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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756 - 1791 Person Name: W. A. Mozart, 1756-1791 Composer of "MOZART" in The Evangelical Hymnal Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Austria 1756-1791. Born at Salzburg, Austria, the son of Leopold Mozart, a minor composer and violinist, and youngest of seven children, he showed amazing ability on violin and keyboard from earliest childhood, even starting to compose music at age four when his father would play a piece and Mozart would play it exactly as did his father. At five, he composed some of his own music, which he played to his father, who wrote it down. When Mozart was eight, he wrote his first symphony, probably transcribed by his father. In his early years his father was his only teacher, teaching his children languages and academic subjects, as well as fundamentals of their strict Catholic faith. Some of his early compositions came as a surprise to his father, who eventually gave up composing himself when he realized how talented his son was. His family made several European journeys and he and his sister, Nanneri, performed as child prodigies, at the court of Prince-elector Maximillian II of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, for 3.5 years, taking the family to courts in Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen, and again to Paris, and back home via Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During these trips Mozart met many musicians, acquainting himself with the works of other composers. He met Johann Christian Bach in London in 1764. Family trips were challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursements from nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home. First Leopold (1764) got sick, then both children (1765). They traveled again to Vienna in 1767 and stayed there over a year. After a year back in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang went to Italy (1769-1771), Leopold wished to display his son’s abilities as a performer and maturing composer. In Bologna, Italy, Wolfgang was accepted as a member of the famous Academia Filamonica. In Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere twice in performance. Back in the Sistine Chapel, Mozart wrote the whole performance out from memory, thus producing the first unauthorized copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican. In the next few years Mozart wrote several operas performed with success in Italy, but his father’s hopes of securing a professional appointment for his son were not realized. At age 17 he was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position. After returning to Salzburg, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. This gave Mozart ample opportunity to develop relationships with other musicians and his admirers, resulting in his development of new symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and some minor operas. In 1775 he wrote his only violin concertos, five in all. Again, he was discontent with work in Salzburg and traveled to find more opportunity to write operas. He and his father again visited Munich and Vienna, but neither visit was successful with the exception of his opera ‘La finta giardiniera’ in Munich. In 1777 he resigned his Salzburg position and went to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich again. In Mannheim he met and fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. He could find no real employment there and left for Paris in 1778. He might have had a position as organist at Versailles, but he was not interested in that. He fell into debt and started pawning valuables. During these events his mother died. Meanwhile his father was still trying to find him a position in Salzburg. After checking out several other European cities and Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, but she was no longer interested in him, so he returned to Salzburg, having written another symphony, concerto, and piano sonata, and took the new appointment his father had found. However, he was still in discontent. Visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He wrote another opera, ‘Idomeneo’, in 1781, that was successful in Munich. Two months later he was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, wanted him around due to his notoriety. Mozart wished to meet the emperor and perform for him, and finally got that opportunity. It resulted in a part-time position and substantial commissions. Colloredo became a nemesis to Mozart’s career, finally releasing Mozart from his employ with a literal kick in the pants, much against his father’s wishes. However, he was now independent. Mozart then decided to settle in Vienna as a free lance performer and composer. He lived with the Fridolin Weber family, who had moved from Mannheim to Vienna. Fridolin, the father, had died, and they were taking in lodgers to make ends meet. His career there went well, and he performed as a pianist before the Emperor, establishing himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna. He wrote another opera in 1782, again achieving success. Mozart had now become a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period and was known throughout Europe. Aloysia was now married to actor, Joseph Lange, and Mozart’s interest shifted to her sister, Constanze. In 1782 he married Constanze Weber Mozart Nissen. The marriage started out with a brief separation, and there was a problem getting Mozart’s father’s permission, which finally came. They had six children, but only two survived infancy: Carl and Franz. He lived in Vienna and achieved some notoriety, composing many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas. In 1782-83 he became intimately acquainted with Johann Sebastian Bach and George Friederic Handel, as his friend, Gottfried van Swieten, owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters, which Mozart studied intently. He altered his style of composition as a result. That year Mozart and his wife visited his father and sister, and he composed a liturgical piece, a Mass, with a singing part for his wife. He also met Joseph Hadyn in Vienna in 1784 and they became friends. They even played together in a string quartet from time to time. Mozart wrote six quartets dedicated to Hadyn. In 1785 Hadyn told Leopold Mozart, “Your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste, and what is more, the greatest skill in composition”. Over the next several years Mozart booked several piano concertos in various places as a sole performer to delighted audiences, making substantial remuneration for his work. He and his wife then adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment and he bought a fine fortepiano and billiard table. They sent their son, Karl, to an expensive boarding school and also kept servants. In 1784 Mozart became a Freemason and even composed Masonic music. Over the next several years he did little operatic writing and focused on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. He again began operatic collaboration in 1785, creating ‘The marriage of Figaro’, then ‘Don Giovanni’ in 1787. That year his father died. Also that year he obtained a steady post under Emperor Joseph II as his chamber composer. This was part-time employment that was important when hard times arrived. However, Joseph aimed at keeping Mozart from leaving Vienna for better work. The Austrio-Turkish War made life difficult for musicians, and his aristocracy support had declined. He moved to save on expenses, but that did not help much, and he was reduced to borrowing funds from his friends, and pleading for loans. During this period he produced his last three symphonies. In 1789 he then set up on a journey to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin hoping to improve his fortunes. In 1790 he was highly productive, producing concertos, an opera, ‘The magic flute’, a series of string quintets, a motet, and an (unfinished) Requiem. Finances began to improve and he begin paying back his debts. Public reaction to his works also brought him great satisfaction. In 1791, while in Prague for the premiere of his opera, ‘La clemenza di Tito’, he fell ill. He continued professional functions for a short time, but had to go home and be nursed by his wife over the next couple of months. He died at Vienna, Austria, at the age of 35, a small thin man with undistinguishing characteristics. He was buried in a modest grave, having had a small funeral. Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Hadyn wrote “posterity will not see such a talent (as Mozart) again in 100 years”. 600+ works. Side note: Mozart enjoyed billiards, dancing, and had a pet canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He liked off-color humor. He wore elegant clothing when performing and had a modest tenor voice. John Perry

