Leonhard von Call sometimes referred to as Leonhard de Call, was an Austrian composer and guitarist.

Life

He was born in Eppan an der Weinstraße

Eppan an der Weinstraße

Eppan an der Weinstraße is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 45 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 8 km southwest of the city of Bolzano.-Geography:...

, northern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

After participating in the War of the First Coalition, where he was awarded the Order Pour le Mérite

Pour le Mérite

The Pour le Mérite, known informally as the Blue Max , was the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order for German soldiers until the end of World War I....

, he became a civil servant at the Imperial Kammerzahlamt. He pursued music as a hobby.

At age 40, he married Maria Wilhelmina Brabee, who was 18 years his junior. They had five children.

He died in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

.

Work

He began composing in 1796, and prints of his works were published continuously from 1802 until his death in 1815. Announcements and reviews of his work appeared in the Leipziger Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung

Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung

The Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung was a German-language periodical published in the 19th century. Comini has called it "the foremost German-language musical periodical of its time"...

, a prominent musical periodical. Many of his works were commissioned by members of the bourgeoisie and the gentry.

He composed about 150 works, mainly for 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....

, 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...

 and guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

.

His known work consists of the following:

• 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...
  
  
  • 2 sextets
  • 4 quintets
  • 14 quartets
  • 34 trios
  • 52 duos
  • 12 solos
• Vocal works
  • 17 songs with accompaniment
  • 19 songs without accompaniment
• Bearbeitungen (transcriptions)

Reception

In his own time, von Call was a popular composer. His works are still performed, and there are a few CD recordings of his music.

His music is considered to be technically undemanding.

In 2006, the music school in his hometown was named after him.

External links