Carl Stamitz
Encyclopedia
Karl Philipp Stamitz who later changed his given name to Carl, was a German composer
of partial Czech ancestry (his mother was German), and a violin
, viola
and viola d'amore
virtuoso
. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School
.
He was the first composer to specify a left-hand pizzicato
(an important virtuoso device) in a composition. This occurs in his famous Viola Concerto in D major where the passage in question is designated by an "0" above the notes. This happened decades before Paganini
would designate the same effect with an "X" above the notes.
A good composer of impeccable musical pedigree and training, he is particularly remembered for his melodious clarinet
and viola concertos which are played to this day. Although a talented and prolific composer of great aspirations, he never succeeded in attaining an adequate position with one of the major prince
s or orchestras of his time – whether for want of trying or because of his unsteady and itinerant lifestyle is not clear. He died in poverty; a small town music teacher who in his last years turned to alchemy
in search of making gold. When nine years after his death (1810) his estate was put up for auction to cover his debts nothing was sold and all of it consequently lost.
Carl Stamitz was the first son of Johann Stamitz
(1717–1757), a violinist and composer of the pre-classical area who not only composed some of the best instrumental music (symphonie
s, concerto
s) between Bach and Mozart, but as leader and first violinist also turned the Mannheim court orchestra into the best one in Europe.
Carl Stamitz was born at Mannheim
precisely at the moment when the Mannheimers began their comet-like ascent and the "Mannheim Gout" (“taste”) was causing a sensation all over Europe. As a boy he received his first lessons in violin and composition from his father.
After his father's early death, Stamitz was taught by Christian Cannabich
(1731–1798), his father's successor as concert-master and leader of the Mannheim orchestra. Ignaz Holzbauer
(1711–1798), the court-director of music, and the court-composer Franz Xaver Richter
(1709–1789) also had a hand in his education.
By the time he was 17 Stamitz was employed as a violinist in the court-orchestra. This position did not keep his interest for very long, though: In 1770 he resigned from his post and began an unsettled and vagrant life that, with occasional breaks, would last for the next 25 years and would lead him all over Europe
. It is bewildering to this day that this man, scion of one of the pre-eminent musical families of 18th century Europe, supremely taught by some of its best musicians, well connected in aristocratic and musical circles, multi lingual, versed in all musical matters and a genuinely good composer would die in penury as an ordinary music teacher in a minor German city – but this is exactly what happened.
In 1770 Stamitz went to Paris where he went into service with Duke Louis of Noailles, who made him his court composer. He also appeared in the Concerts Spirituels, sometimes together with his brother Anton, who probably had come to Paris with him. With Paris as his base he made frequent concert tours to a number of German cities. On 12 April 1773 he appeared in Frankfurt am Main, a year later in Augsburg, and in 1775 he ventured as far as St. Petersburg in Russia
.
In 1777 he dwelt for a time in Strasbourg
where Franz Xaver Richter, his father's old friend, was music director
.
During the years 1777 and 1778 he was successful in London
, one of many Austro-German musicians (Carl Friedrich Abel, Johann Christian Bach
, and in his last years Joseph Haydn
would be some other ones) to be drawn to that metropolis where a capitalist music life, largely independent of courts and nobility, was already in full swing. His stay in London was possibly facilitated through his contact with Thomas Erskine, Earl of Kelly (1753–1781), who during a tour of the continent had received lessons from Carl’s father Johann Stamitz.
Between 1782 and 1783 we find Stamitz in the Netherlands
where he gave converts in The Hague
and in Amsterdam
.
Finally in 1785 Stamitz returned to Germany to appear in concerts in a number of cities and towns, e.g. Hamburg
, Lübeck
, Braunschweig
, Magdeburg
, and Leipzig
. In the April of 1786 he made his way to Berlin
where on 19 May 1786 he participated in the famous performance of Handel
's Messiah
under Johann Adam Hiller's baton.
Years of ever more restless travelling were to follow. He emerges in Dresden
, Prague
, Halle and finally in Nuremberg
, where he staged a Great Allegorical Musical Festivity in Two Acts celebrating the balloon ascent of the French aviation prioneer Jean Pierre Blanchard (3 November 1787). During the winter of 1789-90 he directed the amateur concerts in Kassel
, failed to gain an employment with the Schwerin
court which forced him, by now married and father of four children who all died in infancy, to hit the road one more time.
On 12 November 1792 he gave a concert in the Weimar
court theatre (then under the direction of Johann Wolfgang Goethe). In 1793 he undertook one last journey along the Rhein to his native Mannheim before he finally gave up travelling for good. Sometime in the winter of 1794-95 he moved his family to the university town of Jena, where his wanderings came to an end.
