Era: Classical

ARRIAGA, Juan Crisóstomo de

Born in Bilbao, Jan 27, 1806
Died in Paris, Jan 17, 1826

Juan Crisóstomo de Arriaga (pronunciation) was a precocious Spanish violinist and composer whose life was cut tragically short.
- His father was an organist, and his older brother was a violinist and guitarist. Together, these two family members groomed Arriaga for a life in music.
Arriaga began composing at age 11, and in his mid-teens, he went abroad to study at the Paris Conservatory. After only a year or two, Arriaga won prizes in counterpoint and fugue, after which he was offered a role at the institution as a teaching assistant.
- According to a letter written to the composer’s father, Arriaga died from “exhaustion and a pulmonary infection.”
As a composer, Arriaga’s music straddled the bridge between classical and romantic. You’ll hear influences of Mozart and Haydn as well as Schubert and Beethoven.

The Mozart Connection

Arriaga’s nickname, “The Spanish Mozart,” was first only ascribed to the composer several decades after his death because he, like Mozart, was a child prodigy who died at a young age.
- Fun fact – Arriaga was born on (what would have been) Mozart’s 50th birthday. Moreover, they shared their first names – Juan Crisostomo and Johannes Chrysostomus.¹

Learn More

Short biography from Wise Music Classical

Pieces

Baroque Classical English

AVISON, Charles

Born in Newcastle upon Tyne, bap. Feb 16, 1709
Died in Newcastle upon Tyne, 9/May 10, 1770¹

Biography from Naxos

Pieces

Baroque Classical German

BACH, Carl Philipp Emanuel

Born in Weimar, March 8, 1714
Died in Hamburg, Dec 14, 1788

Fun fact: C.P.E. Bach was given the name Philipp after his godfather Georg Philipp Telemann.
Young C.P.E. Bach attended the Thomasschule where J.S. Bach taught in Leipzig. One of J.S.’s reasons for working in Leipzig was to obtain better educational opportunities for his children. It worked: C.P.E. Bach was able to attend the University of Leipzig and the University at Frankfurt an der Oder.
After university, C.P.E. Bach entered the employment of Frederick II of Prussia (Frederick the Great). Later in life he worked as a Kapellmeister in Hamburg.
C.P.E. Bach is considered a transitional figure between the Baroque and the Classical periods. In his time (the second half of the 18^th century), he was the most prominent German composer. ¹

Biography from Leipzig Bach Archive

A quick description of C.P.E. Bach’s empfindsamer Stil from NPR

There are a couple catalogues of C.P.E. Bach’s works.
- “W” or “Wq” stands for A. Wotquenne’s Thematisches Verzeichnis der Werke von Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788) (Leipzig, 1905)
- “H” stands for E.E. Helm’sThematic Catalogue of the Works of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (New Haven, CT, 1989).

Pieces

Baroque Classical German

BACH, Johann Christian

Born in Leipzig, Sept 5, 1735
Died in London, Jan 1, 1782

Johann Christian (JC) Bach was the seventh and last son of Johann Sebastian Bach and Anna Magdalena Bach. While several of JS Bach’s sons went on to become composers, JC is viewed as the most varied and inventive (and the most traveled).
JS Bach supervised much of JC’s early musical education. After his father’s death, JC moved to Berlin to continue studies with his half-brother, Carl Philipp Emanuel (CPE) Bach.
- Around the age of 20, JC took a turn from family tradition and moved to Italy, where he not only converted to Catholicism but became the first in his family to delve into writing opera.
- In 1762, JC was invited to London to write an opera. He would be based in London for the rest of his life, eventually earning the nickname “The English Bach” or “The London Bach.” JC was also appointed Music Master to Queen Charlotte, and his duties included giving music lessons to the queen and her children, organizing chamber concerts, directing the queen’s band, and accompanying the flute-playing of the king.”
  - Fun fact – JC was often referred to as “John” Bach in London.
In London, JC became close friends with composer and viol de gamba player Carl Friedrich Abel. The two collaborated on a series of concerts known as the “Bach-Abel Concerts.” Wildly popular, these concerts became the basic template for the classical concert series most performing arts organizations use today.
As a composer, JC wrote symphonies, opera, church music, chamber music, and keyboard works.
- His Op. 5 sonatas were the first pieces published in London using the word “piano” on the title page. JC was also the first to perform publicly at the new keyboard instrument.
  - “After the arrival of John Chr. Bach in this country, and the establishment of his concert[s] … all the harpsichord makers tried their mechanical powers at piano-fortes.”
- JC was a significant musical influence for a young Mozart, who visited London in 1964. The two became well acquainted and even improvised on the harpsichord together.¹

