Josef Myslivecek
Encyclopedia
Josef Mysliveček was a Czech composer
who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
with significant compositional models in the genres of symphony
, Italian serious opera
, and violin concerto
; both Wolfgang and his father Leopold Mozart
considered him an intimate friend from the time of their first meetings in Bologna
in 1770 until he betrayed their trust over the promise of an operatic commission for Wolfgang to be arranged with the management of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples
. He was close to the Mozart family, and there are frequent references to him in the Mozart correspondence.
, one of twins who were sons of a prosperous mill owner, and studied philosophy
at Charles-Ferdinand University before following in the footsteps of his father. No documentation exists to support claims that he was actually born in Horní Šárka, a rural district to the north and west of Prague in the early eighteenth century. He achieved the rank of master miller in 1761, but gave up the family profession in order to pursue musical studies. In Prague, he studied composition with Franz Habermann and Josef Seger
in the early 1760s. His ambitions led him to travel to Venice
in 1763 to study with Giovanni Pescetti
. His travel to Italy was subsidized in part from family wealth, in part from the Bohemian nobleman Vincenz von Waldstein. In Italy he became known as Il Boemo ("the Bohemian") and also "Venatorini", "the little hunter", a literal translation of his name. Reports that he was known as Il divino Boemo during his lifetime are false. The nickname originated from the title of a romanetto
about the composer by Jakub Arbes
that was first published in 1884. He was made a member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1771. Mysliveček prized freedom of movement and was never employed directly by any noble, prelate, or ruler, unlike most contemporary composers. He earned his living through teaching, performing, and composing music, and frequently received gratuities from wealthy admirers. Financially irresponsible throughout his life, he died destitute in Rome in 1781. He is buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina
, where a memorial placed by latter-day Czech admirers can be seen. No trace has ever been found of a memorial in marble
supposedly erected shortly after his death by James Hugh Smith Barry, a wealthy English student of Mysliveček who paid for his funeral expenses. After his arrival in Italy in 1763, Mysliveček never left the country except for a visit to Prague in 1767-68, a short visit to Vienna in 1773, and an extended stay in Munich between December 1776 and April 1778. His return to Prague led to the production of several of his operas. He was invited to Munich by the musical establishment of the Elector Maximilian III Joseph to compose an opera for the carnival season of 1777 (Ezio
).
Mysliveček's first opera, Semiramide
, was performed at Bergamo
in 1766 (there is no evidence that a putative production at Parma
of an opera titled Medea ever took place). His Il Bellerofonte
was a great success in Naples
after its first performance at the Teatro San Carlo on 20 January 1767, and it led to a number of commissions from Italian theaters. Ever after, his productions would almost always feature first-rate singers in the leading roles. Almost all of his operas were successful until a disastrous production of Armida
that took place at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan
for the carnival season of 1780.
Mysliveček never married and no names of lovers are recorded. There is no documentation to support reports of romantic liaisons with the singers Caterina Gabrielli
and Lucrezia Aguiari; no mention of love affairs with these singers pre-dates the publication of the fifth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954).
In 1770 Mysliveček met the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
in Bologna. He was close to the Mozart family until 1778, when contacts were broken off after he failed to make good on a promise to arrange an opera commission for Mozart at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Earlier, the Mozarts found his dynamic personality irrestisible. In a letter to his father Leopold written from Munich on 11 October 1777, Mozart described his character as "full of fire, spirit and life." Similarities in his musical style with the earlier works of Mozart have often been noted. Additionally, Mozart used musical motives drawn from various Mysliveček compositions to help fashion opera arias, symphonic movements, keyboard sonatas, and concertos. He also made an arrangement of Mysliveček's aria "Il caro mio bene" (from the opera Armida
of 1780). The old text was replaced with the new text "Ridente la calma", KV 152 (210a), in a scoring for soprano with piano accompaniment.
According to the same letter of Wolfgang Mozart written from Munich on 11 October 1777, an incompetent surgeon burned off Mysliveček's nose while trying to treat a mysterious illness. A letter of Leopold Mozart
to his son of 1 October 1777, refers to the illness as something shameful for which Mysliveček was deserving of social ostracism. Mysliveček's reputation for sexual promiscuity, Leopold's insinuations, and the reference to facial disfigurement in Wolfgang's letter hint unmistakenly at the symptoms of tertiary syphilis. Mysliveček's explanation for his condition to Wolfgang--bone cancer caused by a carriage accident—is on the face of it preposterous. The concern Mozart revealed to his father at this time for Mysliveček's sufferings was very touching. In the entire Mozart correspondence, no individual outside the Mozart family was ever the cause for so much outpouring of emotion as what is found in Wolfgang's letter of 11 October 1777.