, August and Wilhelm Schlegel and the philosophers Johann Gottlieb Fichte
and Georg Wilhelm Hegel all were professors at Jena University. During the 1790s the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent several months there every year to indulge in private anatomical studies.
Musically, though, the town was a backwater. During the years Stamitz spent there, Jena had neither a town band nor an orchestra to speak of. According to some sources he was in some way connected to the university but this seems a matter of dispute.
After his death a substantial number of tracts on alchemy were found in his library. From this it was guessed that he dabbled in attempts of gold making. Stamitz gradually descended into poverty, but his imagination kept him going. For years he hatched grand plans about operas and future concerts that would bring him money and possibly redeem him before society. Until his last days there were plans that he would travel to Russia one more time where money was to be made.
, clarinet, Basset horn, flute
, bassoon
, and other instruments. He also wrote a good deal of chamber music
for various combinations. The sheer quantity of Stamitz’ output is comparable to Mozart’s. Some of his clarinet and viola concertos are among the finest there are and a welcome addition to the not so ample concerto repertoire for both instruments.
Although no clarinet player himself, Stamitz had a profound understanding of this instrument which dated back to his early years with the Mannheim orchestra. During his Paris years (1770–1778) Stamitz began to cooperate with the Bohemian born clarinet virtuoso Joseph Beer
(1744–1811) which proved fruitful for both Stamitz and Beer. Al least one of Stamitz's clarinet concertos (concerto No. 6 in E-flat major) seems to have been jointly composed by Stamitz and Beer as both names appear on the title page of the Viennese manuscript.
Stamitz's cello concertos were written for the cello-playing Prussian King Frederick William II
, for whom both Mozart and Beethoven also wrote music.
Stamitz's orchestral writing is fluent and graceful; the sections of the orchestra are well contrasted as was the Mannheim wont, the voices for the individual instruments well laid out. His works are characterized by regular periods, well crafted themes and appealing melodies, with the voices quite often led in thirds, sixths and tenths. As a travelling virtuoso who must have appeared in a few thousand concerts during his lifetime, Stamitz knew the tricks of the trade. The writing for the solo instruments is idiomatic and virtuoso but not excessively so.
The opening movements of Stamitz's concertos and orchestral works are regularly constructed in the sonata form with an extensive double exposition. Their structure is additive in nature, however, and does not exhibit the thematic development so typical of the Viennese classical style. The middle movements are expressive and lyrical, sometimes called “Romance” and usually constructed according to the well known Liedform (ABA, ABA' or AA'B). The final movement is often (in the concertos almost always) a French-style rondo
.
Just as his teacher Franz Xaver Richter had done, Stamitz preferred minor keys as he generally used a variety of (sometimes remote) keys.
Concertos
Chamber music
Operas
Both are considered lost.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
of partial Czech ancestry (his mother was German), and a violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and viola d'amore
Viola d'amore
The viola d'amore is a 7- or 6-stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin.- Structure and sound :...
virtuoso
Virtuoso
A virtuoso is an individual who possesses outstanding technical ability in the fine arts, at singing or playing a musical instrument. The plural form is either virtuosi or the Anglicisation, virtuosos, and the feminine form sometimes used is virtuosa...
. He was the most prominent representative of the second generation of the so-called Mannheim School
Mannheim school
Mannheim school refers to both the orchestral techniques pioneered by the court orchestra of Mannheim in the latter half of the 18th century as well as the group of composers who wrote such music for the orchestra of Mannheim and others.-History:...
.
He was the first composer to specify a left-hand pizzicato
Pizzicato
Pizzicato is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of stringed instrument....
(an important virtuoso device) in a composition. This occurs in his famous Viola Concerto in D major where the passage in question is designated by an "0" above the notes. This happened decades before Paganini
Niccolò Paganini
Niccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
would designate the same effect with an "X" above the notes.
A good composer of impeccable musical pedigree and training, he is particularly remembered for his melodious clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
and viola concertos which are played to this day. Although a talented and prolific composer of great aspirations, he never succeeded in attaining an adequate position with one of the major prince
Prince
Prince is a general term for a ruler, monarch or member of a monarch's or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in the nobility of some European states. The feminine equivalent is a princess...
s or orchestras of his time – whether for want of trying or because of his unsteady and itinerant lifestyle is not clear. He died in poverty; a small town music teacher who in his last years turned to alchemy
Alchemy
Alchemy is an influential philosophical tradition whose early practitioners’ claims to profound powers were known from antiquity. The defining objectives of alchemy are varied; these include the creation of the fabled philosopher's stone possessing powers including the capability of turning base...
in search of making gold. When nine years after his death (1810) his estate was put up for auction to cover his debts nothing was sold and all of it consequently lost.