Learn More
Biography from the Philharmonia Orchestra

Pieces

Classical German

BECK, Franz Ignaz

Born in Mannheim, Feb 20, 1734
Died in Bordeaux, Dec 31, 1809

Beck was a German composer, conductor, violinist and organist, who studied with Johann Stamitz.¹
- Johann Stamitz was director of the Mannheim orchestra, which pioneered the genre of Symphony. Beck was one of the first composers in this new genre.
Weird Anecdote: According to one of his students, Beck’s studies with Stamitz ended abruptly when he got into a duel, thought he killed his opponent, and fled to Italy, only to meet the man he supposedly killed a year later – apparently the duel opponent faked his own death.²
Beck spent most of his career in France, directing theater orchestras and working as a church organist.³
Beck managed to maintain his career during the French Revolution, composing patriotic music and gaining recognition from First French Republic government under Napoleon Bonaparte. ⁴

Short biography from Naxos

Pieces

Symphony in C Major, Op. 1, No. 6

Classical German

BEETHOVEN, Ludwig van

Portrait of Beethoven, 1804 or 1805, by Josef Willibrord Mähler

Born in Bonn, baptized Dec 17, 1770
Died in Vienna, March 26, 1827

Short biography

Biography, timeline, images and more available from the Beethoven Haus, Bonn

Pieces

Classical Italian

BOCCHERINI, Luigi

Born in Lucca, Feb 19, 1743
Died in Madrid, May 28, 1805

Boccherini was a cellist and spent his career as a court composer in Madrid and Prussia. He excelled as a performer and composer of chamber music.
Fun fact: Boccherini came from an artistic family: all his brothers and sisters were professional dancers or singers. His elder brother Giovanni was a dancer, and was also a librettist for Salieri and Haydn.¹

Short biography from Encyclopedia Brittanica

Pieces

Quintet Op. 13, No. 5 in E Major

Classical French

BOLOGNE, Joseph, Chevalier de Saint-Georges

Born in Baillif, Guadeloupe, Dec 25, 1745
Died in Paris, June 9, 1799

Bologne (generally referred to by his title, “Chevalier de Saint-Georges”) was the son of a French planter in Guadeloupe and Nanon, an enslaved African woman. He studied fencing in France, became a master swordsman, gendarme and chevalier (knight).
Saint-Georges was a virtuoso violinist and directed the Concert des Amateurs, one of Europe’s finest orchestras.
Though he was blocked from becoming director of the Paris Opéra due to his color, he became successful a opera composer.
He founded and directed the Concert de la Loge Olympique, the orchestra for which Saint-Georges commissioned Haydn’s “Paris” Symphonies.
Around time of French Revolution, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges became associated with the abolitionist society Société des Amis des Noirs (Society of Friends of the Blacks).
In 1792 he became colonel of the Légion des Américains et du Midi, a regiment of “citizens of color.”¹

