Johann Stamitz
Encyclopedia
Jan Václav Antonín Stamic (later, during his life in 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....

, germanized as Johann Wenzel Anton Stamitz; June 18, 1717, Deutschbrod
Havlíckuv Brod
Havlíčkův Brod , Německý Brod until 1945 is a town in the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic. It is also the capital of the Havlíčkův Brod district. It is located on the Sázava River in the Bohemian-Moravian Highlands and has a population of 24,321 as of 2003...

, Bohemia
Kingdom of Bohemia
The Kingdom of Bohemia was a country located in the region of Bohemia in Central Europe, most of whose territory is currently located in the modern-day Czech Republic. The King was Elector of Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806, whereupon it became part of the Austrian Empire, and...

 – March 27, 1757, Mannheim, Electoral Palatinate) was a Czech composer
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...

 and 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....

ist. Johann was the father of Carl Stamitz
Carl Stamitz
Karl Philipp Stamitz , who later changed his given name to Carl, was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry , and a violin, viola and viola d'amore virtuoso...

 and Anton Stamitz
Anton Stamitz
Antonín Thadaeus Jan Nepomuk Stamic was a German composer and violinist.Anton and his brother Carl received their first violin instruction from their father, Johann. After their father's death in 1757 they were taken on as students by Christian Cannabich, who had been a student of their father's...

, also composers. His music reflects the transition of the baroque period to the classical era.

Life

Stamitz spent the academic year 1734–1735 at the University of Prague
Charles University in Prague
Charles University in Prague is the oldest and largest university in the Czech Republic. Founded in 1348, it was the first university in Central Europe and is also considered the earliest German university...

. After only one year, he left the university to pursue a career as a violin virtuoso. Stamitz' activities during the six-year period between his departure from the university in 1735 and his appointment in Mannheim around 1741 are not precisely known.

Stamitz was appointed by the Mannheim court either in 1741 or 1742. Most likely, his engagement at Mannheim resulted from contacts made during the Bohemian campaign and coronation of Carl Albert (Karl VII
Karl VII
Karl VII may refer to two European monarchs:* Charles VII of Sweden, actually Charles I of Sweden * Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor...

), a close ally of the Elector Palatine. In January 1742 Stamitz performed at Mannheim as part of the festivities surrounding the marriage of Karl Theodor
Karl Theodor
Karl Theodor may refer to:* Charles Theodore, Elector of Bavaria , Prince-Elector of Palatine and of Bavaria* Karl Theodor Anton Maria von Dalberg , Freiherr of Dalberg and Archbishop-Elector of Mainz...

, who succeeded his uncle Karl Philipp as Elector Palatine less than a year later; Karl Albert of Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 was a guest at the wedding.

Stamitz was married on July 1, 1744 to Maria Antonia Luneborn. They had five children together, Carl Philipp
Carl Stamitz
Karl Philipp Stamitz , who later changed his given name to Carl, was a German composer of partial Czech ancestry , and a violin, viola and viola d'amore virtuoso...

, Maria Francisco, Anton Thadäus Nepomuk
Anton Stamitz
Antonín Thadaeus Jan Nepomuk Stamic was a German composer and violinist.Anton and his brother Carl received their first violin instruction from their father, Johann. After their father's death in 1757 they were taken on as students by Christian Cannabich, who had been a student of their father's...

, and two children who died in infancy.

Probably around the late summer of 1754, Stamitz took a year-long journey to Paris, perhaps at the invitation of the musical patron Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière
Alexandre Le Riche de La Poupelinière
Alexandre Jean Joseph Le Riche de La Pouplinière was an immensely wealthy fermier général who was one of the greatest patrons of music and musicians of the eighteenth century. A true patron of the Enlightenment he gathered round him a circle of artists, men of letters and musicians...

