Ignaz Vitzthumb
Encyclopedia
Baden bei Wien
-Points of interest:The town offers several parks and a picturesque surrounding, of which the most frequented is the Helenental valley. Not far from Baden, the valley is crossed by a widespread aqueduct of the Vienna waterworks...
- 23 March 1816, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
) was an Austrian musician, composer and conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
active in the Austrian Netherlands. He was also music director of the La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
theatre in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
.
Life
Arriving in Brussels in 1735 at the age of 11, he entered the service of archduchess Maria Elisabeth of AustriaMaria Elisabeth of Austria
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria , was the governor of the Austrian Netherlands between 1725 and 1741....
as a child-singer in her choir. Taught by Jean-Joseph Fiocco
Jean-Joseph Fiocco
Jean-Joseph Fiocco was a Flemish composer of the high and late Baroque period.His father was the Venetian composer Pietro Antonio Fiocco , and his brothers included the violinist Joseph-Hector...
, then choirmaster of the Brussels chapel royal, Vitzthumb became a court drummer at sixteen, a post he held for more than 40 years alongside other roles. His half-brother, François-Antoine Vitzthumb, was a trumpeter in the court and his son Paul Vitzthumb (1761–1838) succeeded him as court drummer. After the War of the Austrian Succession
War of the Austrian Succession
The War of the Austrian Succession – including King George's War in North America, the Anglo-Spanish War of Jenkins' Ear, and two of the three Silesian wars – involved most of the powers of Europe over the question of Maria Theresa's succession to the realms of the House of Habsburg.The...
, in which he had served in a regiment of Hungarian hussar
Hussar
Hussar refers to a number of types of light cavalry which originated in Hungary in the 14th century, tracing its roots from Serbian medieval cavalry tradition, brought to Hungary in the course of the Serb migrations, which began in the late 14th century....
s, he returned to Brussels and took part in several chambers of rhetoric
Chamber of rhetoric
Chambers of rhetoric were dramatic societies in the Low Countries. Their members are called Rederijkers , from the french word 'rhétoricien', and during the 15th and 16th centuries were mainly interested in dramas and lyrics...
and compagnies bourgeoises
Salon (gathering)
A salon is a gathering of people under the roof of an inspiring host, held partly to amuse one another and partly to refine taste and increase their knowledge of the participants through conversation. These gatherings often consciously followed Horace's definition of the aims of poetry, "either to...
, of which there were Francophone as well as Flemish versions. He showed off his talents as a violinist, conductor and theatre director, and was a member of the Concert bourgeois. He is also mentioned among the court musicians as a composer, tenor and violinist in 1758 and 1759, and as a composer from 1760 to 1775.
From 1761, he entered the Théâtre de la Monnaie as its composer and music master, and taught singing to young actors such as Angélique D'Hannetaire
Angélique D'Hannetaire
Marie-Angélique Servandoni , stage name Angélique D'Hannetaire, was a French actress. She was the daughter of the actor and director D'Hannetaire and his wife, the actor Marguerite Hue...
and Alexandre Bultos
Alexandre Bultos
Alexandre Bultos was a Belgian comic-actor and theatre director.-Life:The seventh child of Pierre-François Bultos and his wife Marie-Josèphe Lambert, wine merchants and hotelliers, Alexandre made his stage debut in December 1761 aged 12, in La Servante maîtresse by Pierre Baurans, after the work...
. In 1772, he and the singer Louis Compain
Louis Compain
Louis Compain , also known as Compain-Despierrières, was a French actor and singer. He is notable as the co-director of the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels from 1772 to 1776, where he had made his debut in 1757. He also acted at Marseille , Bordeaux , La Haye , Metz , Toulouse , Nîmes and Nantes ....
became co-directors of the Théâtre, then Vitzthumb was sole director from 1774 to 1777. This period is considered to be one of the most fertile in the Théâtre de la Monnaie's life, and travellers like Charles Burney
Charles Burney
Charles Burney FRS was an English music historian and father of authors Frances Burney and Sarah Burney.-Life and career:...
did not hesitate to praise the quality of the members of its acting troop and orchestra. Even so, the theatre soon went bankrupt and so Vitzthumb was forced to abandon his role as director, though he retained that of conductor.
Suspended from all his jobs in 1791 for taking part in the insurrection against Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
, Vitzthumb left for Amsterdam to take up a post as music master at the "Collège dramatique et lyrique". Falling seriously ill the following year, he returned to Brussels to live with his son Paul and died in 1816, aged 91.
Works
- Surviving
- Lamentations of Jeremiah for Holy Week (manuscript fragments)
- Symphonies (manuscript fragments)
- Sinfonia a più stromenti
- Recueils d'ariettes d'opéra (arrangements of 14 verses, 1775-1786)
- Lost
- La Fausse esclave (1761)
- L'Éloge de la vertu ou le Tribut des cœurs, librettoLibrettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...
by Louis Compain (1761) - Le Soldat par amour, with Pierre van MalderePierre van MalderePieter van Maldere was a violinist and composer from the Southern Low Countries .-Life:...
, libretto by Jean-François de Bastide (1766) - Céphalide ou les Autres mariages samnites, libretto by prince Charles-Joseph de Ligne (1777)
- La Foire de village, libretto by François-Xavier Pagès (1786)
Sources
- Opera Glass
- Dominique Dujardin. The New Grove Dictionary of OperaNew Grove Dictionary of OperaThe New Grove Dictionary of Opera is an encyclopedia of opera, considered to be one of the best general reference sources on the subject. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes....
, edited by Stanley Sadie (1992). ISBN 0-333-73432-7 and ISBN 1-56159-228-5