1745–1770: Youth in Mannheim
Johann Stamitz
Jan Václav Antonín Stamic was a Czech composer and violinist. Johann was the father of Carl Stamitz and Anton Stamitz, also composers...
(1717–1757), a violinist and composer of the pre-classical area who not only composed some of the best instrumental music (symphonie
Symphonie
The Symphonie satellites were the first communications satellites built by France and Germany to provide geostationary orbit injection and station-keeping during their operational lifetime...
s, concerto
Concerto
A concerto is a musical work usually composed in three parts or movements, in which one solo instrument is accompanied by an orchestra.The etymology is uncertain, but the word seems to have originated from the conjunction of the two Latin words...
s) between Bach and Mozart, but as leader and first violinist also turned the Mannheim court orchestra into the best one in Europe.
Carl Stamitz was born at Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
precisely at the moment when the Mannheimers began their comet-like ascent and the "Mannheim Gout" (“taste”) was causing a sensation all over Europe. As a boy he received his first lessons in violin and composition from his father.
After his father's early death, Stamitz was taught by Christian Cannabich
Christian Cannabich
Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich , was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era...
(1731–1798), his father's successor as concert-master and leader of the Mannheim orchestra. Ignaz Holzbauer
Ignaz Holzbauer
Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer was a composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the Sturm und Drang "movement" of German art and literature.Holzbauer was born in Vienna...
(1711–1798), the court-director of music, and the court-composer Franz Xaver Richter
Franz Xaver Richter
Franz Xaver Richter, known as François Xavier Richter in France was an Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician who spent most of his life first in Austria and later in Mannheim and in Strasbourg, where he was music director of the cathedral...
(1709–1789) also had a hand in his education.
By the time he was 17 Stamitz was employed as a violinist in the court-orchestra. This position did not keep his interest for very long, though: In 1770 he resigned from his post and began an unsettled and vagrant life that, with occasional breaks, would last for the next 25 years and would lead him all over Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. It is bewildering to this day that this man, scion of one of the pre-eminent musical families of 18th century Europe, supremely taught by some of its best musicians, well connected in aristocratic and musical circles, multi lingual, versed in all musical matters and a genuinely good composer would die in penury as an ordinary music teacher in a minor German city – but this is exactly what happened.
1770–1794: Travelling virtuoso
As a travelling virtuoso on the violin, the viola and viola d'amore Stamitz often accepted short-term engagements but never managed to gain a position adequate to his abilities with one of the European princes or in one of the prestigious orchestras of his time.In 1770 Stamitz went to Paris where he went into service with Duke Louis of Noailles, who made him his court composer. He also appeared in the Concerts Spirituels, sometimes together with his brother Anton, who probably had come to Paris with him. With Paris as his base he made frequent concert tours to a number of German cities. On 12 April 1773 he appeared in Frankfurt am Main, a year later in Augsburg, and in 1775 he ventured as far as St. Petersburg in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
In 1777 he dwelt for a time in Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
where Franz Xaver Richter, his father's old friend, was music director
Music director
A music director may be the director of an orchestra, the director of music for a film, the director of music at a radio station, the head of the music department in a school, the co-ordinator of the musical ensembles in a university or college , the head bandmaster of a military band, the head...
.
During the years 1777 and 1778 he was successful in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, one of many Austro-German musicians (Carl Friedrich Abel, Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach
Johann Christian Bach was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital...
, and in his last years Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
would be some other ones) to be drawn to that metropolis where a capitalist music life, largely independent of courts and nobility, was already in full swing. His stay in London was possibly facilitated through his contact with Thomas Erskine, Earl of Kelly (1753–1781), who during a tour of the continent had received lessons from Carl’s father Johann Stamitz.
Between 1782 and 1783 we find Stamitz in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
where he gave converts in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
and in Amsterdam
Amsterdam
Amsterdam is the largest city and the capital of the Netherlands. The current position of Amsterdam as capital city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is governed by the constitution of August 24, 1815 and its successors. Amsterdam has a population of 783,364 within city limits, an urban population...
.
Finally in 1785 Stamitz returned to Germany to appear in concerts in a number of cities and towns, e.g. Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
, Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
, Braunschweig
Braunschweig
Braunschweig , is a city of 247,400 people, located in the federal-state of Lower Saxony, Germany. It is located north of the Harz mountains at the farthest navigable point of the Oker river, which connects to the North Sea via the rivers Aller and Weser....
, Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
, and Leipzig
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
. In the April of 1786 he made his way to Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
where on 19 May 1786 he participated in the famous performance of Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
's Messiah
Messiah (Handel)
Messiah is an English-language oratorio composed in 1741 by George Frideric Handel, with a scriptural text compiled by Charles Jennens from the King James Bible and the Book of Common Prayer. It was first performed in Dublin on 13 April 1742, and received its London premiere nearly a year later...
under Johann Adam Hiller's baton.
Years of ever more restless travelling were to follow. He emerges in Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
, Halle and finally in Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
, where he staged a Great Allegorical Musical Festivity in Two Acts celebrating the balloon ascent of the French aviation prioneer Jean Pierre Blanchard (3 November 1787). During the winter of 1789-90 he directed the amateur concerts in Kassel
Kassel
Kassel is a town located on the Fulda River in northern Hesse, Germany. It is the administrative seat of the Kassel Regierungsbezirk and the Kreis of the same name and has approximately 195,000 inhabitants.- History :...
, failed to gain an employment with the Schwerin
Schwerin
Schwerin is the capital and second-largest city of the northern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The population, as of end of 2009, was 95,041.-History:...
court which forced him, by now married and father of four children who all died in infancy, to hit the road one more time.
On 12 November 1792 he gave a concert in the Weimar
Weimar
Weimar is a city in Germany famous for its cultural heritage. It is located in the federal state of Thuringia , north of the Thüringer Wald, east of Erfurt, and southwest of Halle and Leipzig. Its current population is approximately 65,000. The oldest record of the city dates from the year 899...
court theatre (then under the direction of Johann Wolfgang Goethe). In 1793 he undertook one last journey along the Rhein to his native Mannheim before he finally gave up travelling for good. Sometime in the winter of 1794-95 he moved his family to the university town of Jena, where his wanderings came to an end.
1795–1801: Last years in Jena
When Stamitz settled in Jena the town had less than 5,000 inhabitants, the first steam engine lay still 70 years in the future and there was just a handful of real workers living there. Jena was still by far and large an almost medieval town surrounded by a mostly agricultural society. At the same time this old town with its cobbled streets and Tudor style houses was home to one of the most prestigious German universities. Eminent Poets, writers and historians such as Friedrich SchillerFriedrich Schiller
Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller was a German poet, philosopher, historian, and playwright. During the last seventeen years of his life , Schiller struck up a productive, if complicated, friendship with already famous and influential Johann Wolfgang von Goethe...
, August and Wilhelm Schlegel and the philosophers Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte
Johann Gottlieb Fichte was a German philosopher. He was one of the founding figures of the philosophical movement known as German idealism, a movement that developed from the theoretical and ethical writings of Immanuel Kant...
and Georg Wilhelm Hegel all were professors at Jena University. During the 1790s the poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe spent several months there every year to indulge in private anatomical studies.
Musically, though, the town was a backwater. During the years Stamitz spent there, Jena had neither a town band nor an orchestra to speak of. According to some sources he was in some way connected to the university but this seems a matter of dispute.
After his death a substantial number of tracts on alchemy were found in his library. From this it was guessed that he dabbled in attempts of gold making. Stamitz gradually descended into poverty, but his imagination kept him going. For years he hatched grand plans about operas and future concerts that would bring him money and possibly redeem him before society. Until his last days there were plans that he would travel to Russia one more time where money was to be made.
A prolific composer
Even in a century of industrious and prolific composers, Carl Stamitz stands out. He wrote more than 50 symphonies; at least 38 symphonies concertantes; and more than 60 concertos for Violin, viola, viola d'amore, celloCello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
, clarinet, Basset horn, flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
, and other instruments. He also wrote a good deal of chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
for various combinations. The sheer quantity of Stamitz’ output is comparable to Mozart’s. Some of his clarinet and viola concertos are among the finest there are and a welcome addition to the not so ample concerto repertoire for both instruments.
Although no clarinet player himself, Stamitz had a profound understanding of this instrument which dated back to his early years with the Mannheim orchestra. During his Paris years (1770–1778) Stamitz began to cooperate with the Bohemian born clarinet virtuoso Joseph Beer
Joseph Beer (clarinetist)
Joseph Beer was one of the first internationally famous clarinet virtuousos, with connections to many major composers of the era....
(1744–1811) which proved fruitful for both Stamitz and Beer. Al least one of Stamitz's clarinet concertos (concerto No. 6 in E-flat major) seems to have been jointly composed by Stamitz and Beer as both names appear on the title page of the Viennese manuscript.
