Personalities | Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf | Classical Era | Classical

(Kärl Dit’-ters fun Dit’-ters-dôrf) 1739–99
Austrian composer

One of the most important Viennese composers in the age of Haydn and Mozart, Dittersdorf held appointments as violinist, composer and Kapellmeister in Vienna, Grosswardein (now Oradea, Romania) and other courts in the Austrian Empire. He was a prolific composer, particularly of symphonies (among them 12 based on texts from Ovid’s Metamorphoses), chamber music including some admired string quartets, and operas, of which those to German texts (Singspiels, for example Doktor und Apotheker, ‘Doctor and Apothecary’, 1786) were – and still are – particularly successful for their spirited, popular melodies and their effective use of ensembles. Dittersdorf was an ingenious composer, working in a style similar to Haydn’s, with a vein of wit very much his own.

Recommended Recording:
Six Symphonies after Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Cantilena (dir) Adrian Shepherd (Chandos)

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