Career

Werner was born in Ybbs an der Donau

Ybbs an der Donau

Ybbs an der Donau is a city in Austria. It was established in 1317. Throughout the town, from the intersection of the important trade routes and along the Danube the town has preserved a site that already had great economic importance during the Middle Ages...

. He served from 1715 to either 1716 or 1721 (unknown) as the organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

 at Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey

Melk Abbey or Stift Melk is an Austrian Benedictine abbey, and one of the world's most famous monastic sites. It is located above the town of Melk on a rocky outcrop overlooking the river Danube in Lower Austria, adjoining the Wachau valley....

. During the 1720s he was in Vienna, where he may have studied with Johann Fux

Johann Fux

Johann Joseph Fux was an Austrian composer, music theorist and pedagogue of the late Baroque era. He is most famous as the author of Gradus ad Parnassum, a treatise on counterpoint, which has become the single most influential book on the Palestrina style of Renaissance polyphony...

 and was married on 27 January 1727.

On 10 May 1728 he took up the position he was to hold for the rest of his life, as Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister

Kapellmeister is a German word designating a person in charge of music-making. The word is a compound, consisting of the roots Kapelle and Meister . The words Kapelle and Meister derive from the Latin: capella and magister...

 at the Esterházy court in Schloss Esterházy

Schloss Esterházy

----The Schloss Esterházy is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622...

 in Eisenstadt

Eisenstadt

- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...

. The appointment "opened a new era for music" at the court; previously, there had been seven years of relative inactivity following the death of Prince Joseph in 1721; his widow Maria Octavia, serving as co-regent for her young son Paul Anton

Paul II Anton Esterházy

Prince Paul II Anton Esterházy de Galantha was a prince of the Esterházy family. He had a distinguished career as a soldier and patron of music.-Life:...

, had instituted economies in the musical establishment. Robbins Landon

H. C. Robbins Landon

Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...

 and Jones suggest that Werner was hired at the then 17-year-old prince's instigation.

Werner set to work, bringing new music to the court from Vienna and composing prolifically. He remained in full charge of the Esterházy musical establishment until 1761, when he entered a period of semi-retirement, his responsibilities limited to church music

Church music

Church music may be defined as music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclestiacal liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. This article covers music in the Judaeo-Christian tradition. For sacred music outside this...

. Throughout this time he worked for a prince who was himself highly musical: Paul Anton had received musical training from the court musicians as well as from music masters imported from abroad; he played the violin and the flute.

Werner died in Eisenstadt on 3 March 1766.

Works

Werner wrote a cappella

A cappella

A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...

 masses

Mass (music)

The Mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music...

 in a strict contrapuntal

Counterpoint

In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...

 style", as well as church music with instrumental accompaniment and symphonies

Symphony

A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...

. His work includes a series of twenty oratorio

Oratorio

An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...

s, all composed for performance on Good Friday

Good Friday

Good Friday , is a religious holiday observed primarily by Christians commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. The holiday is observed during Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum on the Friday preceding Easter Sunday, and may coincide with the Jewish observance of...

, usually in the Esterházy chapel. Jones discerns a bifurcated style, with most of the work taking the form of severe, "weighty" contrapuntal pieces, but a minority (written for lighter occasions such as Advent

Advent

Advent is a season observed in many Western Christian churches, a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. It is the beginning of the Western liturgical year and commences on Advent Sunday, called Levavi...

 and the Nativity

Nativity of Jesus

The Nativity of Jesus, or simply The Nativity, refers to the accounts of the birth of Jesus in two of the Canonical gospels and in various apocryphal texts....

) that "employ a distinctly homespun idiom, invoking elements of Austrian and indeed Eastern European folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

." Works by Haydn in both genres exist, and may have been influenced by Werner.

As an employee of the Esterházy family Werner published little, but a few works did see print. These include his set of twelve orchestral suites depicting the twelve months of the year (Neuer und sehr curios-Musicalischer Instrumental-Calender ("New and very curious musical instrument calendar"), which appeared in Augsburg

Augsburg

Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

 in 1748.

His pupils included S. T. Kolbel and the Esterházy organist Johann Novotný (1718–1765), father of Franz Nikolaus Novotný

Franz Nikolaus Novotny

Franz Nikolaus Novotny was an Austrian organist and composer of Bohemian descent at the Esterházy court in Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt....

 (1743–1773).

Relations with Haydn

Werner's period of semi-retirement began in 1761 when the Esterházy family hired the 29-year old composer 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...

 as their Vice-Kapellmeister. The contract by which Haydn was hired shows the family's loyalty to their elderly musical servant by retaining him, at least on a titular basis, in the top post of Kapellmeister. However, after this time Werner's musical duties were limited to church music, and Haydn, 39 years younger than Werner, had the primary duties, with full control over the secular musical events of the household, including the orchestra.