, including the aforementioned Il Bellerofonte. Nearly all were successful at their first performances until the diasaster of Armida at La Scala
during carnival of 1780. Some of the irregularities that doomed this production were not Mysliveček's fault, however, for example the interruption of performances caused by the lying-in of the prima donna
Caterina Gabrielli, who gave birth in the middle of the run out of wedlock at the age of 49. During the period of his activity as a composer of operas (1766–1780), Mysliveček succeeded in having more new opere serie brought into production than any other composer in Europe. It also significant to note that in the same period, more of his works were performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the most prestigious venue in Italy at that time for productions of serious opera, than those of any other composer. Nonetheless, his contributions to Italian operatic culture of the 1760s and 1770s have been almost universally ignored by opera historians. Mysliveček and Gluck were the first composers raised in the Czech lands
to become famous as operatic composers, but their output exhibits few, if any, Czech characteristics. Mysliveček's operas were very much rooted in a style of Italian opera seria that prized above all the vocal artistry to be found in elaborate arias .
Among his other pieces were oratorio
s, symphonies
, concerto
s, and chamber music
, including some of the earliest known string quintet
s composed with two violas. His Op. 2 string quintets were almost certainly the earliest string quintets with two violas ever published. Additionally, he was a pioneer in the composition of music for wind ensemble, the outstanding examples of which are his three wind octets. It may be fair to say that his greatest composition is the oratorio Isacco figura del redentore, first performed in Florence
in 1776. His violin concertos are perhaps the finest composed between the generation of Vivaldi and the Mozart violin concerto of 1775. He was also one of the most gifted and most prolific composers of eighteenth-century symphonies, although his contributions to this genre have been ignored by musicologists in western Europe and North America almost as completely as his operas have been. Nearly all of Mysliveček's symphonies are cast in three movements without a minuet, following Italian traditions that originated in opera overtures. His opera overtures are also cast in three movements and were frequently performed as independent instrumental pieces. In the 1770s, he was the finest symphonist resident in Italy, and the esteem he enjoyed is reflected in the issuance of a set of symphonies (originally opera overtures) published by Ranieri del Vivo in Florence
that was the first anthology of symphonies ever printed in Italy.
Mysliveček's compositions evoke a gracious, diatonic style typical of Italian classicism in music. His best works are characterized by melodic inventiveness, logical continuity, and a certain emotional intensity that may be attributable to his dynamic personality.
Works for Solo Keyboard
Six Easy Divertimentos for the Harpsichord or Piano-Forte. London: Longman & Broderip, 1777. [F major, A major, D major, B-flat major, G major, C major]
Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord. Edinburgh: Corri & Sutherland, 1784.
[C major, B-flat major, A major, G major, F major, D major]
1 undated sonata in C major in the Archivio e Museo della Badia of the Basilica Benedettina di San Pietro, Perugia
Violin Sonatas
5 sonatas for violin and a bass line preserved in manuscripts in the library of the Conservatorio di Musica Niccolò Paganini in Genoa, perhaps from the 1760s
Six Sonatas for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord with an Accompaniment for a Violin. London: Charles & Samuel Thompson, ca. 1775. [E-flat major, D major, C major, B-flat major, G major, F major]
6 sonatas for violin and keyboard in a manuscript dated 1777 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, F major, E-flat major, G major, B-flat major, E-flat major]
6 sonatas for violin and keyboard in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, G major, C major, B-flat major, F major, C major]
Sonatas for Two Cellos
6 sonatas for two cellos and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [A major, D major, G major, F major, C major, B-flat major]
Sonata for Violin, Cello, and Bass
1 sonata in G major for violin, cello, and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Duets for Two Flutes
6 duets for two flutes and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the private collection of Antonio Venturi in Montecatini-Terme, Italy [G major, C major, A minor, E minor, D major, B-flat major]
Trios for Flute, Violin, and Cello
Sei trii per flauto, violino, e violoncello. Florence: Del Vivo, ca. 1778 [D major, G major, C major, A major, F major, B-flat major]
String Trios
1 trio for 2 violins and cello in E-flat major in the Music Library of the University of California at Berkeley (remnant of a set of six advertised in the Breitkopf catalog of 1767)
Six sonates, op. 1, for 2 violins and cello published by La Chevardière in Paris ca. 1768 [C major, A major, D major, F major, A major, E-flat major]
Four of the trios in the Op. 1 set of La Chevardière also appear in Six Orchestra Trios for Two Violins and a Violoncello (London: Welcker, ca. 1772), but the English print also contains two new trios [G major, B-flat major]
Six sonates, op. 1, for 2 violins and cello published by La Menu in Paris in 1772 [C major, G major, E-flat major, A major, B-flat major, F major]
5 additional trios for 2 violins and cello survive in undated manuscripts in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, F major, F major, G major, A major]
1 additional trio in E major for 2 violins and cello (remnant of an original set of six) survives in the Biblioteca Antoniana in Padua
Trio for Violin, Cello, and String Bass
1 trio in G major for this combination of instruments survives in the České Muzeum Hudby
String Quartets
Sei quartetti a due violini alto e basso, op. 3. Paris: La Chervardière; Lyon: Castaud, ca. 1768. [A major, F major, B-flat major, G major, E-flat major, C major]
Sei quartetti a due violini, viola e violoncello, op. 1. Offenbach: Johann André, 1777. [E-flat major, C major, D major, F major, B-flat major, G major]
Six quatuors à deux violons, taille et basse, op. post. Berlin: Hummel, ca. 1781.