Johann Rudolf Ahle

1625 - 1673 Composer of "NUREMBERG" in The Cyber Hymnal Johann Rudolph Ahle, b. Mühlhausen, 1625; Ahle studied theology at Erfurt University. Little is known about his musical education, but be became well known as an organist while he was in Erfurt. He returned to Mühlhausen and became an organist at St. Blasius Church, he composed organ music but is know for his sacred choral music. He was the father of Johann Georg, who was also a composer and succeeded his father as organist at St. Blasius Church. Johann Rudolf became mayor of Mühlhausen late in his life and died there in 1673. Dianne Shapiro (from Bach Cantatas Website www.bach-cantatas.com/Lib/Ahle-Johann-Rudolf.htm)

John Pierpont

1785 - 1866 Person Name: John Pierpont, 1785-1866 Author of "On this stone now laid with prayer" in The Hymnal Pierpont, John, son of James Pierpont, of Litchfield, Connecticut, was born at Litchfield, April 6, 1785, and educated at Yale College, where he graduated in 1804. After fulfilling engagements as a Tutor in New Haven, and in Charlestown, South Carolina, he was admitted to the Bar in 1812. Shortly after he retired and went into business, only to leave it also, and to pass on to Harvard College as a student in theology. In 1819 he succeeded Dr. Holley as the pastor of the Unitarian congregation in Hollis Street, Boston. At length his zeal against intemperance and slavery caused him to resign his charge in 1840 [sic. 1845] (see Lothrop's Proceedings of an Eccl. Council in the case of the Hollis Street Meeting and the Rev. J. Pierpont). At this date he published his Poems & Hymns, including his anti-slavery and temperance poems and songs. In 1845 he became the pastor of an Unitarian congregation at Troy, New York. This he vacated for another at Medford, Massachusetts, in 1849. That he resigned in 1859. When over 70 years of age he became Chaplain in the United States Army (1862), and was finally a Government clerk in the Treasury Department at Washington. He died suddenly at Medford, Aug. 27, 1866. Pierpont's publications include Airs of Palestine, 1816, some school books, and his Poems & Hymns, 1840 and 1854. His hymns in common use include:— 1. Another day its course hath run. Evening. Appeared in Hymns for Children, Boston, 1825; in Greenwood's Chapel Liturgy, 1827; and in the author's Poems & Hymns, 1840. 2. Break forth in song, ye trees. Public Thanksgiving. Written for the Second Centennial Celebration of the Settlement of Boston, Sept. 17, 1830, and included in the Poems & Hymns, 1840. 3. Break the bread and pour the wine. Holy Communion. In Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper, 1820. 4. Father, while we break the bread. Holy Communion. 5. God Almighty and All-seeing. Greatness of the Father. Contributed to Elias Nason's Congregational Hymn Book, Boston, 1857. 6. God of mercy, do Thou never. Ordination. Written for the Ordination of John B. P. Storer at Walpole, Nov. 15, 1826; and published in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. 7. God of our fathers, in Whose sight. Love of Truth desired. This hymn is composed of st. ix., x. of a hymn written for the Charlestown Centennial, June 17, 1830. In this form it was given in the Boston Hymns of the Spirit, 1864, and others. 8. Gone are those great and good. Burial. Written in 1830. Part of No. 2 above. 9. I cannot make him dead. Gone Before. "A part of an exquisitely touching and beautiful poem of ten stanzas, originally printed in the Monthly Miscellany, Oct. 1840." 