1751–1812, Austrian Emanuel Schikaneder spent his early years as a nomadic musician, until he encountered a travelling theatrical troupe in Augsburg. He married the director’s daughter and eventually took over the management of the troupe. However, Schikaneder was not just an opportunist with an eye for the boss’s daughter and the boss’s job. The eventual author of 50 ...
(Kärl Fe’-lip E-ma’-noo-el Bakh) 1714–88 German composer In the eighteenth century, ‘Bach’ usually meant C. P. E. Bach, not his father Johann Sebastian. Born in Weimar, he studied under his father, then read law at the university in Frankfurt an der Oder. He took up a post in Berlin at the court of Prince Frederick, later Frederick ...
1902–42 American cellist Born in Austria, Feuermann made his debut in Vienna under Weingartner in 1912. He taught at the Berlin Hochschule 1928–33, and settled in the US in 1938. He played piano trios with Schnabel and Bronislaw Huberman, and with Rubinstein and Heifetz. He was noted for his warm tone and solid technique. Introduction | Modern Era ...
‘The Magic Flute’ The librettist of Die Zauberflöte, Emanuel Schikaneder, Mozart’s old friend and fellow freemason, drew on an eclectic variety of sources, including a French novel, Sethos, Paul Wranitzky’s magic opera Oberon (1789) and the oriental fairy tale Lulu. In the bird catcher Papageno, Schikaneder created for himself a character that could exploit ...
The mid-1730s operas Orlando, Ariodante and Alcina represent the artistic peak of Handel’s operatic career. Their stories all originate in the epic poem Orlando Furioso by the playwright and poet Ariosto, who was born and bred at the Ferrara court in the late fifteenth century. Orlando portrays the destructive insanity of its title-hero, who ignores his destiny by ...
1750–1825, Italian When he was 16, Antonio Salieri was the protégé of the Bohemian composer Florian Gassmann (1729–74), who brought him to Vienna in 1766. Gassmann was influential at the imperial court and, as well as teaching Salieri composition, introduced him to some very high-ranking contacts. Salieri’s first surviving opera, written when he was 20, ...
1770–1827, German Ludwig van Beethoven was born in Bonn to a musical family, on 16 December 1770. He started composing at the age of 11 and experienced opera from the inside when he joined the Bonn court orchestra as a viola player in 1789. His letters reveal that from his early years in Vienna, where he moved in ...
(Wôlf’-gäng Am-ä-da’-oos Mot’-särt) 1756–91 Austrian composer The ‘miracle which God let be born in Salzburg’ – to quote his father, Leopold – came into the world on 27 January 1756 and was baptized the next day as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus; he normally used only the last two names, in the forms Wolfgang Amadeus or Wolfgang Amadè. His father, ...
The dominant style in art at the start of the classical era was the Rococo (from rocaille, ‘shellwork’). Created in early eighteenth-century France, its leading figures in the graphic arts were Antoine Watteau and François Boucher. The closest musical analogue is not Mozart (as once was traditionally argued) but François Couperin (1668–1733) – the late Baroque generation, in ...
During the early seventeenth century a remarkable dynasty of musicians emerged, culminating in the genius of J. S. Bach. His musical forebears are too numerous to consider individually, but a handful of them were sufficiently accomplished and imaginative as composers to deserve a mention. Their music is increasingly finding a place in present-day concert programming. Their multifarious gifts and ...
(Yo’-han Krest’-yan Bakh) 1735–82 German composer J. S. Bach’s youngest son was known as the London Bach. Earlier he was the Milan Bach: after studying with his father and his half-brother Carl Philipp Emanuel in Berlin, he had gone to Italy, studying in Bologna, embracing Roman Catholicism and becoming organist at Milan Cathedral, and composing operas for theatres ...
(Yo’-han Sa-bäs’tyan Bakh) 1685–1750 German composer Johann Sebastian Bach was born into a closely knit musical family of which he was rightly proud. His father Johann Ambrosius Bach (1645–95) had an identical twin brother, Johann Christoph (1645–93), who was like a second father to the young Sebastian. Johann was such a common name that almost all boys called Johann were known ...
1886–1971 French organist Dupré was organist of St Sulpice in Paris 1934–71. He was the first to play the complete works of J. S. Bach (Paris Conservatoire, 1920). Famous for his improvisations, he was also an influential teacher at the Conservatoire. Introduction | Modern Era | Classical Personalities | Emanuel Feuermann | Modern Era | Classical ...
1710–78 English composer Arne was the son of an upholsterer in Covent Garden. As a Roman Catholic in a largely Protestant country, he had no access to the usual opportunities for advancement as a musician through a church appointment. In the 1730s, he became involved with putting on English-language opera performances in London, earning a reputation as a ...
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