Stamitz's cello concertos were written for the cello-playing Prussian King Frederick William II
Frederick William II of Prussia
Frederick William II was the King of Prussia, reigning from 1786 until his death. He was in personal union the Prince-Elector of Brandenburg and the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel.-Early life:...
, for whom both Mozart and Beethoven also wrote music.
Pre-classical style
Stylistically Stamitz's music is not too far from the works of the young Mozart or, for that matter, from Haydn's middle period. A musical layman would perceive but little difference between a Stamitz symphony and one of the early Mozart symphonies.Stamitz's orchestral writing is fluent and graceful; the sections of the orchestra are well contrasted as was the Mannheim wont, the voices for the individual instruments well laid out. His works are characterized by regular periods, well crafted themes and appealing melodies, with the voices quite often led in thirds, sixths and tenths. As a travelling virtuoso who must have appeared in a few thousand concerts during his lifetime, Stamitz knew the tricks of the trade. The writing for the solo instruments is idiomatic and virtuoso but not excessively so.
The opening movements of Stamitz's concertos and orchestral works are regularly constructed in the sonata form with an extensive double exposition. Their structure is additive in nature, however, and does not exhibit the thematic development so typical of the Viennese classical style. The middle movements are expressive and lyrical, sometimes called “Romance” and usually constructed according to the well known Liedform (ABA, ABA' or AA'B). The final movement is often (in the concertos almost always) a French-style rondo
Rondo
Rondo, and its French equivalent rondeau, is a word that has been used in music in a number of ways, most often in reference to a musical form, but also to a character-type that is distinct from the form...
.
Just as his teacher Franz Xaver Richter had done, Stamitz preferred minor keys as he generally used a variety of (sometimes remote) keys.
Works (selection)
Symphonies- 50 symphonies (usually in three movements omitting the minuetMinuetA minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
)
Concertos
- 11 clarinet concertos (at least one jointly composed with Johann Joseph Beer (1744–1811)
- 3 cello concertos
- 40 concertos for flute, bassoon, basset horn, violin, viola, viola d’amore and different combinations of some of these instruments
- 38 symphonies concertantes
Chamber music
- Duos, trios, quartets for all sorts of formations, strings are prevailing; The unaccompanied duos for violin and viola are particularly notable.
Operas
Both are considered lost.
- Der verliebte Vollmond (1787)
- Dardanus (1780)
Discography (selection)
- Symfonies concertante, Vienna Symphony Orchestra, Henry Swoboda, dir., Westminster, WL 50-17 (WL-17 A--WL-17 B), 1950.
- Four Quartets for Winds and Strings, Nonesuch Records, H-71125, c1966.
- Chamber music. Selections, Musical Heritage Society, MHS 1403, 1972.
- Carl Stamitz: Four Symphonies, London Mozart Players, Matthias Bamert, dir., Chandos Records, Chan 9358, 1995.
Sources
- Blume, FriedrichFriedrich BlumeFriedrich Blume was professor of Musicology in Kiel University from 1938-1958. He was a student in Munich, Berlin and Leipzig, and taught in the last two of these for some years before being called to the chair in Kiel. His early studies were on Lutheran church music, including several books on...
, Hrsg. Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Allgemeine Enzyklopädie der Musik. Ungekürzte elektronische Ausgabe der ersten Auflage. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1949-1987. - Randel, Don Michael, ed. The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University PressHarvard University PressHarvard University Press is a publishing house established on January 13, 1913, as a division of Harvard University, and focused on academic publishing. In 2005, it published 220 new titles. It is a member of the Association of American University Presses. Its current director is William P...
, 1996. - Slonimsky, NicolasNicolas SlonimskyNicolas Slonimsky was a Russian born American composer, conductor, musician, music critic, lexicographer and author. He described himself as a "diaskeuast" ; "a reviser or interpolator."- Life :...
, ed. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 5th Completely Revised Edition. New York, 1958. - Walther Killy, Rudolf Vierhaus, Hrsg. (ed.) Deutsche Biographische Enzyklopäde (German Biographic Encyclopaedia). Bd. (Vol.) 5. K-G. 10 Bde. (Vols.) Munich: KG Saur, 1999. ISBN 3598231865
- Würtz, Roland, Hrsg. (ed.) Mannheim und Italien - Zur Vorgeschichte der Mannheimer. Mainz: Schott, 1984. ISBN 3795713269
External links
- Viola in music – Carl Stamitz
- Carl Stamitz Brief vita and discography