String Quintets
VI Sinfonie concertanti o sia quintetti per due violini, due viole, e basso, Op. 2. Paris: Venier; Lyon: Castaud, ca. 1767. [B-flat major, E major, G major, A major, D major, C major]
6 string quintets in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena [G major, E-flat major, C major, A major, F major, B-flat major]
Wind Quintets
6 quintets for 2 oboes, 2 horns, and bassoon in undated manuscripts in the Santini-Bibliothek in Münster, probably composed in Rome in 1780 or 1781 [D major, G major, E-flat major, B-flat major, F major, C major]
Wind Octets
3 octets for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons in undated manuscripts from the Fürstlich Fürstenburgische Hofbibliothek, probably composed in Munich in 1777 or 1778 [E-flat major, E-flat major, B-flat major]
Oboe Quintets
6 quintets for oboe with string quartet in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Comunale in Treviso [B-flat major, D major, F major, C major, A major, E-flat major]
Miscellaneous Work for Wind Instruments
"Cassation" for 2 clarinets & horn in B flat major in an undated manuscript in the Rossijskaja Nacional'naja Biblioteka in St. Petersburg
Concertos
Violin Concerto in D major cited in the Breitkopf catalog of 1769, preserved in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Violin Concerto in C major cited in the Breitkopf catalog of 1770, preserved in an undated manuscript in the Thüringesches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Weimar, the original version of the Cello Concerto in C major
Violin Concerto in C major preserved in an undated manuscripts in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague and other archives
Six violin concertos preserved in an undated manuscript in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, almost certainly composed by 1772 [E major, A major, F major, B-flat major, D major, G major]
Cello Concerto in C major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, an arrangement of a violin concerto preseved in Weimar
Flute Concerto in D major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka in Wrocław
2 Keyboard Concertos preserved in undated manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
3 concertos for wind quintet & orchestra in undated manuscripts in the library of the Monumento Nazionale di Montecassino
Symphonies
No. 1 - Symphony in C major dated 1762 in a manuscript preserved in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Nos. 2-7 – Six symphonies [D major, G major, C major, D major, G minor, D major] preserved in the print VI Sinfonie a quattro, Op. 1 (Nuremberg: Johann Ulrich Haffner, [ca. 1763])
No. 8 – Symphony in D major cited in a 1766 catalog of the musical holdings of the court of Sigmaringen
Nos. 9-10 – Two symphonies [G major, D major] cited in a 1768 catalog of the musical holdings of the Benedictine monastery of Lambach
Nos. 11-12 – Two symphonies [D major, E-flat major] offered for sale in the Breitkopf catalog of 1769
No. 13 – Symphony in D major dated 1769 in a manuscript in the Moravské Zemské Muzeum in Brno
No. 14 – Symphony in G major dated 1770 in a catalog of the musical holdings of the Benedictine monastery in Göttweig
No. 15 – Symphony in F major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1770 in the Fürstlich
Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek in Regensburg
No. 16 – Symphony in B-flat major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1770 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 17 – Symphony in G major preserved in a manuscript collection from the early 1770s in the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
No. 18 - Symphony in F major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1771 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Nos. 19-25 – Seven symphonies [C major, D major, D major, F major, C major, D major, F major] cited in a 1771 catalog of the musical holdings of Stift Vorau [the music for Nos. 23-25 is lost]
Nos. 26-31 – Six symphonies [C major, A major, F major, D major, B-flat major, G major] preserved in the print Six Overtures (London: William Napier, [ca. 1772])
Nos. 32-35 – Four symphonies [D major, E-flat major, A major, B-flat major] cited in an Austrian catalog of unidentifiable origins compiled ca. 1775
Nos. 36-41 – Six symphonies [D major, B-flat major, G major, E-flat major, C major, F major] offered for sale in the Breitkopf catalog of 1776/77 [all of which are lost]
Nos. 42-47 – Six symphonies [C major, D major, E-flat major, F major, G major, B-flat major] dated 1778 in manuscripts from the library of the Pfarrkirche in Weyarn
No. 48 – Symphony in D major dated 1780 in a manuscript in the Biblioteca Civica Girolamo Tartarotti in Rovereto
Nos. 49-53 - Five symphonies [C major, D major, F major, F major, G major] preserved in manuscripts of ca. 1780 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 54 – Symphony in E-flat major preserved in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 55 – Symphony in G major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena
Overtures
Overtures are preserved for all of the Mysliveček operas and oratorios that survive in score, most of them disseminated in manuscript and printed form to be performed as separate instrumental pieces. A complete listing of sources is presented in Freeman, Josef Mysliveček. The most significant print of overtures is the Sei sinfonie da orchestra published by Ranieri del Vivo in Florence ca. 1777, the first anthology of symphonic works ever known to have been published in Italy.
