He lived and was educated in the Prince's home. He studied with the other great soloist and violin composer of the time, Gaetano Pugnani. He played the violin in the orchestra of the royal chapel at Turin from 1775 to 1780. In 1780 he went on tour with Pugnani to Switzerland, Germany, Warsaw and St. Petersburg. He left Pugnani and went to Paris, where he made his concert debut in 1782. Despite making a sensation in Paris as violinist, he abandoned this career when other soloists were highly praised and settled down to compose and conduct. He established his own opera house, the Theatre Monsieur in 1788. But because of his royal connections Viotti was forced to leave Paris in 1792 and move to London. Here he again appeared as a soloist in the Salomon Concerts along with Haydn and he held various positions at the theaters and operas. Unfounded charges against him for being an “agent of the revolution”, exiled him in Hamburg from 1788 to 1801.  He spent the period 1801-1818 in London not very much involved with music. He started a wine business that ended up ruining him financially, forcing him to go back to giving concerts as a means of support. Following a period in Paris again managing an opera company, he returned to England in 1823 and died there on March 3rd 1824. His output includes 29 violin concertos. The best known of these is No 22 in a minor. He also composed pieces for solo violin and piano, string quartets, trios and duos.  Mozart composed a replacement Andante K.470 (lost) for an unidentified Viotti violin concerto, and added trumpet and drum parts to Viotti’s Violin Concerto No 16 in e flat K.470a, which is a work just as good as No 22 mentioned above.  *Comtemporary of Mozart*

VOGLER  Georg Joseph  (1749-1814).

Mannheim Comic Ballet: Largo    Kurpfäelzische Orchestra  Musica Rara 28

Composer, musical theorist and teacher, organist and Kapellmeister.  Wrote a major book on musical theory: Tonwissenschaft und Tonsetzkunst, published in 1776 while vive-Kapellmeister in Mannheim.  Mozart met him in October of 1777 while on the 1777-79 tour.  Vogler must not have made much of an impression, as Wolfgang wrote that the Kapellmeister “…is a wretched musical jester.” “He is a very conceited but quite incompetent man.”   Having read his book on musical theory, Mozart wrote, “His book…teaches one arithmetic rather than composition.”  Hearing Vogler play the organ one Sunday, Mozart scathing wrote home that he had heard “An unintelligible jumble…I would sooner watch him than listen to him.”  Later on in 1787, Leopold wrote to Nannerl on hearing Vogler’s opera Castore e Polluce while in Munich: “The music pleased me very little, for it gave the impression of having been composed by Herr Vogler in a paroxysm of high fever.”  The Kapellmeister gained some manner of revenge on the Mozarts, as the Munich opera company came to replace the final scene of Don Giovanni with the furies’ chorus from Vogler’s Castore e Polluce, and not until 1839 was the original ending restored.
*Contemporary of Mozart*

WALSEGG-STUPPACH  Franz  (1763-1827).

K 626 Requiem: Sequentia: Confutatis and Lacrymosa W.A. Mozart 
    Sperling,  Musicus Köln      Opus 111 OP30307  (Recording of Mozart's Fragment)

 Count and amateur musician.  Held musical gatherings at his home weekly.  Through third parties, would commission quartets for the gatherings that he then copied and claimed were his own.  After his wife’s death, he commission the Requiem K.626 from Mozart, anonymously, which when it was finally delivered, he had copied and noted as being by him.   Later he arranged the Requiem for string quintet (lost).  Some small evidence exists that Mozart may have supplied the Count quartets (anonymously) for his weekly gatherings.  None are known to exist.    

WEBER  (Maria) Aloysia (or Aloisia) Louisa Antonia (c.1760-1839).

