Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith
Encyclopedia
Ludwig Wenzel Lachnith was a Bohemia
n horn player and versatile composer
influenced by Josef Haydn and Ignaz Pleyel
. Today he is chiefly remembered because of his adaptions of operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
. The French composer and writer Hector Berlioz
immortalized him in a diatribe in his autobiography.
.
After early studies with his father Franz, an able church musician in Prague, Lachnith from 1768 onwards became a member of the court orchestra
in Zweibrücken
.
In 1773 he went to Paris to study French horn with Johann Josef Rudolf
(Rodolphe) and later composition with François-André Danican Philidor
. Since 1783 he was living permanently in Paris, where his symphonies were played in the Concerts de la Reine (Marie Antoinette).
With the onset of the French Revolution
he got in trouble with the new authorities and had to resign from his post at the Paris opera. He fled from the terror of the revolution in 1790, came back and henceforth eked out a meagre existence by giving private lessons and arranging operas and even oratorios for Parisian theatres. In 1801 he became instructor at the Paris Opera, but had to leave the following year, only to be reemployed in 1806. He died in Paris
.
He is remembered chiefly as a composer of pasticcio
s, using the music of several composers in one piece. His arrangement of the music and libretto
of Mozart's Magic Flute (Zauberflöte), appearing under the title Les Mystères d'Isis, was an instant success but also parodied as Les Misères d'ici. In several of his ventures he had Christian Kalkbrenner
, father of the pianist and composer Friedrich Kalkbrenner
, as his collaborator.
Although very successful with the public, Lachnith’s adaption of Mozart’s Magic Flute met with scathing criticism already during his lifetime. Hector Berlioz for one was a fierce (and very funny) critic of such practices. Long before the terms Urtext (original text) and Werktreue (work faithfulness) were coined, Berlioz was demanding just that in a series of articles that were later incorporated into his autobiography:
Lachnith’s travesty was the "maddest chapter in the history of the Magic Flute":
:
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
n horn player and versatile 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...
influenced by Josef Haydn and Ignaz Pleyel
Ignaz Pleyel
Ignace Joseph Pleyel , ; was an Austrian-born French composer and piano builder of the Classical period.-Early years:...
. Today he is chiefly remembered because of his adaptions of operas by 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...
. The French composer and writer Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
immortalized him in a diatribe in his autobiography.
Biography
Lachnith 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...
.
After early studies with his father Franz, an able church musician in Prague, Lachnith from 1768 onwards became a member of the court orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
in Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken
Zweibrücken is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Schwarzbach river.- Name :Zweibrücken appears in Latin texts as Geminus Pons and Bipontum, in French texts as Deux-Ponts. The name derives from Middle High German Zweinbrücken...
.
In 1773 he went to Paris to study French horn with Johann Josef Rudolf
Jean-Joseph Rodolphe
Jean-Joseph Rodolphe was an Alsatian horn player, violinist and composer.A pupil of Jean-Marie Leclair in Paris, he travelled to Parma in 1754, to Stuttgart in 1761, where he played in the ducal court orchestra and studied with Niccolò Jommelli There he provided the music for Jean-Georges...
(Rodolphe) and later composition with François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor
François-André Danican Philidor , often referred to as André Danican Philidor during his lifetime, was a French composer and chess player. He contributed to the early development of the opéra comique...
. Since 1783 he was living permanently in Paris, where his symphonies were played in the Concerts de la Reine (Marie Antoinette).
With the onset of the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
he got in trouble with the new authorities and had to resign from his post at the Paris opera. He fled from the terror of the revolution in 1790, came back and henceforth eked out a meagre existence by giving private lessons and arranging operas and even oratorios for Parisian theatres. In 1801 he became instructor at the Paris Opera, but had to leave the following year, only to be reemployed in 1806. He died in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
.
He is remembered chiefly as a composer of pasticcio
Pasticcio
In music, a pasticcio or pastiche is an opera or other musical work composed of works by different composers who may or may not have been working together, or an adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, or inauthentic.-Etymology:The term is first attested in the...
s, using the music of several composers in one piece. His arrangement of the music and libretto
Libretto
A 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...
of Mozart's Magic Flute (Zauberflöte), appearing under the title Les Mystères d'Isis, was an instant success but also parodied as Les Misères d'ici. In several of his ventures he had Christian Kalkbrenner
Christian Kalkbrenner
Christian Kalkbrenner was a German bandmaster or Kapellmeister, violinist, organ and keyboard player, and composer. Almost an exact contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was a prolific composer in many fields and a force in the musical world. He rose to high honours at the courts of the...
, father of the pianist and composer Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner was a German pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer who spent most of his life in England and France. Before the advent of Frédéric Chopin, Sigismond Thalberg and Franz Liszt, Kalkbrenner was by many considered to be the foremost pianist in...
, as his collaborator.