10. Let the still air rejoice. Praise. 11. Mighty One, Whose name is Holy. Charitable Institutions. Written for the anniversary of the Howard Benevolent Society, Dec. 1826, and included in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. 12. My [0] God, I thank Thee that the night. Morning. Appeared in his Poems, &c, 1840. In Martineau's Hymns, &c, 1873, it begins "O God, I thank Thee," &c. 13. 0 bow Thine ear, eternal One. Opening of Divine Service. This is dated 1823, but was not included in the author's Poems, &c, 1840, although one of his best productions. 14. 0 Thou to Whom in ancient time. Universal Worship. “Written for the opening of the Independent Congregational Church in Barton Square, Salem, Massachusetts, Dec. 7, 1824," and printed at the close of the sermon preached by Henry Colman on that day. It was given in Pierpont's Poems, &c, 1840, and is found in several collections in Great Britain and America. It is widely known. 15. 0 Thou Who art above all height. Ordination. “Written for the Ordination of Mr. William Ware, as Pastor of the First Congregational Church in New York, Dec. 18, 1821," and included in his Poems, &c, 1840. 16. 0 Thou Who on the whirlwind rides. Dedication of a Place of Worship. Written for the opening of the Seamen's Bethel in Boston, Sept. 11, 1833. Sometimes given as “Thou Who on the," &c. 17. O'er Kedron's stream, and Salem's height. Gethsemane. One of eight hymns contributed to Dr. T. M. Harris's Hymns for the Lord's Supper, 1820. It is in Martineau's Hymns, &c, London, 1873, and others. 18. On this stone, now laid with prayer. Foundation-stone Laying. Written for the laying of the cornerstone of Suffolk Street Chapel, Boston, for the Ministry of the Poor, May 23, 1839. 19. With Thy pure dews and rain. Against Slavery. Written for the African Colonization Society, and included in Cheever's American Common Place Book, 1831. Not in the author's Poems, &c, 1840. Pierpont's talents as a hymn-writer, as in other fields, were respectable rather than commanding, but so energetically employed as to make their mark. Thus, although he never wrote a single hymn that can be called a great lyric, yet he has attained to a prominent position in American hymnody. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.] -- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

George Frideric Handel

1685 - 1759 Person Name: George F. Handel Composer of "THEODORA" in The Primitive Methodist Church Hymnal George Frideric Handel (b. Halle, Germany, 1685; d. London, England, 1759) became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Handel studied music with Zachau, organist at the Halle Cathedral, and became an accomplished violinist and keyboard performer. He traveled and studied in Italy for some time and then settled permanently in England in 1713. Although he wrote a large number of instrumental works, he is known mainly for his Italian operas, oratorios (including Messiah, 1741), various anthems for church and royal festivities, and organ concertos, which he interpolated into his oratorio performances. He composed only three hymn tunes, one of which (GOPSAL) still appears in some modern hymnals. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes; ANTIOCH is one example, long associated with “Joy to the World.” Bert Polman

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Johann Rudolf Ahle

John Pierpont

George Frideric Handel

Ignaz Pleyel

Johann Rosenmüller

J. F. Lagergren