Da Schlägt die Abscheids from Der Schauspieldirektor  K 486 W.A. Mozart
    (Madame Herz) Silvia Geszty Brilliant Classics 99723

Soprano, sister of Constanze Mozart.  Was the original Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor K.486 and Donna Anna in the Vienna premiere of Don Giovanni K.527.  Mozart met her on the 1777-79 tour in Mannheim, where she was already a singer of note.  Mozart gave her lessons and in doing so, fell in love with her.  He wrote to Leopold that she was capable of being a leading diva, and as well proposed that he should travel with her, her father and sister Josepha to Italy to attempt this feat.  Leopold, reacting with horror at such an idea, ordered Wolfgang and his mother to instead make plans to depart for Paris at once.  In Paris, Mozart wrote to her father to try and plan for the Elector Karl Theodor to hire her. As well, he tried to arrange for her to sing in Paris at the Concert Spirituel.  In the end, Aloysia and her father took on well-paying positions in Munich without Mozart’s help.  On Wolfgang’s homeward journey from Paris, he stayed with the Webers in Munich and found that his love for Aloysia was not returned.  Without knowing the details, she appeared to have rejected him and his prospects for her new career and its prospects.  The Webers moved to Vienna in late 1779, where she obtained a contract to sing in the German opera company there.  Over the next 13 years she appeared in both German and Italian productions, from comic to highly dramatic roles.  Her voice was praised for its accuracy, clarity, and technique, having a great extent of high notes.  She married the actor Joseph Lange in 1781, but separated from him 1795.  She toured with Constanze for a while after Mozart’s death.  She ended up as a singing teacher in great demand living in Vienna until 1831.  At that time she moved to Salzburg where her sisters Constanze and Sophie were living.  She died poor in 1839. Mozart composed for her (aside from the music in Der Schauspieldirektor K.486) the arias Alcandro, lo confesso…K.294, Popoli di Tessaglia… K.316, Nehmt meinen Dank… K.383, Mia speranza adorata…K.416, Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio K.418, No, che non sei capace K.419 and a revised version of Ah se in ciel, benigne stelle K.538.  Further, she took part in the first performance of Mozart’s re-orchestrated version of Handel’s Messiah K.572, and probably in the first performances of his arrangements of Alexander’s Feast K.591 and Ode for Saint Cecilia’s Day K.592 as well.

WETZLAR von PLANKENSTERN  Raimund (1752-1810).

Baron of the Realm.  Son of a wealthy merchant and banker, converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1777.  Was landlord to the Mozarts from December 1782 until February 1783, not charging them rent out of friendship and sympathy for the newlyweds.  Paid their moving expenses when he needed the room for another person.  Was the godfather to the Mozarts first son.  Both the Baron and his father were subscribers to the 1784 subscription concerts in the Trattnerhof casino.  Probably assisted Mozart with his finances later in the 1788-90 timeframe.

WINTER  PETER (1754-1825)

Symphonia Concertante Bb  Andante Grazioso    Mannheim Schule Vol 4 Arte Nova

 German dramatic composer. He received some compositional instruction from the Abt Vogler, but was practically self-taught. After playing in the Kapelle of the Elector Karl Theodor (starting at age 10!), at Munich, he became in 1776 director of the court theatre. When Mozart produced his opera Idomeneo at Munich in 1781, Winter, annoyed at his success, apparently conceived a violent hatred for him.  Of the more than thirty operas written by Winter between 1778 and 1820 very few were unsuccessful. His most popular work, Das unterbrochene Opferfest, was produced in 1796 at Vienna, where later in 1797-1798 he composed Die Pyramiden von Babylon and Das Labyrinth, both written for him by Schickaneder in continuation of the story of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte. He returned to Munich in 1798. Five years later he visited London, where he produced the operas  Calypso in. 1803, Proserpina in 1804, and Zaira in. 1805, with great success. All three of these were to libretti by Da Ponte, Mozart’s great partner in opera.  Winter’s last opera, Sanger und der Schneider, was produced in 1820 at Munich, where he died on the 17th of October 1825. Besides his dramatic works he composed some effective sacred music, including twenty-six masses.  *Contemporary of Mozart*

WRANITZKY  Paul  (1756-1808) Composer and conductor. 