This was a time of changes probably unwelcome to Werner. His longtime patron Paul Anton died in March of 1762, succeeded by his younger brother Nikolaus Esterházy

Nikolaus Esterházy

Nikolaus Esterházy was a Hungarian prince, a member of the famous Esterházy family. His building of palaces, extravagant clothing, and taste for opera and other grand musical productions led to his being given the title "the Magnificent"...

. Nikolaus was also a very musical prince, but his interests (Jones) "lay with Haydn and the development of instrumental music." Haydn initially received the same salary (400 florins per year) that Werner had long received, but in June 1762 this was increased to 600.

In addition, Werner had lived to see the kind of music he composed become outmoded. His own work emphasized the contrapuntal textures of the Baroque era

Baroque music

Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...

, whereas by 1761 the new forms of the Classical period

Classical period (music)

The dates of the Classical Period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about 1750 and 1830. However, the term classical music is used colloquially to describe a variety of Western musical styles from the ninth century to the present, and especially from the sixteenth or...

, often with a single melody set over an accompaniment figure, had come to the fore. Jones says, "he had become too old to appreciate the rapidly developing fashion for symphonies, quartets, and keyboard sonatas, genres in which Haydn was already acquiring a name for himself." Werner expressed his distaste by calling Haydn a "G'sanglmacher" (writer of little songs) and "Modehansl" ("fashion follower," literally "little Hans of fashion").

Werner's discontent reached its climax in October 1765, a few months before his death, when he wrote a letter to Prince Esterházy denouncing Haydn for his slackness in running the Esterházy musical establishment. The letter begins:

I am forced to draw attention to the gross negligence in the local castle chapel, the unnecessarily large princely expenditures, and the lazy idleness of the musicians, the principal responsibility for which must be laid at the door of the present director, who lets them all get away with everything, so as to receive the name of a good Heyden [sic]: for as God is my witness, things are much more disorderly than if seven children were around.

While it is natural to detect bitterness and envy in Werner's letter, Jones points out that the criticisms might well have been legitimate, and that the letter produced a useful bureaucratic response. Haydn was spread thin between serving the Prince's interests in secular music (mostly in his palace in Vienna

Palais Esterházy

----Palais Esterházy is a baroque palace in Vienna, Austria, owned by the noble Esterházy family. It houses a famous and popular restaurant in the former wine cellars, called Esterházykeller....

) and in covering for the now-frail Werner the church music at the family seat in Eisenstadt

Schloss Esterházy

----The Schloss Esterházy is a palace in Eisenstadt, Austria, the capital of the Burgenland state. It was constructed in the late 13th century, and came under ownership of the Hungarian Esterházy family in 1622...

. Prince Nikolaus arranged for his administrator Rahier to deal with the situation. Rahier (with whom Haydn had a difficult relationship) issued an official document, which reprimanded Haydn. However, it also provided a helpful clarification of Haydn's responsibilities and designated a subordinate (Joseph Dietzl) to take on the task of keeping track of the music and instruments in Eisenstadt.

The reprimand also led Haydn to begin to keep a draft catalog of all his works (the "Entwurf-Katalog"). In response to a particular detail of the reprimand, Haydn began writing a great number of works in the Prince's favorite genre at the time, the baryton

Baryton

The baryton is a bowed string instrument in the viol family, in regular use in Europe up until the end of the 18th century. In London a performance at Marylebone Gardens was announced in 1744, when Mr Ferrand was to perform on "the Pariton, an instrument never played on in publick before." It most...

 trio.

Reception

Werner today is an almost-forgotten composer. The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music

The Penguin Guide to Recorded Classical Music

The Penguin Guide To Recorded Classical Music is a widely-distributed annual publication from Britain published by Penguin Books, reviewing and rating currently available recordings of classical music...

 reviews no recording of any works by him; and few recordings are commercially available. The reference sources listed below tend to emphasize Werner's troubled relationship with Haydn over his own career.

The noted choreographer Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp

Twyla Tharp is an American dancer and choreographer, who lives and works in New York City.-Early years:Tharp was born in 1941 on a farm in Portland, Indiana, and was named after Twila Thornburg, the "Pig Princess" of the 89th Annual Muncie Fair in Indiana.she spend hours working on it to help her...

used a prelude and fugue by Werner for her 1976 dance Give and Take.

Haydn himself clearly held Werner in high esteem, whatever their personal difficulties may have been. In his own old age (1804) Haydn published "six introductions and fugues for string quartet, taken from Werner’s oratorios". The title page read that the works were "edited by his successor J. Haydn out of particular esteem towards the famous master."

External links