Short biography

Pieces

Baroque Classical Italian

BON DI VENEZIA, Anna

Image courtesy of Amaranti Ensemble

Born ~ 1739
Death date unknown

Anna Bon’s parents both worked in opera. Her mother was a singer, and her father was a librettist and set designer.
Anna began musical studies at the age of four at the Ospedale Della Pietà in Venice and was known as a musical prodigy.
In 1755, the teenage Bon moved with her parents to the court of Princess Wilhelmine of Prussia (older sister of Frederick the Great). While at the court, Bon was given the title “chamber music virtuoso” and dedicated her first set of compositions, Six Sonatas for flute and continuo, Op.1, to the Prussian monarch (who happened to play the flute).
Following her marriage to an Italian singer in 1767, we have no further information about Bon’s life and career.¹

Learn More:

Biographical blog article by Amaranti Ensemble

Pieces

Six Sonatas for Harpsichord (or Piano), Op. 2

Classical Ukrainian

BORTNIANSKY, Dimitri

Also transliterated as Dmytro Bortnyans’ky

Born in Hlukhiv, Ukraine, 1751
Died in St Petersburg, 28 Sept/Oct 10, 1825

Bortniansky was a singer, conductor, and a composer who specialized in vocal music (opera and choral music).
Bortniansky received his education as a choirboy in the court chapel in St. Petersburg. His talent was recognized and he received extra training as an opera singer, and lessons in composition from Baldassare Galuppi. When Galuppi returned to Italy, Catherine the Great sent Bortniansky there to continue his studies.
Bortniansky worked in the court of Catherine the Great, as a court composer, and as Kapellmeister to the chapel of her son Paul. With the accession of Paul as Paul I, Bortniansky became the first native Slavonic composer to direct the Imperial Court Chapel.
Bortniansky composed copious amounts of Orthodox liturgical music. One specialty was a multimovment a cappella genre called choral concerto; Bortniansky composed around 45 of them.¹

Short biography from Naxos

Pieces

Sacred Concerto No. 1, “Sing unto the Lord a New Song” (Psalm 96)

Baroque Classical English

BOYCE, William

Born in London, bap. Sept 11, 1711
Died in London, Feb 7, 1779

Boyce was an organist and composer. He studied at St. Paul’s Cathedral choir school under Maurice Greene.¹
Boyce was appointed composer for the Chapel Royal in 1736. He composed organ music, theater music, choral works and music for royal occasions.²
Boyce’s claim to fame: he edited Cathedral Music (pub. 1760-73), a collection of Anglican church music from Tallis onward.³
- This became a classic anthology in use till the 20^th C.
- It was intended not just for practical performance, but as early effort of (what we now call) musicology.
- According his preface, Boyce wanted to record and preserve the music of early English composers for posterity, “in its original purity.”⁴

Short biography

Pieces

Classical Italian

CIMAROSA, Domenico

Born in Aversa, Dec 17, 1749
Died in Venice, Jan 11, 1801

Cimarosa was a leading figure in late 18^th-century comic opera.
Cimarosa’s early operas were produced in Rome and Milan, and later his work was produced at St. Petersburg, where he worked for a time at the court of Catherine the Great.
Later in his career Cimarosa worked in Vienna, then in Venice.¹

Short biography

Pieces

Il matrimonio segreto

Classical Austrian

CLEMENT, Franz

Franz Clement was perhaps most successful and famous during his childhood - he was a celebrated violin prodigy.

Born in Vienna, 17 Nov 1780
Died in Vienna, 3 Nov 1842¹

Short biographic article from Strings Magazine

Pieces

Classical English Italian

CLEMENTI, Muzio

Born in Rome, Jan 23, 1752
Died in Evesham, Worchestershire, March 10, 1832

Born in Italy, Clementi moved to England as a young man to work for a wealthy patron. He remained based in England even after he began touring as a harpsichordist and pianist.
Clementi ran a music publishing & piano manufacture firm in London, Clementi & Co.
Anecdote: 1781, Habsburg Emperor Leopold II (1747-1792) arranged a piano playing competition between Clementi and Mozart, to entertain his guests. They were both asked to improvise, perform their own music, and sight-read pieces by Paisiello.