Hector Berlioz
- "It was some years before this that, in order to ensure the success of Mozart's Magic Flute, the manager of the Opéra produced that marvellous travesty of it, Les Mystères d'Isis, the libretto of which is a mystery as yet unveiled by no one. When he had manipulated the text to his liking, our intelligent manager sent for a German composer to help him patch up the music. The German proved equal to the occasion. He stuck a few bars on the end of the overture (the overture of the Magic Flute!), turned part of a soprano chorus into a bass song, adding a few bars of his own; transplanted the wind instruments from one scene to another; changed the air and altered the instrumentation of the accompaniment in Sarastro's glorious song ; manufactured a song out of the slaves' chorus, O cara armonia; and converted a duet into a trio. Not satisfied with the Magic Flute, this cormorant must next lay hands on Titus and Don JuanDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
. The song, Quel charme a mes esprits rappelle, is taken from Titus, but only the andante is there, for the allegro, with which it ends, does not seem to have pleased our uomo capace; so he decreed a violent divorce, and, in its stead, put in a patchwork of his own, interspersed with scraps of Mozart. No one would dream of the base uses to which our friend put the celebrated Fin ch’han dal vino, that vivid outburst of libertinism in which Don Juan's whole character is epitomised. He turned it into a trio for a bass and two sopranos, with the following sweetly sentimental lines (...)."
- "When this wretched hotchpotch was ready it was dubbed Les Mystères d'Isis, was played in that form, and printed and published in full score with the name of that profane idiot Lachnith (which I publish that it may be perpetuated with that of Castil-BlazeCastil-BlazeFrançois-Henri-Joseph Blaze, known as Castil-Blaze , was a French musicologist, music critic, composer, and music editor.-Biography:...
) actually bracketed with Mozart's on the title-page. In this wise, two beggars in filthy rags came masquerading before the public in the rich robes of the kings of harmony; and, in this sordid fashion, two men of genius, disguised as monkeys, decked in flimsy tinsel, mutilated and deformed, were presented to the French people, by their tormentors, as Mozart and Weber! And the public was deceived, for no one came forward to punish the miscreants or give them the lie. Alas! how little the public recks of such crimes, even when it is cognizant of them! In Germany and England, as well as in France, such adaptation (which means profanation and spoliation) of masterpieces by the veriest (sic) nobodies is tolerated."
Otto Jahn
For Mozarts biographer Otto JahnOtto Jahn
Otto Jahn , was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music.He was born at Kiel...
Lachnith’s travesty was the "maddest chapter in the history of the Magic Flute":
- "The maddest chapter in the history of the Magic Flute, however, was the Parisian performance in 1801 through Lachnith under the title Les Mystères d’Isis. This native Bohemian had the tastelessness to extirpate all that was wonderful and comic, thereby transforming Papageno into a shepherd named Bochoris. No work of art has ever been treated more impiously. Whole scenes ( 12, 17, 18, 19) were omitted and in their stead pieces from other Operas by Mozart inserted such as the Champagne AriaAriaAn aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
from Don Juan and an aria from Titus (both rendered into duets!). Also the music itself was through readjustment and changes mistreated. Thus, the opera started with the final chorusChoirA choir, chorale or chorus is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform.A body of singers who perform together as a group is called a choir or chorus...
and Sarastro’s recitativeRecitativeRecitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
. This was followed by trio Nr. 16 sung by six priestesses which in turn was followed by a chorus from Titus, and only then came the original introduction. Monostato’s aria was sung by Papagena (renamed Mona), the first aria of the Queen of the NightQueen of the Night-Botany:* Queen of the night, Nightblooming cereus, several genera and species of cactus* Queen of the night, Cestrum nocturnum, a woody evergreen commonly known as Night-blooming Cestrum-Music:...
was sung by Pamina, and the duet (7) became a trio."
- "Even the Parisians thought this too much and spoke of Les Misères d'ici and of the opération des dérangeur (sic) Lachnith. Yet in spite of all this criticism, Lachnith had managed to hit the French taste exquisitely well; the splendid ballets and decoration and the decor in general received unanimous praise as did orchestra and choir. In this way this distortion saw a full 130 performances until 1827. Only in the year 1865 was The Magic Flute finally performed in its original form at the Théâtre Lyrique."
Operas
Original compositions by Lachnith include the operas:- L'Heureuse Reconciliation (1785)
- L'Antiquaire (1789)
- Eugenie et Linval (1798).
Oratorios
- Saul (1805)
- Battle of Jericho (together with Christian KalkbrennerChristian KalkbrennerChristian Kalkbrenner was a German bandmaster or Kapellmeister, violinist, organ and keyboard player, and composer. Almost an exact contemporary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was a prolific composer in many fields and a force in the musical world. He rose to high honours at the courts of the...
, 1805).
Instruction manuals
Written jointly with Louis AdamLouis Adam
Louis Adam Johann Ludwig Adam, was a French composer, music teacher, and piano virtuoso....
:
- Méthode ou principe général du doigté pour le forte-piano (1798)
- Exercices préparatoires pour le piano
Sources
- Berlioz, Hector. Autobiography of Hector Berlioz. Translated by Eleanor Holmes and Rachel Holmes. Vol. 1. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co., 1884.
- Biographical Article "Lachnith" in: Österreichisches Biographisches Lexikon 1815 – 1950 (in German)
- Biographical Article "Lachnith" in: Oesterreichisches Musiklexikon ONLINE (in German)
- Jahn, Otto. W.A. Mozart. 6.th Edition. Edited by Hermann AbertHermann AbertHermann Abert was a German historian of music.-Life:Abert was born in Stuttgart, the son of Johann Josef Abert , the Hofkapellmeister of that city....
. Vol. 2. 2 vols. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1923. - Slonimsky, Nicolas, ed. Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians. 5th Completely Revised Edition. New York, 1958.