Arias
Sacred works
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...
who contributed to the formation of late eighteenth-century classicism in music. Mysliveček provided his younger friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
with significant compositional models in the genres of symphony
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...
, Italian serious opera
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
, and violin concerto
Violin concerto
A violin concerto is a concerto for solo violin and instrumental ensemble, customarily orchestra. Such works have been written since the Baroque period, when the solo concerto form was first developed, up through the present day...
; both Wolfgang and his father Leopold Mozart
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
considered him an intimate friend from the time of their first meetings in Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
in 1770 until he betrayed their trust over the promise of an operatic commission for Wolfgang to be arranged with the management of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. He was close to the Mozart family, and there are frequent references to him in the Mozart correspondence.
Biography
Mysliveček was born in PraguePrague
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...
, one of twins who were sons of a prosperous mill owner, and studied philosophy
Philosophy
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
at Charles-Ferdinand University before following in the footsteps of his father. No documentation exists to support claims that he was actually born in Horní Šárka, a rural district to the north and west of Prague in the early eighteenth century. He achieved the rank of master miller in 1761, but gave up the family profession in order to pursue musical studies. In Prague, he studied composition with Franz Habermann and Josef Seger
Josef Seger
Josef Seger was a Bohemian organist, composer, and educator...
in the early 1760s. His ambitions led him to travel to Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1763 to study with Giovanni Pescetti
Giovanni Battista Pescetti
Giovanni Battista Pescetti was an organist and composer. Born in Venice around 1704, he studied under Antonio Lotti for some time...
. His travel to Italy was subsidized in part from family wealth, in part from the Bohemian nobleman Vincenz von Waldstein. In Italy he became known as Il Boemo ("the Bohemian") and also "Venatorini", "the little hunter", a literal translation of his name. Reports that he was known as Il divino Boemo during his lifetime are false. The nickname originated from the title of a romanetto
Romanetto
Romanetto is a literary genre typical for the Czech writer Jakub Arbes. The first one to name the genre was Jan Neruda, who used an italic diminutive system to change the word román - Czech for novel...
about the composer by Jakub Arbes
Jakub Arbes
Jakub Arbes was an influential Czech revolutionary, intellectual and writer. He was a sympathizer of the Májovci literary group and creator of the literary genre called romanetto.- Life and Politics :...
that was first published in 1884. He was made a member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna in 1771. Mysliveček prized freedom of movement and was never employed directly by any noble, prelate, or ruler, unlike most contemporary composers. He earned his living through teaching, performing, and composing music, and frequently received gratuities from wealthy admirers. Financially irresponsible throughout his life, he died destitute in Rome in 1781. He is buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Lucina
San Lorenzo in Lucina
The Church of St Lawrence's at Lucina is a Roman Catholic parish and titular church and minor basilica in Rome, Italy, dedicated to Saint Lawrence, Roman deacon and martyr. The name Lucina comes from the Roman matron owner of the house on which the church was built.The current Cardinal Priest of...