“Clementi plays well, as far as execution with the right hand goes. His greatest strength lies in his passages in 3rds. Apart from that, he has not a kreuzer’s worth of taste or feeling – in short he is a mere mechanicus.”
Mozart, on Clementi

“Clementi is a charlatan, like all Italians.”
Also Mozart on Clementi

“Until then I had never heard anyone play with such spirit and grace.”
Clementi, on hearing Mozart play ¹

Short biography

Pieces

Piano Concerto in C Major

Classical Finnish Swedish

CRUSELL, Bernhard

Born in Uusikaupunki, Finland, Oct 15, 1775
Died in Stockholm, July 28, 1838¹

Biography from Swedish Musical Heritage

Pieces

Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in E-flat, Op. 1

Classical Czech

DUSSEK, Franz Xaver

Born František Xaver Dušek
Pronunciation

Born in Chotěborky, near Jaroměř, Bohemia, bap. Dec 8, 1731
Died in Prague, Feb 12, 1799

Biography from Artaria Editions

Pieces

Classical Bohemian

FIALA, Joseph

Born in Lochovitz [now Lochovice], western Bohemia, March 2, 1748
Died in Donaueschingen, July 31, 1816¹

Short biography from Naxos

Pieces

Classical Italian

GIULIANI, Mauro

Born in Bisceglie, near Bari, July 27, 1781
Died in Naples, May 8, 1829

Giuliani was a guitar virtuoso who hailed from Italy but spent much of his career in Vienna. Giuliani was primarily a composer for the guitar, and his work attracted more interest outside Italy.¹
Fun fact: Giuliani also played the cello, and as a cellist he was part of the all-star cast who premiered Beethoven’s 7^th Symphony on December 8, 1813, under Beethoven’s direction. (Other performers included Viennese musical celebrities like Hummel and Spohr.)² The concert was a benefit for Austrian and Bavarian soldiers wounded in the Napoleonic Wars.³

Short biography

Pieces

Classical Austrian Bohemian

GLUCK, Christoph Willibald von

Born in Erasbach, nr Berching, Upper Palatinate, July 2, 1714
Died in Vienna, Nov 15, 1787

Gluck was a major figure in early classical opera, composing works in Italian and French and helping forge a more natural expression in the genre after the dominance of Baroque opera seria.
Fun fact: Gluck ran away from home when he was 13 or 14 because he wanted to be a musician but his father wanted him to follow in his footsteps and become a forester. Gluck later claimed that he ran away to Prague and made a living by singing and playing a jaw harp.¹

Biography

Pieces

Orpheus and Eurydice

Classical French

GRÉTRY, André-Ernest-Modeste

Portrait of André Grétry (1785) by Louise Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun

Born Liège, Feb 8, 1741
Died in Montmorency, Seine-et-Oise, Sept 24, 1813

Grétry was the most successful composer of opéra comique for the Paris Opéra in the two decades leading up to the French Revolution.
Marie Antoinette made Grétry her personal court music director in 1774.¹

Biography

Pieces

Zemire et Azor: Pantomime (arr. Beecham)

Classical Austrian

HAYDN, Joseph

Portrait of Haydn (1791) by Thomas Hardy

Born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, March 31, 1732
Died in Vienna, May 31, 1809

What’s Haydn’s Name?

He was baptized Franciscus Josephus (Franz Joseph) Haydn, named after two saints whose feast days fell close to his birthday.
It was common in Austria at the time to give children two names and primarily use the second. Haydn rarely used the name Franz.¹
Fun fact: His childhood nickname was Sepperl (“Sepp” from baby attempts to pronounce Joseph, “-erl” being an Austrian diminutive, cf. Mozart’s sister’s nickname Nannerl)²

