Klarinet Archive - Posting 000647.txt from 2001/01

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] Stamitz
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 22:37:48 -0500

I am somewhat reluctant to do your homework for you.... but since
you claim to have looked in the library already, and since I learned
some interesting stuff by consulting my own books, and since other
people on this list have helped me when perhaps I could've helped myself
if I had been willing to spend more money or to ignore my family a
little bit, I'll pass some information on to you:

Full name: Johan Wenzel Anton Stamitz
(Karl and Anton Stamitz were his sons)

Born in Bohemia June 19, 1717
Died in Mannheim March 30, 1757
Composer and violinist

Chamber music director and violinist at the Mannheim electoral court (I
don't know exactly what this 'court' was), beginning 1745

Composed 50 symphonies and other works (at least 100 of them, my
encyclopedia is not specific) including: orchestral trios, harpsichord
and violin and oboe concertos, violin sonatas, and other chamber music.

My encyclopedia (New College Encyclopedia of Music, W.W. Norton, 1960)
asserts that he was the most important of the composers attached to the
Mannheim orchestra at that time, and that he contributed to the
orchestra's development of "some of the chief traits in the style of the
symphony, such as marked contrast between forte and piano, the crescendo
for full orchestra, contrast of style between themes, the dropping of
the continuo, and the fuller use of wind instruments."

Another book (What Music Is, Herbert Weinstock, Dolphin, 1968) agrees
with the preceeding paragraph and says of the Mannheim orchestra under
Stamitz and others: "The first modern orchestra [....] essentially
noncontrapuntal in emphasis [....] Homophony was increasingly the
favored texture, a group of violins being entrusted wit most of the
leading melodies while other instruments suppled harmonic chordal
support [....] true orchestral prestos resulted [because a single
melodic strand eased the demands for coordination within the orchestra]
[....] silences of the entire ensemble [....] string tremolo
[....] very rapid broken chords. [....] The Mannheim orchestra was
of enduring historic importance chiefly for its development of effects
[mentioned above] and for its conclusive demonstrations of the values of
rehearsal and precision."

The quote that tickles me, however, is this one from Weinstock's book:
"The compositions of the Mannheim conductors, like the works of many
stylistic innovators, generally fail to satisfy as artistic wholes,
whatever their eighteenth-century charm of manners."

Cheers,
Bill

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