Sym in c minor: Allegretto   Dvorak Chamb Orch Suprathon 11 0956-2

Paul Wranitzky was born on December 30th 1750 in Nová Rísa, Moravia, where he father was an innkeeper. He studied music at a monastery grammar school in town. After a few of years of study in Jihlava, he moved to Olomouc to study theology. Around 1776 he finally moved to Vienna, entering a theological seminary there, where he became the music master.  He studied with Joseph Martin Kraus, Kapellmeister to the Swedish Court, who visited Vienna in 1783 as part of his tour of Europe. In 1784 Wranitzky was appointed the music director for Count Johann Baptist Esterházy and in 1785 director of the orchestra of the Kärntnerthortheater in Vienna. In 1787 he moved over to the Burgtheater. He maintained associations with these two orchestras until his death on September 26th 1808. Wranitzky was a friend of Mozart, also belonging to the same Masonic lodge, Zur gekrönten Hoffnung. He assisted Constanze in negotiating with music publishers after Mozart’s death.  Besides being a fine violinist and composer, he was a highly respected conductor. Beethoven asked him to conduct at the premiere of his first symphony in 1800. And Haydn requested him for the premiere of The Creation as well. He was also highly respected at the court, writing a coronation symphony for Franz II in 1792. His output comprises ten operas, fifty-one symphonies, about fifty-six string quartets and a large amount of other orchestral and chamber music. His opera Oberon from 1789 was one of the early favorite works in the genre of “magic” operas and was one of the inspirations for Schikaneder to write the libretto for Die Zauberflöte, which Mozart set to music.  *Contemporary of Mozart*

ZINZENDORF UND POTTENDORF  Johan Karl (1739-1813). 

Count and social reformer as well as music connoisseur.  Arrived in Vienna in 1761, appointed a councilor at the treasury.  Made many official journeys across Europe on government business, met many prominent and influential people, was governor of Trieste from 1776-82 and president of the Court audit office from 1783-1808.  However, his greatest claim on history is that he kept a very meticulous diary over all those years that ended up totaling 57 volumes.  Kept in French, it chronicles the ever-changing social and entertainment scenes in his life, and since he appears to partaken in nearly every scene Vienna had to offer, his diary provides us with a glimpse of who was “in,” who was “out” and how often these changes occurred.  His diary sometimes serves as the only corroboration of the writings of other authors who were in Vienna at the same time. Finally, he first was introduced to Mozart in 1762 when he attended two salon parties featuring the “…amusing, lively and delightful child.”  Over the years, he attended nearly all of Mozart’s operas, and his words have come down as being practically the “standard” by which we judge how Vienna as a whole viewed these works.  On Die Entführung KV.384 he writes of it as: “…an opera of which the music is pilfered from various others.”  After attending the premiere of Figaro KV.492 he wrote; “The music bored me;’ but some 13 years later he could write of the same work: “Beautiful music by Mozart.”  As for Don Giovanni KV.527, Zinzendorf observed after the premiere: “Mozart’s music is pleasant and very varied.”  Così fan tutte KV.588 had music which was: “…charming and the subject quite amusing” though La clemenza di Tito KV.621 was, to him, “…a most tedious spectacle.”  Finally, Die Zauberflöte KV.620 he described as: “The music and the stage designs are pretty, the rest an incredible farce.”

Sources: 

 Clive, Peter   Mozart and his Circle  Yale University Press, New Haven 1993

Sadie, Stanley, (Ed.) The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (various articles)

 Deutsch, Otto Erich   Mozart: A Documented Biography   Stanford University Press, Stanford  1965

 Gutman, Robert W.   Mozart: A Cultural Biography  Harcourt Brace & Co., New York  1999

 Artaria Composers Index

Naxos Composers Index

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Who's Who Part One     Who's Who Part Two