Biography

Pieces

Classical Austrian

HAYDN, Michael

Born in Rohrau, Lower Austria, bap. Sept 14, 1737
Died in Salzburg, Aug 10, 1806

Michael Haydn was Joseph Haydn’s younger brother.¹

Biography from Britannica

Pieces

Classical French

HÉROLD, Ferdinand

Born in Paris, Jan 28, 1791
Died in Paris, Jan 19, 1833¹

Biography from the Royal Opera House

Pieces

Baroque Classical German

HERTEL, Johann Wilhelm

Born in Eisenach, Oct 9, 1727
Died in Schwerin, June 14, 1789¹

Biography from AllMusic

Pieces

Classical Austrian

HUMMEL, Johann Nepomuk

Born in Pressburg [now Bratislava], Nov 14, 1778
Died in Weimar, Oct 17, 1837¹

Biography from Artaria Editions

Pieces

Classical Romantic Austrian

LANNER, Joseph

Portrait of Joseph Lanner (c.1840) by Philipp Steidler

Born in St Ulrich, Vienna, April 11, 1801
Died in Oberdöbling, near Vienna, April 14, 1843

Along with Johann Strauss I, Lanner is known as one of the fathers of the Viennese Waltz.¹
Lanner and Strauss Sr. worked together in a chamber ensemble founded by Lanner (at the age of 17) in the first couple decades of the 1800s. The group grew into an orchestra, and eventually they were successful enough for to split into two orchestras, one directed by each composer.²
- Fun fact: Franz Schubert was a fan of Lanner and Strauss Sr.’s dance ensemble.³
Lanner and his orchestra were well regarded throughout Europe, touring to perform at everything from court occasions to cafés to grand balls.⁴

Pieces

Classical German

LEBRUN, Ludwig August

Lebrun’s father was an oboist with the Mannheim Orchestra, the court orchestra of Mannheim pioneered many of the sounds and techniques which would become the integral to the Classical orchestral style.
Ludwig August Lebrun took after his father, becoming a court oboist in Mannheim at age 15. In addition to his court position, he and his wife, soprano and composer Franziska Danzi Lebrun, performed together in frequent concert tours.¹

Pieces

Oboe Concerto No. 1

Classical French

MÉHUL, Etienne-Nicolas

Portrait of Etienne-Nicolas Méhul attributed to Antoine-Jean Gros

Born in Givet, Ardennes, June 22, 1763
Died in Paris, Oct 18, 1817

Méhul was one of France’s leading composers during the French Revolution and subsequent reign of Napoleon.
Méhul composed operas, choral works and patriotic hymns.¹
During his lifetime Méhul was celebrated outside of France as well. When E.T.A. Hoffmann heard his Ariodant in Berlin in 1816, he called Méhul a “learned and versatile” composer.²

Pieces

Le trésor supposé: Overture

Baroque Classical French

MONDONVILLE, Jean-Joseph de

Portrait of Jean Joseph de Mondonville by Maurice Quentin de La Tour

Full name: Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville

Born in Narbonne, baptized Dec 25, 1711
Died in Belleville, Oct 8, 1772

Mondonville was a composer, violinist and conductor.
He was a contemporary of Rameau, and the two of them were the pre-eminent French composers of 18^th century.¹

Pieces

Sonate en Symphonie Op. 3, No. 2

Classical German

MOZART, Leopold

Born in Augsburg, Nov 14, 1719
Died in Salzburg, May 28, 1787

While best known as the father/ teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Leopold was an accomplished composer and violinist in his own right.
In 1743, Leopold was appointed as a violinist in the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, where he eventually worked his way up to deputy Kapellmeister.
In 1756 (the same year that Wolfgang Amadeus was born), Leopold published an important treatise called Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule (“A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing”).
As a composer, Leopold wrote symphonies, concertos, cantatas, masses, keyboard pieces, and many other works, though many have since been lost.
- Leopold called himself a “modern” composer, and his music aligns more closely with the music of younger generations. Consequently, some of Leopold’s music had previously been ascribed to Wolfgang.
- Interestingly, despite his notoriety as a violin teacher at the time, Leopold wrote very little music for the instrument.
On a sad personal note, Leopold Mozart and his wife, Anna Maria Pertl, had seven children together; however, only two (Wolfgang Amadeus and Maria Anna “Nannerl”) survived.¹