, where a memorial placed by latter-day Czech admirers can be seen. No trace has ever been found of a memorial in marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
supposedly erected shortly after his death by James Hugh Smith Barry, a wealthy English student of Mysliveček who paid for his funeral expenses. After his arrival in Italy in 1763, Mysliveček never left the country except for a visit to Prague in 1767-68, a short visit to Vienna in 1773, and an extended stay in Munich between December 1776 and April 1778. His return to Prague led to the production of several of his operas. He was invited to Munich by the musical establishment of the Elector Maximilian III Joseph to compose an opera for the carnival season of 1777 (Ezio
Ezio (Mysliveček) (1777)
Ezio is an eighteenth-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It was the composer's second setting of a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first performed in 1728, one of the most popular of the Metastasian librettos in Mysliveček's day...
).
Mysliveček's first opera, Semiramide
Semiramide (Mysliveček)
Semiramide is an 18th-century Italian opera in 3 acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It was composed to a libretto by the Italian poet Metastasio that was first set to music in 1729. For a performance in the 1760s, it would only be expected that a libretto by Metastasio would be...
, was performed at Bergamo
Bergamo
Bergamo is a town and comune in Lombardy, Italy, about 40 km northeast of Milan. The comune is home to over 120,000 inhabitants. It is served by the Orio al Serio Airport, which also serves the Province of Bergamo, and to a lesser extent the metropolitan area of Milan...
in 1766 (there is no evidence that a putative production at Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....
of an opera titled Medea ever took place). His Il Bellerofonte
Il Bellerofonte
Il Bellerofonte is an 18th-century Italian opera in three acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It conforms to the serious type that was typically set in the distant past. The libretto, based on the Greek legend of Bellerophon, was written by Giuseppe Bonecchi...
was a great success in Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
after its first performance at the Teatro San Carlo on 20 January 1767, and it led to a number of commissions from Italian theaters. Ever after, his productions would almost always feature first-rate singers in the leading roles. Almost all of his operas were successful until a disastrous production of Armida
Armida (Mysliveček)
Armida is an opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Gianambrogio Migliavacca based on an earlier libretto by Philippe Quinault. It is one of many operas set at the time of the Crusades that is based on characters and incidents from Torquato Tasso's epic poem La Gerusalemme...
that took place at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
for the carnival season of 1780.
Mysliveček never married and no names of lovers are recorded. There is no documentation to support reports of romantic liaisons with the singers Caterina Gabrielli
Caterina Gabrielli
Caterina Gabrielli was an Italian soprano.-Biography:Caterina Gabrielli was the daughter of a cook in the service of prince Gabrielli, in Rome...
and Lucrezia Aguiari; no mention of love affairs with these singers pre-dates the publication of the fifth edition of the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (1954).
Relationship with Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
in Bologna. He was close to the Mozart family until 1778, when contacts were broken off after he failed to make good on a promise to arrange an opera commission for Mozart at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples. Earlier, the Mozarts found his dynamic personality irrestisible. In a letter to his father Leopold written from Munich on 11 October 1777, Mozart described his character as "full of fire, spirit and life." Similarities in his musical style with the earlier works of Mozart have often been noted. Additionally, Mozart used musical motives drawn from various Mysliveček compositions to help fashion opera arias, symphonic movements, keyboard sonatas, and concertos. He also made an arrangement of Mysliveček's aria "Il caro mio bene" (from the opera Armida
Armida (Mysliveček)
Armida is an opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Gianambrogio Migliavacca based on an earlier libretto by Philippe Quinault. It is one of many operas set at the time of the Crusades that is based on characters and incidents from Torquato Tasso's epic poem La Gerusalemme...
of 1780). The old text was replaced with the new text "Ridente la calma", KV 152 (210a), in a scoring for soprano with piano accompaniment.
According to the same letter of Wolfgang Mozart written from Munich on 11 October 1777, an incompetent surgeon burned off Mysliveček's nose while trying to treat a mysterious illness. A letter of Leopold Mozart
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
to his son of 1 October 1777, refers to the illness as something shameful for which Mysliveček was deserving of social ostracism. Mysliveček's reputation for sexual promiscuity, Leopold's insinuations, and the reference to facial disfigurement in Wolfgang's letter hint unmistakenly at the symptoms of tertiary syphilis. Mysliveček's explanation for his condition to Wolfgang--bone cancer caused by a carriage accident—is on the face of it preposterous. The concern Mozart revealed to his father at this time for Mysliveček's sufferings was very touching. In the entire Mozart correspondence, no individual outside the Mozart family was ever the cause for so much outpouring of emotion as what is found in Wolfgang's letter of 11 October 1777.
Compositions
In all, he wrote twenty-six opere serieOpera seria
Opera seria is an Italian musical term which refers to the noble and "serious" style of Italian opera that predominated in Europe from the 1710s to c. 1770...