, with whom he stayed; Stamitz appeared in public in Paris for the first time at a Concert Spirituel
Concert Spirituel
The Concert Spirituel was one of the first public concert series in existence. The concerts began in Paris in 1725 and ended in 1790; later, concerts or series of concerts of the same name occurred in Paris, Vienna, London and elsewhere...

 of September 8 1754. Stamitz' success in Paris induced him to publish his Orchestral Trios, Op. 1
Orchestral Trios, Op. 1
The Orchestral Trios, Op. 1 was the first publication of a work by Johann Stamitz and one of the two prints issued during his lifetime. It was a famous and influential set of six orchestral trios. Most likely dates from 1755 or 1756....

, and possibly other publications with various Parisian publishers.

Stamitz probably returned to Mannheim around the autumn of 1755, dying there in spring 1757, less than two years later, at the age of 39. The entry of his death reads:

Compositions

Stamitz’s most important compositions are his 58 symphonies and his 10 orchestral trios. The orchestral trios, although frequently classified as symphonies, are actually somewhere between the symphony and the chamber trio, and may be played with or without doubling of parts. Stamitz was also a composer of concertos. These include, in addition to his numerous violin concertos, two for harpsichord
Harpsichord
A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.In the narrow sense, "harpsichord" designates only the large wing-shaped instruments in which the strings are perpendicular to the keyboard...

, 12 for 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...

, one for oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

, and one for 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...

 - among the earliest concertos for the instrument (Johann Melchior Molter
Johann Melchior Molter
Johann Melchior Molter was a German baroque composer and violinist.He was born at Tiefenort, near Eisenach, and was educated at the Gymnasium in Eisenach. By autumn 1717 he had left Eisenach and was working as a violinist in Karlsruhe. Here he married Maria Salome Rollwagen, with whom he had eight...

's six from the 1740s seem to have been the first). He also composed a large amount of chamber music for various instrumental combinations, as well as eight vocal works including his widely circulated concert Mass in D.

Due to at least five other musicians of the 18th century bearing the surname Stamitz, including four from Johann’s immediate family, any attempt to catalog Stamitz’s works is risky at best, principally in view of the many variations in spelling. Actually, few difficulties arise in distinguishing between works by Johann Stamitz and those of his sons Carl and Anton. By contrast, the relationship of the names ‘Steinmetz’ and ‘Stamitz’ has caused substantial confusion, as at least two other musicians called ‘Steinmetz’ lived in the 18th century.

Innovations in the Classical symphony

Stamitz expanded the orchestral score, making the winds essential for the composition. His symphonies of the 1750s are scored for eight parts; four strings, two horns, two oboes, although flutes and clarinets may substitute. Horns not only provided a harmonic backdrop for strings, but solo lines as well, and he was also one of the first composers to write independent lines for oboes.

The chief innovation in Stamitz's symphonic works is their adoption of the cycle of four movements, with a fast/slow pair followed by a minuet and trio in the third movement, ending with a Presto
Tempo
In musical terminology, tempo is the speed or pace of a given piece. Tempo is a crucial element of any musical composition, as it can affect the mood and difficulty of a piece.-Measuring tempo:...

 or Prestissimo movement. While isolated examples of this structure exist previously, Stamitz was the first composer to use it consistently: well over half of his symphonies and nine of his ten orchestral trios are in four movements. He also contributed to the development of sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

, most often used in the first movements of symphonies.

Stamitz also adapted and extended traits originally developed in the Italian opera in his compositions. He added features in his pieces such as extended crescendo
Crescendo
-In music:*Crescendo, a passage of music during which the volume gradually increases, see Dynamics * Crescendo , a Liverpool-based electronic pop band* "Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue", one of Duke Ellington's longer-form compositions...

 passages and other dynamic effects. Stamitz also incorporated simplified tutti chordal textures, sectionally specialized scores, and slow harmonic motion. Like Italian operas, Stamitz's compositions have a strong sense of rhythmic drive and distinctive thematic material within the exposition.

External links

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