Learn More

Biography

Pieces

Symphony in G Major, “Neue Lambacher”

Classical Austrian

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus

Born in Salzburg, Jan 27, 1756
Died in Vienna, Dec 5, 1791

Short biography

Pieces

Classical Austrian

PARADIS, Maria Theresia von

Born in Vienna, baptized May 15, 1759
Died in Vienna, Feb 1, 1824

In addition to composing, Paradis was a singer, a pianist, and an organist. Her compositions include piano pieces, songs, operas, and cantatas.
Paradis was named after Empress Maria Theresa. The composer’s father was the Empress’s Court Secretary and Imperial Councilor.
- Paradis’s Oxford Music Online article notes that though it was formerly believed that she was the Empress’s goddaughter, recent scholarship indicates that this was not the case.
Paradis’s teachers included Antonio Salieri, who instructed her in singing and dramatic composition.
Paradis lost her sight between the ages of 2-5. She composed using a “composition board” invented by her amanuensis and librettist Johann Riedinger. She is also said to have had 60 memorized piano concertos in her repertoire.
Paradis toured Europe multiple times as a piano virtuoso. During one tour, Mozart wrote a concerto for her (probably K 456).
Paradis’s work in education included helping Valentin Haüy to found the first school for the blind in Paris in 1785, and founding her own school of music in 1808.¹

Biography from AllMusic

Pieces

Sicilienne (Spurious)

Classical Czech

PUNTO, Giovanni

Born in Zehušice, nr Čáslav, Sept 28, 1746
Died in Prague, Feb 16, 1803

Jan Václav Stich (or Johann Wenzel Stich) was a Czech horn player, violinist, and composer who took on an Italian pseudonym, Giovanni Punto, as an adult.
- Born the son of a serf, Punto received music lessons during his upbringing and was even sent to Dresden for a period to study with A.J. Hampel. Upon returning to Bohemia, Punto served under his master, Count Thun, for four years before fleeing the estate and seeking better opportunities in the Holy Roman Empire (hence the name change).
Punto built a successful international career as a touring horn virtuoso. Several prominent names of the day composed works for Punto, including Mozart (Sinfonia concertante K. 297B) and Beethoven (Horn Sonata Op.17).

“Works written by and for him show that Punto was a master of quick arpeggios and stepwise passage work. Mozart’s high opinion (‘Punto bläst magnifique’), expressed in a letter of 1778, was shared by Beethoven, and virtually all contemporary writers referred to the vocal quality of his playing.”
Grove Music Online¹

As a composer, Punto wrote works for horn to highlight his skills and virtuosity. He also regularly arranged works by other composers for his instrument (sometimes even publishing them under his own name…).
Fun/ morbid fact – at Punto’s funeral, Mozart’s Requiem was played at the graveside.²

Learn More
Biography from the International Horn Society

Pieces

Baroque Classical Austrian

REUTTER, Johann Georg von

Born in Vienna, baptized April 6, 1708
Died in Vienna, March 11, 1772

Reutter spent most of his career working for the Habsburg court, as an opera composer and as an imperial Kapellmeister.
This composer is sometimes referred to as Georg Reutter the Younger because his father, Georg Reutter the Elder (1656-1738) was also an organist, and was in fact the organist at St. Stephen’s Cathedral before Reutter Jr. took the position upon his father’s retirement.
Fun fact: Reutter was in charge of the choir school at the St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Stephansdom) in Vienna while Joseph and Michael Haydn were students there.¹

Short biography

Pieces

Trumpet Concerto No. 1 in C Major

Classical Italian

ROSSINI, Gioachino

Born in Pesaro, Feb 29, 1792
Died in Passy, Nov 13, 1868

Biography

Pieces

Classical Italian

SALIERI, Antonio

Portrait of Antonio Salieri (1815) by Joseph Willibrord Mähler

Born in Legnago, Aug 18, 1750
Died in Vienna, May 7, 1825

Salieri spent most of his career in Vienna, where he was a major arbiter of musical style.