, including the aforementioned Il Bellerofonte. Nearly all were successful at their first performances until the diasaster of Armida at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
during carnival of 1780. Some of the irregularities that doomed this production were not Mysliveček's fault, however, for example the interruption of performances caused by the lying-in of the prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
Caterina Gabrielli, who gave birth in the middle of the run out of wedlock at the age of 49. During the period of his activity as a composer of operas (1766–1780), Mysliveček succeeded in having more new opere serie brought into production than any other composer in Europe. It also significant to note that in the same period, more of his works were performed at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the most prestigious venue in Italy at that time for productions of serious opera, than those of any other composer. Nonetheless, his contributions to Italian operatic culture of the 1760s and 1770s have been almost universally ignored by opera historians. Mysliveček and Gluck were the first composers raised in the Czech lands
Czech lands
Czech lands is an auxiliary term used mainly to describe the combination of Bohemia, Moravia and Czech Silesia. Today, those three historic provinces compose the Czech Republic. The Czech lands had been settled by the Celts , then later by various Germanic tribes until the beginning of 7th...
to become famous as operatic composers, but their output exhibits few, if any, Czech characteristics. Mysliveček's operas were very much rooted in a style of Italian opera seria that prized above all the vocal artistry to be found in elaborate arias .
Among his other pieces were 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, 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...
, 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, and 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...
, including some of the earliest known string quintet
String quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
s composed with two violas. His Op. 2 string quintets were almost certainly the earliest string quintets with two violas ever published. Additionally, he was a pioneer in the composition of music for wind ensemble, the outstanding examples of which are his three wind octets. It may be fair to say that his greatest composition is the oratorio Isacco figura del redentore, first performed in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
in 1776. His violin concertos are perhaps the finest composed between the generation of Vivaldi and the Mozart violin concerto of 1775. He was also one of the most gifted and most prolific composers of eighteenth-century symphonies, although his contributions to this genre have been ignored by musicologists in western Europe and North America almost as completely as his operas have been. Nearly all of Mysliveček's symphonies are cast in three movements without a minuet, following Italian traditions that originated in opera overtures. His opera overtures are also cast in three movements and were frequently performed as independent instrumental pieces. In the 1770s, he was the finest symphonist resident in Italy, and the esteem he enjoyed is reflected in the issuance of a set of symphonies (originally opera overtures) published by Ranieri del Vivo in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
that was the first anthology of symphonies ever printed in Italy.
Mysliveček's compositions evoke a gracious, diatonic style typical of Italian classicism in music. His best works are characterized by melodic inventiveness, logical continuity, and a certain emotional intensity that may be attributable to his dynamic personality.
Instrumental works
Mysliveček's instrumental music includes divertimenti, sonate, symphonies, etc. Lost and questionable works have been omitted from this works' list, however they are inventoried fully in Freeman, Josef Mysliveček, which also provides a complete list of recordings and early and modern editions of the composer's music. The listings here do not report all manuscript and printed sources, rather key eighteenth-century sources and catalogs that offer clues to chronology.Works for Solo Keyboard
Six Easy Divertimentos for the Harpsichord or Piano-Forte. London: Longman & Broderip, 1777. [F major, A major, D major, B-flat major, G major, C major]
Six Easy Lessons for the Harpsichord. Edinburgh: Corri & Sutherland, 1784.
[C major, B-flat major, A major, G major, F major, D major]
1 undated sonata in C major in the Archivio e Museo della Badia of the Basilica Benedettina di San Pietro, Perugia
Violin Sonatas
5 sonatas for violin and a bass line preserved in manuscripts in the library of the Conservatorio di Musica Niccolò Paganini in Genoa, perhaps from the 1760s
Six Sonatas for the Piano Forte or Harpsichord with an Accompaniment for a Violin. London: Charles & Samuel Thompson, ca. 1775. [E-flat major, D major, C major, B-flat major, G major, F major]
6 sonatas for violin and keyboard in a manuscript dated 1777 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, F major, E-flat major, G major, B-flat major, E-flat major]
6 sonatas for violin and keyboard in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, G major, C major, B-flat major, F major, C major]
Sonatas for Two Cellos
6 sonatas for two cellos and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [A major, D major, G major, F major, C major, B-flat major]
Sonata for Violin, Cello, and Bass
1 sonata in G major for violin, cello, and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Duets for Two Flutes
