Josef Mysliveček
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Portrait of Josef Mysliveček |
Josef Mysliveček (
March 9,
1737 -
February 4,
1781) was a
Czech composer in the
Galant tradition.
He was born in
Prague, one of twins who were sons of a prosperous millowner, and studied
philosophy at the university there before following in the footsteps of his father. The enthusiastic reception in Prague of a series of six symphonies in 1762 encouraged him to give up his studies in favour of music; with a bourse from count Vincent von Waldstein he went to
Venice in the following year to study with
Giovanni Pescetti. He eventually settled in
Italy, where he became known as
Il divino Boemo ("the divine Bohemian").
His first opera was performed at
Bergamo around 1765. His
Il Bellerofonte was a great success in
Naples,
[Premiered 20 January 1767, Teatro San Carlo.] and led to a number of commissions from Italian theatres. In 1770 he met the young
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in
Bologna, where Myslivecek was a member of the Accademia Filarmonica. "He exudes fire, spirit and life", wrote Mozart in a letter home. Similarities in his musical style with the early
galant works of Mozart have often been noted.
Mysliveček's fame spread outside Italy: a number of his works were performed in
Munich in the 1770s. For the court of Portugal his operas were carefully copied out in longhand, for performances and the collection at the Ajuda library, where eighteen scores are preserved today, the largest collection anywhere. His final operas were unsuccessful, however. He died, impoverished, of syphilis in
Rome; shortly before his death he had his nose removed, vainly hoping that this operation would cure his venereal disease.
In all, he wrote over twenty
opera serie, including
Idomeneo (on the same subject which Mozart later treated),
Abramo et Isacco, and the aforementioned
Il Bellerofonte. Among his other pieces were
oratorios,
symphonies,
concerti, and
chamber music, including some of the earliest known
string quintets.
He is often described as the father of
Czech opera. Certainly he was the first of his compatriots to become a famous operatic composer; but his operatic idiom had no Czech characteristics, and was very much that of the Italianate
opera seria.
*
Josef Mysliveček*
Karador Classical Music Dictionary Includes full libretto of Mysliveček's
Il Gran Tamerlano, 1772.