Salieri “could bind all the power of German music to the sweet Italian style.”
A Classical-era critic, on Salieri ¹

Short biography

Pieces

Angiolina, or The Whispered Marriage

Classical German

SALOMON, Johann Peter

Born in Bonn, baptized Feb 20, 1745
Died in London, Nov 28, 1815

Son of a Bonn court musician, Salomon was a violinist and composer. He had his first professional position as a violinist at the Bonn court at 13 years old.
While working as a court musician in Prussia, Salomon met C.P.E. Bach, who introduced him to J.S. Bach’s works for unaccompanied violin. Salomon mastered these pieces and they became part of his signature repertoire.
Salomon spent most of his adult career in England, where he appeared as a violinist, conductor, and concert promoter.
- It was in his capacity as an impresario that Salomon arranged for Haydn to visit London in 1790-1 and 1794-5. These are the occasions for which Haydn composed his “London” symphonies.
- Several violin solos in the “London” symphonies were composed especially for Salomon to play.¹

Biography

Pieces

Romance for Violin and String Orchestra in D Major

Classical Austrian

SCHUBERT, Franz

Portrait of Franz Schubert, c. 1827.

Born in Vienna, Jan 31, 1797
Died in Vienna, Nov 19, 1828

Fun fact: Schubert is often grouped with Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven as a classical Viennese composer, but he was the only one of them native to Vienna.¹

Pieces

Classical Italian

SIRMEN, Maddalena

Born in Venice, Dec 9, 1745
Died in Venice, May 18, 1818

Born Maddalena Laura Lombardini

Sirmen was a Venetian singer, violinist and composer.
Sirmen studied music at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, one of Venice’s charity music schools for girls. However, she was probably not charity student; she likely chose to enroll there to participate in a quality all-girls’ music education.
Sirmen also studied violin with Giuseppe Tartini.
In 1767, Sirmen married the violinist Ludovico Sirmen, with whom she concertized throughout Europe. After 1771, she toured Europe on her own as a violinist and singer, appearing in London at the Bach-Abel concerts, as well as Paris, St. Petersburg, Dresden, and other cultural centers.¹

Biography from Women’s Philharmonic Advocacy

Pieces

6 quartetti (Six String Quartets, 1769)

Classical Romantic German

SPOHR, Louis

Born in Brunswick, April 5, 1784
Died in Kassel, Oct 22, 1859

Louis Spohr was a violinist, composer, and conductor who was well-known and highly respected during his lifetime. Unfortunately, his music fell into obscurity following his death and has only been resurrected within the last 50 years or so.
Spohr showed immense talent on the violin from an early age and, after some reservations from his father, was soon encouraged to pursue a musical career. As a musician and conductor, Spohr would go on to serve several prominent positions throughout his career, including leader of the orchestra at Gotha, leader of the orchestra at Theater der Wien in Vienna, director of the Frankfurt Opera, and Hofkapellmeister at the city of Kassel.
As a composer, Spohr was quite prolific. He wrote 11 operas, nine symphonies, 15 violin concerti, and many other chamber pieces and Lieder (~300 works in total). Like Beethoven, Spohr’s compositions straddle the Classical and Romantic eras:

“[Spohr’s] work looks… towards both the formalism and clarity of the Classical tradition, and the structural and harmonic experimentation associated with 19th-century Romanticism.”
Grove Music Online

Fun fact – As an important figure in the development of modern violin technique, Spohr invented the violin chinrest.
- Bonus fun fact #1 – Spohr was among the first conductors to use a baton.
- Bonus fun fact #2 – Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde were both composed during Spohr’s lifetime.
Regarding Spohr’s first name – he was christened as “Ludewig,” but given that French versions of names were more fashionable then, he was always known as “Louis.”¹

Learn More

In –depth look into the life and works of the composer from Louis-Spohr.com
Short biography from the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra

Pieces

Nonet in F Major, Op. 31