6 duets for two flutes and a bass line in an undated manuscript in the private collection of Antonio Venturi in Montecatini-Terme, Italy [G major, C major, A minor, E minor, D major, B-flat major]
Trios for Flute, Violin, and Cello
Sei trii per flauto, violino, e violoncello. Florence: Del Vivo, ca. 1778 [D major, G major, C major, A major, F major, B-flat major]
String Trios
1 trio for 2 violins and cello in E-flat major in the Music Library of the University of California at Berkeley (remnant of a set of six advertised in the Breitkopf catalog of 1767)
Six sonates, op. 1, for 2 violins and cello published by La Chevardière in Paris ca. 1768 [C major, A major, D major, F major, A major, E-flat major]
Four of the trios in the Op. 1 set of La Chevardière also appear in Six Orchestra Trios for Two Violins and a Violoncello (London: Welcker, ca. 1772), but the English print also contains two new trios [G major, B-flat major]
Six sonates, op. 1, for 2 violins and cello published by La Menu in Paris in 1772 [C major, G major, E-flat major, A major, B-flat major, F major]
5 additional trios for 2 violins and cello survive in undated manuscripts in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague [D major, F major, F major, G major, A major]
1 additional trio in E major for 2 violins and cello (remnant of an original set of six) survives in the Biblioteca Antoniana in Padua
Trio for Violin, Cello, and String Bass
1 trio in G major for this combination of instruments survives in the České Muzeum Hudby
String Quartets
Sei quartetti a due violini alto e basso, op. 3. Paris: La Chervardière; Lyon: Castaud, ca. 1768. [A major, F major, B-flat major, G major, E-flat major, C major]
Sei quartetti a due violini, viola e violoncello, op. 1. Offenbach: Johann André, 1777. [E-flat major, C major, D major, F major, B-flat major, G major]
Six quatuors à deux violons, taille et basse, op. post. Berlin: Hummel, ca. 1781.
String Quintets
VI Sinfonie concertanti o sia quintetti per due violini, due viole, e basso, Op. 2. Paris: Venier; Lyon: Castaud, ca. 1767. [B-flat major, E major, G major, A major, D major, C major]
6 string quintets in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena [G major, E-flat major, C major, A major, F major, B-flat major]
Wind Quintets
6 quintets for 2 oboes, 2 horns, and bassoon in undated manuscripts in the Santini-Bibliothek in Münster, probably composed in Rome in 1780 or 1781 [D major, G major, E-flat major, B-flat major, F major, C major]
Wind Octets
3 octets for 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, and 2 bassoons in undated manuscripts from the Fürstlich Fürstenburgische Hofbibliothek, probably composed in Munich in 1777 or 1778 [E-flat major, E-flat major, B-flat major]
Oboe Quintets
6 quintets for oboe with string quartet in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Comunale in Treviso [B-flat major, D major, F major, C major, A major, E-flat major]
Miscellaneous Work for Wind Instruments
"Cassation" for 2 clarinets & horn in B flat major in an undated manuscript in the Rossijskaja Nacional'naja Biblioteka in St. Petersburg
Concertos
Violin Concerto in D major cited in the Breitkopf catalog of 1769, preserved in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Violin Concerto in C major cited in the Breitkopf catalog of 1770, preserved in an undated manuscript in the Thüringesches Hauptstaatsarchiv in Weimar, the original version of the Cello Concerto in C major
Violin Concerto in C major preserved in an undated manuscripts in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague and other archives
Six violin concertos preserved in an undated manuscript in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, almost certainly composed by 1772 [E major, A major, F major, B-flat major, D major, G major]
Cello Concerto in C major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, an arrangement of a violin concerto preseved in Weimar
Flute Concerto in D major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteka Uniwersytecka in Wrocław
2 Keyboard Concertos preserved in undated manuscripts in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris
3 concertos for wind quintet & orchestra in undated manuscripts in the library of the Monumento Nazionale di Montecassino
Symphonies
No. 1 - Symphony in C major dated 1762 in a manuscript preserved in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Nos. 2-7 – Six symphonies [D major, G major, C major, D major, G minor, D major] preserved in the print VI Sinfonie a quattro, Op. 1 (Nuremberg: Johann Ulrich Haffner, [ca. 1763])
No. 8 – Symphony in D major cited in a 1766 catalog of the musical holdings of the court of Sigmaringen
Nos. 9-10 – Two symphonies [G major, D major] cited in a 1768 catalog of the musical holdings of the Benedictine monastery of Lambach
Nos. 11-12 – Two symphonies [D major, E-flat major] offered for sale in the Breitkopf catalog of 1769
No. 13 – Symphony in D major dated 1769 in a manuscript in the Moravské Zemské Muzeum in Brno
No. 14 – Symphony in G major dated 1770 in a catalog of the musical holdings of the Benedictine monastery in Göttweig
No. 15 – Symphony in F major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1770 in the Fürstlich
Thurn und Taxis Hofbibliothek in Regensburg
No. 16 – Symphony in B-flat major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1770 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 17 – Symphony in G major preserved in a manuscript collection from the early 1770s in the Music Division of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.
No. 18 - Symphony in F major preserved in a manuscript of ca. 1771 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
Nos. 19-25 – Seven symphonies [C major, D major, D major, F major, C major, D major, F major] cited in a 1771 catalog of the musical holdings of Stift Vorau [the music for Nos. 23-25 is lost]
Nos. 26-31 – Six symphonies [C major, A major, F major, D major, B-flat major, G major] preserved in the print Six Overtures (London: William Napier, [ca. 1772])
Nos. 32-35 – Four symphonies [D major, E-flat major, A major, B-flat major] cited in an Austrian catalog of unidentifiable origins compiled ca. 1775
Nos. 36-41 – Six symphonies [D major, B-flat major, G major, E-flat major, C major, F major] offered for sale in the Breitkopf catalog of 1776/77 [all of which are lost]
Nos. 42-47 – Six symphonies [C major, D major, E-flat major, F major, G major, B-flat major] dated 1778 in manuscripts from the library of the Pfarrkirche in Weyarn
No. 48 – Symphony in D major dated 1780 in a manuscript in the Biblioteca Civica Girolamo Tartarotti in Rovereto
Nos. 49-53 - Five symphonies [C major, D major, F major, F major, G major] preserved in manuscripts of ca. 1780 in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 54 – Symphony in E-flat major preserved in an undated manuscript in the České Muzeum Hudby in Prague
No. 55 – Symphony in G major preserved in an undated manuscript in the Biblioteca Estense in Modena
Overtures
Overtures are preserved for all of the Mysliveček operas and oratorios that survive in score, most of them disseminated in manuscript and printed form to be performed as separate instrumental pieces. A complete listing of sources is presented in Freeman, Josef Mysliveček. The most significant print of overtures is the Sei sinfonie da orchestra published by Ranieri del Vivo in Florence ca. 1777, the first anthology of symphonic works ever known to have been published in Italy.
Miscellaneous Secular Dramatic Works
- Il Parnaso confuso (c.1765), dramatic cantata
- Elfrida (1774), play with choruses (lost)
- Das ausgerechnete Glück (1777), children's operetta (lost)
- Theodorich und Elisa (c.1777), melodrama
Oratorios
- Il Tobia (Padua, 1769)
- I pellegrini al sepolcro (Padua, 1770)
- Giuseppe riconosciuto (Padua, c.1770) - lost
- Adamo ed Eva (Florence, 1771)
- La Betulia liberata (Padua, 1771) - lost
- La passione di Nostro Signore Gesù CristoLa passione di Gesù CristoLa Passione di Gesù Cristo is the title of a libretto by Metastasio which was repeatedly set as an azione sacra or oratorio by many composers of the late baroque, "rococo", and early classical period.-Writing and original setting:...
(Florence, 1773) - La liberazione d'Israele (1773-74?) - lost, perhaps composed in Naples, first recorded performance in Prague in 1775
- Isacco figura del redentore (Florence, 1776; revised for a performance in Munich in March of 1777 known to Mozart under the title Abramo ed Isacco)
Other vocal works
Secular cantatas- Cantata per S.E. Marino Cavalli (1768) - lost
- Narciso al fonte (1768) - lost
- Cantata a 2 (by 1771)
- Enea negl'Elisi (1777) - lost
- Armida
- Ebbi, non ti smarir
- Non, non turbati, o Nice
- 6 birthday cantatas written between 1767 and 1779 during his stays in Naples - lost
Arias
- Ah che fugir … Se il ciel mi chi rida;
- 3 duetti notturni (2 vv, insts)
Sacred works
- Veni sponsa Christi (1771)
- Lytanie laurentanae
- Offertorium Beatus Bernardy
Recordings
- Opera Il MedonteIl MedonteIl Medonte is an Italian opera in three acts by Josef Mysliveček set to a libretto by Giovanni de Gamerra. Like all of the composer's operas, it belongs to the serious genre in Italian referred to as opera seria.-Performance history:...
. L'Arte del Mondo. dir. Werner Ehrhardt, dhm, 2011 - Opera Il BellerofonteIl BellerofonteIl Bellerofonte is an 18th-century Italian opera in three acts by the Czech composer Josef Mysliveček. It conforms to the serious type that was typically set in the distant past. The libretto, based on the Greek legend of Bellerophon, was written by Giuseppe Bonecchi...
. Prague Chamber Orchestra dir. Zoltán Peskó, Supraphon, 2003